The NFL season is winding down with only a few weeks left before the playoffs begin. As the playoff portion of the season is close to happening, there is still a plethora of news stories from around the league. This week has had suspensions, injuries, and game-changing scores that will impact the playoffs.

A week ago in the Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game, the Texans’ linebacker, Azeez Al-Shaair, brutally hit Trevor Lawrence of the Jaguars in the head. After the hit, the NFL suspended Al-Shaair for three games. Despite an appeal from the linebacker, the suspension was upheld, keeping the suspension in place. As for Lawrence, the Jaguars’ quarterback, he has been put on injury reserve. Lawrence still has to get surgery after the incident and it’s believed that he might be out for the rest of the season if he can’t clear concussion protocol.

Speaking of potential season-ending injuries, there have been some other players who are likely done for the rest of the season as it continues to wind down. It was announced that Dallas Cowboy guard, Zack Martin, would have to have surgery for an ankle injury sustained a few weeks ago. The injury and surgery takes him out for the rest of the season, but the franchise’s owner, Jerry Jones, has remained optimistic that Martin will only be out for this season and not forever.

As for Treylon Burks, a wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans, he just underwent surgery for his own injury. He suffered a torn ACL and the injury combined with surgery has ended his playing time for the season.

This week, the Detroit Lions made history. They set a franchise record for the most games won in a row with eleven, after their win over the Green Bay Packers. This record-setting win also officially guaranteed the Lions’ spot in the playoffs this season. The Lions have now gained a massive advantage for themselves as the playoffs near and the regular season comes to an end.

With only a few weeks left to play before the playoffs, the last games for every team become more crucial than they ever have been. The competition is only heating up and the news in the NFL regarding injuries and suspensions only adds to the intrigue of what could happen next.

The 2024 Summer Olympics ended three months ago in August and while that great tournament has simmered down, the 2026 Winter Olympics is coming around the corner. As the 2024-25 winter season approaches, many athletes are already beginning their campaigns to qualify to compete in Italy. The competition is ramping up in many of the upcoming sports and for the next year, events and tournaments of all kinds will be taking place across the world. Some of these tournaments will be taking place in the United States, a nation that hosts many athletes looking for their shot at not only qualification but at winning medals for their country in 2026.

For starters, the United States’ teams for both men and women have already qualified for the ice hockey event followed by their respective IIHF (International Ice Hockey Foundation) World Ranking.
Last month, in October, from the 18th to the 20th, the beginning of the 2024-25 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating took place in Allen, Texas. 2024 Skate America was the first of six events across the world leading up to the Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France from December 5 to December 8. At 2024 Skate America, American figure skater Ilia Malinin scored first place in men’s singles and Isabeau Levito scored third in women’s singles.

For the pairs, Ellie Kam and Daniel O’Shea placed second while Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov placed third for the United States. Madison Chock and Evan Bates also scored second place in ice dance. With 2024 Finlandia Trophy and 2024 Cup of China still yet to be finished, the United States currently has 12 medals in total across the previous events leading up to the Grand Prix Final.

The FIS Alpine World Cup season kicked off on October 26, 202,4 in Sölden, Austria and as of now, the second event in Levi, Finland has just concluded. Among some of the biggest news coming out of the early events are American skiers Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn.

As the World Cup season edges closer to Beaver Creek, Colorado in mid-December, Colorado’s own Mikaela Shiffrin won her 98th World Cup race in Finland. With this record-extending victory, she now has the chance to reach 100 World Cup wins by the time the season enters the United States in Killington, Vermont on November 30th.

On November 14, 2024, it was announced by three-time Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn that she would be coming out of retirement to compete for the United States ski team once again. It has been five years since Vonn announced her retirement, but with the big return to skiing during the World Cup season, one could be hopeful for her to participate in the Olympics in 2026.

On her Instagram, Vonn hinted at returning to Beaver Creek, Colorado, where the downhill and super giant slalom events will take place. It will be a two-day event on the 14th and 15th of December. With news of Lindsey Vonn coming back and Mikaela Shiffrin continuing to extend her record, the future looks bright for the United States’ skiing team as the 2026 Winter Olympics approaches.

More criticism from fans towards the tag team division has come because of the recent promo from FTR on the July 20, 2024 episode of Collision. FTR challenged The Young Bucks to another match at All In following their match last year at the same event, while seemingly challenging The Acclaimed for their current status as the #1 contenders for The Young Bucks’ World Tag Team Championships. The third match between FTR and The Young Bucks happening last year felt big and the game delivered as well, but there’s rightful concern to be had that on AEW’s biggest show and stage, the same match has the potential to happen for a second year.

The Young Bucks and The Acclaimer’s feud has been brewing for a few months now and especially after Team AEW’s win at Blood and Guts, one would think this would be the match at Wembley in August. However, it’s also clear that the direction with FTR is propelling them to challenge for that spot. Maybe we’ll end up seeing a triple threat match at All In instead of involving all three teams, but there’s still a big question everyone has on their minds if that happens. Who’s next?

As I said previously, there’s a clear lack of stories and presentations given to the rest of the tag team division. Many fans have blamed this on the introduction of the Trios Championships and tag teams taking up the trios division instead of competing regularly in the tag team division. Teams such as The Lucha Bros, The Gunns, and Top Flight have especially dealt with this fate of focusing more on trios action rather than tag team action. I love the trio’s division and the abundance of trios, groups, and factions within AEW, especially with how they’re presented on Saturday Night Collision. The 6-man tag main event matches are a staple of Collision’s identity and have helped solidify the World Trios Championship in AEW, but I would also agree with many fans about this being a part of the reason the tag team division has been so downplayed.

