Post by alyssaberger on Jan 3, 2012 20:31:18 GMT -6
Aly stood outside in the middle of the baseball field. There was no one playing, well, unless you counted the two guys tossing a ball back and forth between first and second base, and she didn’t. Count them that is. She’d been cooped up in class all day, and as usual, she could feel her muscles itching to move, to get out and do something. The school day had passed with the young girl fidgeting hopelessly, trying to keep herself focused on the subjects at hand, but mostly just becoming way to distracted by… well pretty much any and everything. And to add to it, it was a Friday, which in the end, really only made things worse for her, because all she could think about was the weekend, and how much more fun she could have doing anything that was not class work.
Somehow, she’d made it through the day though, and after a quick stop at her dorm to change into a t-shirt and sweatpants, she was outside, her long blonde hair pulled back into a bouncy ponytail. She glanced again at the guys tossing the ball, and decided that if they had a problem with her being there, or if she got in their way, they would tell her. She took a few minutes to stretch herself out, feeling the muscles that had been tensed all day loosen. When she felt relaxed, she took a few deep breaths, her eyes closed as she focused her mind. After a few seconds, she started to move, her body easily slipping into the well practiced forms of a kata. Karate had been one of the few activities that had been able to keep the young girl’s attention as she grew up, and even though she’d managed her black belt a year earlier, she still loved practicing it, running through the movements. She figured that once she was back home, she could go back to the dojo, work at moving up the degrees. The kata, a defined sequence of moves, flowed easily, to someone who wasn’t aware of what it would represent, it would appear that the girl was simply running through a quick and intricate combination of punches, blocks and kicks. But to Aly, she knew the story behind every kata she’d been taught. She knew what each move meant, and knew that underneath the flashy outward moves, they were really a strategy to a fight. Most of the other students she’d been taught with preferred the sparing. And Aly would admit, she found it fun, but she liked the more structured kata. It gave her a reason to concentrate, to put everything into each movement instead of the chaos that just came with sparing. And for a girl like Aly, who always had trouble focusing, anything that made that easier was instantly a good thing in her mind. She finished the particular kata she was running through, which ended with a dramatic looking jump kick. And though there was no one there who was watching, she ended it with the traditional bow. Some habits just can’t be broken. Feeling a little more relaxed, she wiped her brow of the light sheen of sweat that had gathered, and caught her breath.
Somehow, she’d made it through the day though, and after a quick stop at her dorm to change into a t-shirt and sweatpants, she was outside, her long blonde hair pulled back into a bouncy ponytail. She glanced again at the guys tossing the ball, and decided that if they had a problem with her being there, or if she got in their way, they would tell her. She took a few minutes to stretch herself out, feeling the muscles that had been tensed all day loosen. When she felt relaxed, she took a few deep breaths, her eyes closed as she focused her mind. After a few seconds, she started to move, her body easily slipping into the well practiced forms of a kata. Karate had been one of the few activities that had been able to keep the young girl’s attention as she grew up, and even though she’d managed her black belt a year earlier, she still loved practicing it, running through the movements. She figured that once she was back home, she could go back to the dojo, work at moving up the degrees. The kata, a defined sequence of moves, flowed easily, to someone who wasn’t aware of what it would represent, it would appear that the girl was simply running through a quick and intricate combination of punches, blocks and kicks. But to Aly, she knew the story behind every kata she’d been taught. She knew what each move meant, and knew that underneath the flashy outward moves, they were really a strategy to a fight. Most of the other students she’d been taught with preferred the sparing. And Aly would admit, she found it fun, but she liked the more structured kata. It gave her a reason to concentrate, to put everything into each movement instead of the chaos that just came with sparing. And for a girl like Aly, who always had trouble focusing, anything that made that easier was instantly a good thing in her mind. She finished the particular kata she was running through, which ended with a dramatic looking jump kick. And though there was no one there who was watching, she ended it with the traditional bow. Some habits just can’t be broken. Feeling a little more relaxed, she wiped her brow of the light sheen of sweat that had gathered, and caught her breath.