getting kicked in the crotch

Now that I have your attention...

So Saturday we had a joint workout session with kids from my friend Andy's school. He and I have been trying to set up crosstraining for months, and it finally happened.

It was *great*. 2 hours of drills and match sparring with people who generally have the same competition goals and traditional background - you can usually get one or the other, but to have both, well it was like Christmas to me. (Kind of like our Philippians study lately...likeminded in partnership!) Even Sab Jr started getting that twinkle back in his eye, I know he misses the old days with competition workouts too...

Anyways. So when you get different schools together, you generally end up match sparring, since you suddenly have all these new training partners to go up against. (Match sparring is when you match people up in pairs and they get the whole mat to spar and everyone watches.) It can be intense, I suppose, but it's good for simulating what happens in a real competition.

The last kid I match sparred with was probably about 15 or 16, and roughly my size. Really nice kid, respectful, has potential...except he has a tendency to kick low. And by low I mean, in the crotch. And by tendency I mean repeatedly.

So one downside of being the *ONLY* girl training in a group, is that sometimes no one knows what to do with you because you're different. For example, Sabs get these blank looks on their faces sometimes when matches get really heated and they stuff my attacks (ie. punch me in the chest really hard) and I have to take a time out to writhe in the corner. Well, blank looks also happen when you get kicked low.

I mean, when guys get kicked in the cup, everyone has an immediate wince and "oohhhhhh" reaction. They all sympathize. When a girl gets kicked low, there's a moment of confusion, as if they're thinking "why is she in so much pain? What happened?" and then an awkward silence. There appears to be a misconception that it doesn't hurt girls when we get kicked there. Let me be the first to attest - it does. Maybe not as much, but it still hurts. And without going into a tangent on the poor design of a female cup - I'll just leave it with a statement that they're absolutely useless.

So anyways, we're sparring, it's going along fine, then out of the clinch, the kid decides to double. And by double I mean flurry. And by flurry I mean throw legs up in the hopes of hitting something. Yeah well, he hit me, but not anywhere near the scoring area. I went down and hunched over, trying to catch my breath and not cry, while Sab (confused) was just yelling at me to get up and keep going. Once was fine, that I could suck up. About 30 seconds later, the *exact* same exchange happened again.

At that point it was just trying to drag the time out before crawling to the side and trying to find a happy place. Sab ventures over while the kid went against one of my teammates, makes me sit upright, and asks me what's wrong. I think he's so used to being a hardass about sucking things up and being tough that he assumed I was either injured or being a baby. So I just looked at him and said "he. kicked. me. in. the. crotch... twice".

And as with most incidents when there is remotely a shade of girl-factor involved, he grimaced and walked away. Just in time to look up and see my teammate get back kicked straight in the cup.

It wasn't pretty...but at least everyone seemed to know what to do with him! As beneficial as it is for me to fight with guys all the time, and as much as I love my boys...I do miss having girls around to empathize with sometimes.

Poor kid...he felt so bad he bowed about 8 times on his way out, apologizing profusely. I'm sure being embarassed will make him kick higher next time...or at least...I hope so!