Archive for December, 2011

Great Year – Ready for 2012!

31 Dec shonakamori No Comments »

Wow, I can’t believe that this year is nearly over!  I know that in some places, they’ve already welcomed the new year but we have a little more of 2011 left in California.

I wanted to say a how grateful I am for all of the support I’ve received in 2011.  It was a year of many ups and downs but I’m lucky that I had so many great people around me.  Next year is an important year with the Olympics but I’m planning on taking it day by day.  Here’s to a very healthy and happy 2012 to everyone!  Thanks for the continued support!

Season Begins

26 Dec shonakamori No Comments »

Can’t believe the judging season has already started back up again. I know I won’t be judging quite as much because this will be a busy and important year but I’ll try and get some meets in if my schedule allows me to do so.  A couple of weeks ago, I went off to Petaluma to judge the season opener.  Hard to believe I used to compete at this same meet!  Man, time flies!

Season Opener!

One of the coolest surprises of the meet was that one of the kids had a “Sho” patch on his gym bag.  Thanks for the support little man!!!

It's a "Sho" patch! Thanks for the support!

Merry Christmas!

25 Dec shonakamori No Comments »

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  Hope everyone is enjoying some time with family and friends!

Merry Xmas everyone!

I went back home and took a couple of days to recharge.  Definitely needed this.  Got lots of good food in me so I should be good to go.  Super happy that NBA is back on too!

Great food the last couple of days. It's just what I needed :)

Winter Training Camp

13 Dec shonakamori No Comments »

Recently I feel like I’ve been starting off all of my blog posts with an apology.  Sadly, this one will be no different.  Sorry for the lack of updates!

A lot has happened over the past few weeks but I’ve been slightly busier than usual and have had little time to report!  Training and work has kept me busy and the fact that this is a short month due to the holidays had made things a bit more hectic.  Not to mention, I’ve also been feeling a bit under the weather so I’ve been trying to put in some extra sleep/recovery time whenever possible.

Aside from this minor cold I’ve been trying to get over, things have been going pretty well.  I recently came back from another National Team Camp in Colorado Springs.  It was another super productive camp and it was great seeing the rest of the national team members.  We had some strong training sessions and as a group/individual, we made plans for the upcoming year which is obviously the most important year in this quadrennium.  While some of the guys were working new skills to add into their routines, others were starting back up with routines again to prepare for meets that are coming up in January.

All was good at camp except for the fact that it was freezing temperature.  The high it got up to during our whole time there was only 8 degrees, and for a California guy like me, that’s no good.  I really can’t believe I lived there for two years.  I don’t know how I dealt with the cold and the dry and crackly skin.  I went through an entire bottle of lotion and 2 chapsticks, and I was only there for 4 days!

Walking to the gym. Lots of slush, snow, and ice.

For those of you that’ve never visited the Olympic Training Center, I snapped a few shots of the dorm room where we stay when we go there to train.  Generally we stay in a room with another roommate or two and have only a double bed, but this time we got lucky and got our own rooms with a queen-size bed!  It’s also constantly temp controlled and there’s wi-fi which is a necessity in this day in age.  Check out the pics below!

A TV with cable and DVD player

Ample closet space

Super comfy queen size bed

and a sink all in your own room!

Over the past few years, the rooms have definitely gone through significant changes.  When I was a young kid coming to the Jr National Team Camps, we literally only had a bed in our rooms.  It’s definitely a bit different today!