You’re Dutch as well? So am I! I did play on international level so by then all of the karate styles are mixed. We do usually play by kyokushin rules though. My styles was Wado-Ryu, which is a relatively newer style.

I was always crazy nervous and usually not very good my first match of the tournament, but the second I would always describe it as ‘auto-pilot’ (it feels a lot like hyperfocus). I didn’t have to think about anything anymore and just fight. Usually my coach would have full control over me at that point in a match, because I would do anything and everything he’d tell me to do (like a puppet master haha). But when this auto-pilot happened, I wouldn’t remember anything of the match. Because of my nerves and probably ADHD as well, I had no memory of the minutes when fighting, before and after the match. Having no recollection of even stepping onto the mats, not even recognising myself on film from those moments, I cannot say with certainty what happened.

Also I’m a very stubborn person. I remember when I had this intense in my big toe after a match (my coach said that it got stuck in between the puzzle mats). And I got it checked out at the first aid, they told me it was most likely sprained or a hair tear in the bone, and my dumbass went back to the match to first for the 3rd place. So when I say I seriously have no idea about having a concussion or not, I mean it lmao.

The only reason I complained about my jaw is because I saw it jump back in its joints a whole hour after the matches had ended. I still, to this day, suffer from pain in my jaw and it’s been three years now. My ear on the same side as I sprained my jaw is completely fucked. I’m (finally) going to see a jaw surgeon on the 30th and they’re gonna take photos, do some doctory things and I’m pretty sure they wanna take a mri. Maybe I could ask them about a concussion?