My Sensei's Sensei

Is Hirata. To my everlasting awe. He ... let's just say I knew Sensei preferred fighting on the ground (newaza, or pins, chokes and armbars), it being his forte and used in almost all his competitions, even making it to the final of the 1991's Hong Kong open with purely newaza ippons.

But I never knew he learned it from a legend.

This is awesome.



The flip side of it? I (read: a judoka under him) suck at newaza.

St Thomas - Empty

Douglas and Chong has just dropped a bomb on me.

"Eh, when you become Judo club president (or vice president, whichever is cooler), you have fun, kay? Me and Chong leave St Thom."

"What? NO!"

"St Thom sucks." Chong interjected, leaning against the dojo bag racks.

"You see lar - almost everybody leaving St Thom - Ali next year leave for Semenanjung!" Douglas continued, oblivious to Chong's rants.

"What? NO!"

"St Thom sucks like hell."

"Why does St Thom suck?"

"Everything lah - the administration without *this teacher or that teacher*, the discipline too tight like shit like that."

I sat down on the tatami mats, too stunned to say anything (and also probably too out of breath - had sparred earlier with Desmond, who had gained 5kg more muscle from National Service). I felt torn between my loyalty to the school and the fact that my feelings did not apply to this generation. Things were different for them.

The great people at the top were gone, replaced with an administration yet to prove its worth still finding its feet. A lot of the good things that I remembered about St Thomas was gone, leaving me with no grounds on which to argue on. I couldn't pursuade them. The only thing I could think of is the fact that the teachers are mostly the same, caring ones I knew. And this too, is liable to change. Discontent with the leadership at the top will affect performance, no matter how great these teachers are.

Andrew tells me at least half his class is planning to move after the PMR. Ben is moving, he is moving, so is Charlton. An image of an empty classroom, fan spinning lazy circles over the tables and chairs, appeared for a brief moment in my mind's eye.

"Stay lah," I said.

But my words sounded empty even to my ears.