“Never give up – even when your down in the hole”

When I started Kendo I had the usual dreams of nailing that Black Belt, then one day the challenge comes and goes and you really have to stop and think about just what you’ve
done. I will have been studying this art for 20 years this January and have always enjoyed the up’s and downs it brings to the table.

But what happens when you have the bad luck of injuring yourself and the training has to stop. Last year I attended in Australia the annual Kendo seminar, I was there to attempt my
5 Dan. The strange thing was I had a really bad case of “pins and needles” running down my left arm. Now I went through the usual things in my mind like – “heart attack” but it just didn’t seem right. The seminar was great and after a really hard 6 month build up of training I passed the examine.

Coming home I went straight to the Doctor who in turn sent me to a “Nuro – Surgeon”, had
the big MRI scan and found out that I had a crushed neck bone that was pinching on a nerve.

The long and short of it all was that one more hard impact and I would be paralysed from the neck down. Believe me he had my attention at that point.

Went I left there I had sunk to an all time low, I just couldn’t believe it.

From that day it was physio every week and the only training I could do was basic’s and Kata.
I also study Iaido and Jodo so there was no impact on those two styles. You learn a lot about
Kendo when your forced to stand back and watch lesson after lesson, in fact it’s something I believe now everyone should do from time to time.

The big black hole came to an end this year when I asked my Physio just what I could and can’t do. He agreed that if I wore a neckbrace then I should be able to go back and train.

After 13 months I put my “Men” on again for the first time, it is terrible to wear on top of a neck brace – pushs your Men up and there’s no air in or around your head. But that’s the down side, the upside is the fact that now I can train again.

Everybody has their own challenges, this one of mine isn’t as bad as some. But the “hole” you fall into seems like the end of the earth when your there.

My advice to anybody faced with these things is just don’t give up, find a way around the problem and tell yourself that you will get back there one day.

After 13 months off my body has lost some of it’s edge, but I haven’t gone backwards because of the Kata I practiced and the watching I did.

Even if you can only stand in “Chudan” or do “Kata” then practice these things to the best you can.

“The hole in the end my only be in your mind”!