Here We Go Again...

My first Judo tournament of the year took place over an hour away in Morges, the longest running judo rankingturnier in Switzerland. I remember my first few tournaments when I had watched the older people greeting almost everyone they past and I wondered how they can know so many people. Well, this time I was one of those people who could greet the other competitors :) o.k. perhaps there was only one other girl from my weight category I talk with, but hey it looks impressive :) So anyway, after the longest wait I ever had in a tournament I finally came on but lost after twenty-one seconds. At first I was extremely disappointed, I did not even get a chance in a "hoffnungsrunde" or hope round, where if my opponent won her next fight I get a chance to fight the loser. But then, as I chatted with my friends from my club I soon found out just about every person that came lost on their first fight and so we had conversations such as this: "I lost after 21 seconds." "Really? I lost after a minute." "Wow, congratulations!" And in the end, since everyone was feeling disappointed, no one felt disappointed, a strange sort of irony. Though I did not win, I will keep smiling and say as I always say, "I'll just keep practicing and do better next time!"