My Way, or the High Way

Whoa. A day not checking this thing... and it was exploded with comments...!

To my disappointment, I completely skipped the squad training last night, which is the second consecutive squad I've missed. The first punishment comes from my own bogu - sitting right next to a window for 5 days has mysteriously molded it up!! Arghh...

For twice I skipped training is because of workload (until 4am!!) Especially this week I am trying to land a job in a massive company. If you are interested to know what I am doing - go check www.mingshiwan.co.uk instead...

So, to further our discussion about self development, let's start from Iustin's response from last round (Sorry I do not intend to turn this into another forum, but I felt like clarifying):-

...if someone is good, she/he can train for national squad - a worthy goal. If, as you say, someone is in the 30's and not fit, its another thing. But what about the middle road? When I go to training, I try to give my best, I try to do everything as well as I can, not sparing myself. I take training seriously, and I feel bad when this or that doesn't work. But I don't always have time to go to all four sessions a week, nor do I have much time to train extra.

I just wanted to point out the middle road - training hard for self-development. It seemed to me that you consider self-development a little bit a 'soft' target.

That's what separates who's in the squad, and who's not.

It's all about the following:
1. Skill - are you good enough?
2. Devotion - how often do you train?
3. Sacrifice - can you train every Tues 9-10.30pm, and Sun 10.30am-12.30pm, while the travel time to the dojo is 1 hr one-way?
4. Opportunity - are you born in a country without a lot of people doing kendo?
5. Finance - can you afford the expenses?

There is no "pro" kendo outside of Japan and Korea. There is definitely people who just turn up for fun, occationally for a sweat, and people who are more serious. I belong to neither of these two groups...

More importantly, in my case, I am already a squad member (because I train there?)... Unlike those in the US or Canada where places for the squad is dominated by nikkei, I consider myself as "lucky" - not something particularly being proud of tho. But to be selected into the 13th WKC team, it's another question.

To put myself forward for selection, I have to have a high-ish attendance, and of course my kendo (especially in shiai) has be of standard.

I do feel that, especially recently, that my concerns are based upon responsibility to train, and not particularly that I wanted to train. Especially going home on a Tuesday midnight, or waiting for a bus at 9am on a Sunday morning.

Oh well, it's all part of my training! T_T