- My friend, an anonymous benefactor bought Adidas judo gis for everyone. Many of our gis initially came from friends whose children had quit judo or outgrown their gis. Over the years, those had gotten pretty beat up. A year ago, Jesse Moya, of Moya Brand, had donated gis for every student - but kids in middle school grow FAST so many had outgrown theirs, and we had new kids join. So, look how cool they are all in judo gis that fit!
- Our friends at Gracie Barra Newport Beach offered up their school for two days on a weekend in December, for free, and instructor Tom Reusling offered to help teach.
- My friend, Steve Seck, 1980 Olympic team member in judo is coming to teach.
- My other friend, Gary Butts, a judo black belt and Marine Corps wrestler is coming to teach.
- My other friend (how did I get so lucky!) Patricia Gill, is a college admissions counselor and she's coming to speak with our students about college requirements and what courses they should be taking in high school.
- My friend (yes, I have another one), Brian Marks is one of the most renowned kata instructors in the country. He is coming to teach kata to get our green belts ready for their brown belt test. Another talent of Brian's is Christmas decoration. Yes, he has one of those unbelievable houses with the kid-size train set you can ride, slides and light displays that people drive to Orange County to see. He has invited us to his house after the team dinner on Saturday for a traditional Christmas party with cookies and hot chocolate.
- My lovely youngest daughter and HER friends are going to come in the afternoon to tutor students between practices.
- My lovely niece, her fiancé and HIS friends from U C Irvine's doctoral program in mathematics are also coming to tutor students.
I once commented that I felt I had better friends than I deserve to which Jacob Flores, Jr. (the son of one of my very best friends) commented,
I don't think that's possible. I think people get exactly the friends they deserve.
Damn! I sure hope he's right, because if he is, I must be far more amazing than I think!
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In the Christmas spirit ?
Buy games that teach math, social studies and FUN !
Buy it for yourself, for a gift, or donate to a school.
Buy Fish Lake or Spirit Lake and we'll throw in a beta license for Forgotten Trail for free.
12 comments:
Dr De Mars, you are a straight-talker with a good heart and much wisdom. You inspire. Respect.
Hello, Dr. Demars! If you need any volunteer teachers or help with the camp I'd love to help anyway I can! I fought for Team USA last year and hopefully will again next year. My specialties are traditional Taekwondo, boxing, kickboxing, and numerous types of agility, strength, and fitness. My email is Evanluna1988@outlook.com, and it would be an honor to help in any way needed. Huge fan of yours!
Just a note to say we hope Ronda is handling the loss with strength and support from her family and friends. God I hated to see that loss go down, but she will rise again-hopefully with some new team/gym behind her improve some areas. I really want to see the opportunistic haters eat their words in the future. No one can drive the women's MMA bus the way Ronda did. It will be boring until she gets it back.
:)
Everyone should have at least three friends. It worked for Jesus, right? I don't have instagram, which is why I'm saying this here.
The Olympian that Ronda was when she beat Meisha either of the the two times that she beat her could've beaten Holly Holm of 193. That Ronda hadn't outgrown her striking coach, wasn't consumed by neither fear of her opponent nor the arrogance of her own hype like the Olympian that showed up to UFC 193. At the weigh-in, Holly the shark smelled that fear beneath the bravado, took notice, and exploited it completely.
Did anybody else notice how utterly arrogant Ronda had become? Holly did. She apparently used that against the very real fear that she felt about Holly.
Meisha did the same against Ronda both times, and Ronda did almost the exact same thing in response as Holly did to Ronda. Except, a more mentally ready (and humble) Ronda would have been patient enough to counter punch, pace, and pull off an armbar on anybody. That Ronda would still be the champ.
She was afraid, terribly arrogant, and, in no way, mentally ready for that fight. Perhaps she will be next time. I think she will.
So I'm hooked on your blog. Great stuff. Refreshing candor that's not "Trumpesque" Annmarie our 8yr. old daughter goes to Webster Elementary and I think your product would be a slam dunk. Have you reached out to any of the Malibu public schools?
Cheers!
Mark
I agree. I think the lady should be and is much more impressive than thinking.
Hi, I am writing to you because a message was sent to your daughter Ronda on October 12, 2015 via Instagram to take care of herself so that she would not be defeated by a left attack, which is what happened in her last fight. If Ronda wants to re-take her course she needs to get rid of her current trainer and all of her training team, boyfriend and team that is filtering her social media as the message did not get to her.
I cannot agree with the post Westin Iroh wrote above.
Ronda is neither arrogant or afraid. That clash with Holly at the last day was out of character for her and most likely the result of many, many different things coming together in bad ways, with the weight cut adding to it. She did not look healthy at all.
Holly did put her fist onto Rondas face first at the staredown, but it was all more or less accidental. Just another high stress scuffle at the final staredown.
Holly herself did not take it seriously or as a sign that Ronda is a bad person.
And if we are to be realistic, Ronda treated Holly and most of her opponents with respect. All except the two with whom she had personal issues with.
Even so she always praised Miesha as a fighter.
She went into the fight emotional, which she never did before, with the wrong plan for the opponent like Holly and with a coach who had no idea what to do.
Ive read that she apologized to him after the fight, which i find... ludicrous. She is not the one who should be apologizing.
...
Before i wrote a joking post (although im not sure if it was understood like that) about popping bubbles. And i wrote that i hope situation with her coach is not as bad as mrs AnnMaria said it is. I knew You wouldn't have used the words you did if it wasnt something really serious mam, but... i just hoped it isnt that bad for Rondas sake.
It was very difficult to watch the fight for me. I saw she was out of the fight in the first round, hurt and dazed badly yet she kept coming. The end was very hard to see. She was barely standing on her feet before that last kick. It must have been harrowing for the family and her real friends. Luckily there was no serious damage.
At least now a lot of those barnacles and yesmen will be falling off.
The trolls came out to feed and throw mud at her, but that just shows what they are.
All these accusations about how she is not "humble" or how she is "arrogant" are just cheap lies thrown out so they can feel better about what they are doing.
Such blatant hypocrites.
I hope she sees how many people, colleagues and fans are supporting her still.
It is not because of the fame, good looks, belts or championships.
It is because she is the true peoples champion. And a great person.
As Rener Gracie recently said, she is a silly soul, And we love her for it.
Momma knew best. Please tell Ronda her fans need to hear from her!
All the best!
Please tell Ronda that she needs to get back up because I want a role model I can relate to. I want my role models to get knocked down and get back up. I don't want them to be perfect all the time.
I feel i need to add a small clarification to the above post i wrote, because my english failed to express what i wanted to say exactly and i dont want it to be taken in a wrong way.
When i said i think its ludicrous that Ronda apologized to her coach after the last fight, i did not mean to say her action was ludicrous.
what she said only shows what a great heart she has and how self critical she can be.
What is ludicrous is that her coach did not apologize to her, or havent even refused that apology. At least thats how it looked based on his own statements about it.
As for that saying from the end of this post about people getting exactly the friends they deserve... well, i hope it isnt a universal law. Because if it is then i have some serious issues, to put it lightly. Maybe it works only in US?
However that may be im sure happy to see drAnnMaria has so many great friends and i think the support Ronda got shows its own story.
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