01: The Countdown

When I was about seven or eight years old, I organized some back-yard brawls with some of the neighbor kids. The idea was simple - see who was the toughest. I kept coming out on top, and I was convinced that I was the next Karate Kid.

One time, I racked this kid in the gut real hard with a shovel hook, and he ran home crying. His mother came to our house just minutes later, gave me a tongue lashing, and shut down our little venue. That was the end of that. I was too scared of what would happen if my parents found out about it, so I didn't press my luck.

Jim's mom didn't rat me out to my folks, or I'd have been the one catching an ass-whupping. My dad had a paddle that he fashioned out of a two-by-four with holes drilled in it (to reduce wind resistance), which he hung on our bedroom wall, reserved for these types of occasions.

After that, my brother and I began fighting a lot - mainly induced by, and for the entertainment of, our older step-siblings, their friends, and our friends from the neighborhood. I had no idea back then just how little I knew about fighting. What I did know for sure, is that it felt great to win, and I loved putting on a show.

Since then, there were the occasional after-school fights, in-school fights, and even a few brawls during my time in the Marine Corps - shocking, I know. Not all of them ended in victory for me, but they taught me a lot about hitting and getting hit - mainly that it looks worse than it feels, and that I needed to slip and fade a lot more to avoid my opponents' fists.

Now, 20-plus years later, I am about embark on a journey to train full-time as a fighter. I've dabbled in several martial arts and boxing throughout the years. I studied Tagei Jutsu - a form of Shotokan karate - with my father for several years. He began teaching me at home at about five or six years old, and I continued karate training into my teens. I think this was important experience, because it developed my hand and foot coordination.

I learned some basic boxing techniques in the Marine Corps from the great Roosevelt Sanders, a retired Marine and former U.S. Olympic boxing coach. I'm level-1 certified in U.S. Army combatives, which is enough to say that I know some very basic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Now I am going to add even more weapons to my arsenal. I've just begun taking Muay Thai kickboxing classes, and I love it. It hurts, but I love it.

I'm chomping at the bit. There are just a couple of weeks left in the school semester, then Christmas and New Year's Day. As soon as they pass, the real training begins.

I don't think I'm some bad-ass or the next Phenom. I simply want to compete at my highest potential, and I want to become capable of doing the damage of a baseball bat.

I have every intention of achieving those goals.

31 days.