Because we can

We had our annual (2nd year running) forms marathon the other day. Basically, forms have to be done for 24 hours straight, with no breaks. It’s a group effort, luckily, and as one person ends, another begins. It was a really fun time, and we were all joking around while sharing our knowledge of the forms. My shift was from 1-330am and me and Craig were already sleepy by the time we arrived, but quickly woke up. There were a few close calls, but luckily we didn’t drop the ball. We tried to have at least 2 people going at a time as we had 4-6 people there with us. Even with all of the help, I almost ruined the night early on. I’d decided to try kempo in mirror image, and I got through parts one and two, but at the side-heel in part three I lost focus on what move came next. It’s really hard to do a form mirrored. By that time everyone was watching me out of curiosity and I had to call for help as I was starting to stutter in my moves and almost stopped. Luckily someone caught the ball as I dropped it, just in time.


Something I noticed about doing something like this and trying to explain it to others is that it’s a hard concept to grasp. I told a few people at work as we were talking about our plans for the evening. I told them about the marathon and they asked why I was doing it. Is it to raise money? Awareness? To set a record? Why oh why am I doing kung fu at 1am? There always seems to be a need for a reason to do something like this, but in reality we didn’t have a grand purpose to it. There is no charity receiving a cheque, no penalty for failing at it, not big prize for succeeding. We did it just because we can. Does there need to be a better reason than that?

Jonathan Robinson

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada