What You Win When You Compete in Martial Arts

What you’ll remember about competing in Martial Arts, by someone who’s done it for 25 years.

I quite literally cannot remember a single national level Taekwondo match that I had. I had possibly hundreds. If there was any video, it’s lost in time now, but I would need to look at the landmarks on the walls to see where it was. They have all blended into one.

I can remember the semi-final of the World Championships in 2000. I lost it because I didn’t push hard in the last 30 seconds. I regret that. I can remember every second of it.

I can remember escaping a triangle in the BJJ British Open in 2015. That’s because I thought to myself, wow, that worked! I went on to win that match. Every other match is sort of a jumble of memories, flashes.

My memory is really good, by the way. I just don’t have any real distinct ones of competing. But I do have a lot from when I competed. For example;

I remember car journeys with my mates to tournaments. I remember training camps on the run up to big fights. I remember sparring sessions where we went at each other and had a laugh afterwards about it.

And I remember at this Kickboxing tournament, they had a DJ playing all day as people were fighting, and just as I was hyping myself up to step on the mat, Shania Twain’s, “Damn, I Feel Like a Woman” came on, and my mate went “Lets’ go Girl” in my ear just as I stepped on. I spent the whole match laughing.

And to keep the music theme going, my wife dared me to walk in to the theme from Magnum PI for my MMA debut. I remember that in the Ringside Club at the back of the National Stadium. Half the crowd laughing and the other half wondering what the hell the tune was. Everyone else was walking in to Eminem and Thunderstruck.

One more music story that I’m reminded of- there’s a tale of “The Curse of Thunderstruck”. If you walk in to that song by ACDC, you lose. In Galway for a pro fight with Norman Park (who went on to have a pretty good record in the UFC), I told the promoter I didn’t care what I walked out to, and guess what they picked for me. Yeah, Thunderstruck. The music started up and the MC called my name, I looked at my buddy Paddy and went “Well f*ck”. The two of us cracked up laughing.

I don’t blame it for my loss that night though.

And I remember London, Paris, Copenhagen, Las Vegas, Jordan, Gdansk, Rome and all of the other countries, cities, and counties that competing took me to. Great experiences. Great people. Great friendships made.

But I don’t remember a single match, and I only really treasure one medal that I won.

If you’re competing, remember to collect those experiences. You might win something big, you might not, but you’ll collect the bonus prize of having a great adventure along the way.

Just some advice.

See you on the mat,

Barry