Tim Was Promoted

I love the BJJ gym. Everyone is strong and technically 
better than me. Yet they are humble and willing to share
their knowledge. The coach, assistant coaches and training
partners go out of their way to help. As I train more often
and with the same group of guys these days, they are
becoming a tribe for me.

Unlike me, Tim dominated in the kids class. It was not about
talent or technique but age. He was the oldest and had a
longer attention span. Kettlebell training made him strong.
In comparison, his training partners were mostly younger or
easily distracted.

Three weeks ago, Coach J told Tim that he could come to the
adult classes with me, free of charge. This was a good deal
as Tim only had two classes per week. Training with the
adults right after the kids would double his time on the
mat. So far, he had back-to-back classes three times and
could handle the load. For one thing, he didn't have any
recovery problem.

Training with the adults means that Tim will have higher
standards in both conditioning and technique and I have no
doubt that he can live up to them. He needs challenges as,
unlike when I was young, improving our living condition is
no longer the big motivator in Tim's life. 

I have observed that the boy can be very clever in doing
things he loves. For example, he wired the bottom of our
crab cage with one extra cord, effectively halving the 
holes. Once a crab gets in, it becomes much harder for the
creature to slip out through the bottom while the cage is
being hoisted in the air. It seemed obvious but I never even
thought about the problem. (BTW, we stopped eating crabs.
Crabbing is purely for the fun of catching.)

Last Thursday, as we were about to leave, the coaches 
presented Tim a yellow belt. It was a nice surprise! I was
more touched than the kid: hard work was paying off. On our
way home and when Tim already changed the subject from his
recent promotion to fishing, I was still thinking about him
getting his black belt one day.

[7grizzly]

回复 'GraceX' 的评论 : Thank you, Grace. I can't wait for that day to come ;-)
I don't enjoy fishing that much. Tim dragged me into it.

[GraceX]

恭喜 Tim， 越来越 strong 了。不久的将来，你就不是他的对手了。
一直想去钓蟹钓鱼的，但每个星期都只顾着 hiking，觉得坐在那里一动不动地等鱼蟹上钩，自己耐心还不够，也许以后会去钓，最近可能会去看他人钓。

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thanks, 暖冬, for your kind words. And Happy Father's Day to you! As you know, men need difficulties to be happy. I hope I have found one path that provides the right amount of challenges as one progress along.

Of course, I have no problem with King crabs or Dungeness. The rock and red crabs that we are allowed to catch here in SF were not meaty. Eating them was a long hassle that didn't deliver ;-)

[暖冬cool夏]

Congratulations on Tim's promotion, and being at the adult''s class. Like father like son. You raise him well. By the way, I eat crab, and actually crabs are one of my favorites:))) Happy Father's Day!