tournament preparations, part 1

(days until tournament: 4) 

i'm sitting here on the couch, watching as katie goes through conditioning and various drills. 

the tiny minutia of each technical lift, pull, and sweep are reviewed dozens and dozens of times, then slowly, carefully, the counting begins as she pumps weights and holds poses. 

this is all for a one-day, breakneck-speed tournament where every move, every point, is crucial. 

katie trains hard, and she sees the results of that. she earns the respect of her peers, she doesn't expect it. 

brazilian jiu jitsu is hard. but she sees the challenge and welcomes the long, hard, satisfactory road ahead of her.