Over the past year, we saw the tag titles change hands from The Gunns to FTR to Big Bill & Ricky Starks and finally to Darby Allin & Sting before they were vacated and won by The Young Bucks for the third time. I remember during this time last year when people, myself included, didn’t feel like FTR was doing much with the titles, and then it felt quite random that they dropped the titles to Big Bill & Ricky Starks, but I enjoyed them as a team. They had great chemistry, but unfortunately, they and the tag titles weren’t featured as much as they should’ve been, and again, the tag titles weren’t presented as important as they should’ve been.

Darby Allin & Sting only had them for a month, but it was an incredible moment when they won and it’s great for a legend like Sting to be the lineage of any of AEW’s championships no matter how short the reign was. But still, the latter half of 2023 was a really weird time for the tag titles and we’re witnessing the same for this year. The Young Bucks have not defended their tag titles at all since winning them at Dynasty on April 21. It’s now several months later and the tag division has stagnated more than ever which is quite sad when you see just how many great teams are in AEW and ROH that could use a push.

Private Party, The Gunns, The Lucha Bros, Top Flight, The Kingdom, The Righteous, The Infantry, The Gates of Agony, MxM Collection, Dark Order, The Butcher and The Blade, Iron Savages, The Von Erichs, Aussie Open (when Mark Davis is back from injury) are a lot of the teams in AEW that are below the platform that is occupied by the three main teams: FTR, The Young Bucks, and The Acclaimed. I know some AEW fans were upset about the report about the Motor City Machine Guns likely heading to WWE, but one team, as amazing as they are, isn’t going to solve this whole dilemma. Plus, there are plenty of other talented tag teams that AEW could sign if they wanted to such as the Billington Bulldogs after Tommy Billington’s great showcases on Collision, and the Grizzled Young Vets who absolutely should’ve been signed after their Collision match against The Acclaimed.

The point is, all of these teams mentioned above have what it takes to be right there with the clear top three tag teams presented in AEW, but that’s something Tony Khan and the booking team need to get started on now because as great as the matches would be, fans want to see fresh teams competing at the top of the tag team division and none of them are being elevated in that way at the moment.

Now, I wanted to go back to the topic of the trio’s division. As I said, I do agree with the fact that the trios division did take quite a bit of the wind out of AEW’s tag team division, but it also puzzles me because there are so many great trios and groups within AEW that I don’t think any tag teams are needed for it. In my opinion, the best trios in AEW are the ones that don’t contain any obvious tag team within them. When it’s just a bunch of dudes who are together and that’s it, that’s what makes the best trios in my opinion and they don’t take away from the tag division. I immediately think of the new and current champions, The Patriarchy, where there isn’t an obvious tag team in that group unless you want to count Nick and Mother Wayne. There are many more groups like this such as the Blackpool Combat Club or House of Black.

Every combination of two guys from those groups has teamed together at some point, which is what leads back to my point of there being enough great trios in AEW that the trios division doesn’t need to take away from the tag division. The Learning Tree, the Don Callis Family, the Premier Athletes, the Conglomeration, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, & Satnam Singh’s group, and Shane Taylor Promotions are even more examples to show how deep the trio’s division is and I think that sometimes gets forgotten about a lot because so many tag teams are utilized in 2-on-2 scenarios.

I felt like writing all of this to say that I love AEW and would consider myself a diehard fan, so I feel strongly about things like the state of the tag and trios divisions. There are some serious but rightful concerns from fans over the presentation and strength of both divisions. What’s the answer to solving these issues? Well, I already spelled out just how deep both divisions already are with the potential of more teams incoming, so an issue of depth I think is silly.

The issue lies entirely in the competitiveness of these teams and their directions and all of that circles back to Tony Khan and the booking team. Ultimately, Khan has the final say on anything, but there need to be ideas brought to the top to ensure that AEW’s tag team division isn’t constantly stagnant until it’s time to heat one of FTR, The Young Bucks, or The Acclaimed again for another title. There are plenty of great teams waiting for some direction and hopefully, after All In is when things completely turn around and the tag team division will return to the great form it used to be in a few years ago.

If you look at any advertisement or brochure on Karate, you will more than likely see the word confidence listed as one of the advertised benefits. How can a martial arts program develop confidence is the question you should ask? 

To be successful in anything, it requires time and dedication, but who has the time to make such a commitment? With the advancement of technology, we can learn anything with a few keystrokes or the swipe of an app. If we wish to learn about karate, how to punch, how to fight an attacker or become more confident, all we have to do is go to YouTube or Google.

We are all born with the ability to develop confidence, and our environment plays a major role in how confident we are. So what if you do not have confidence – or is it possible to be confident in one area and not others?

What is confidence?

There are many definitions of what confidence is and how to develop it. In the world of martial arts, confidence has many meanings that extend beyond the dojo floor. Karate has many of the same benefits as playing a sport; just like sports can help boost confidence, karate can do the same.

Through sports, individuals practice as a team to develop a strategy great enough to beat their opponent. One of the key benefits of team sports is when a collective number of individuals work together they can become victorious. Another benefit of team sports is when one athlete is not performing at best, the other athletes often times take up the slack.

How does karate compare with team sports?

A karate student, just like an athlete, must perform repetitive drills to become better. The more a karate student or athlete practice, the more they improve. When a new student starts out, they must be evaluated to develop the right approach at helping them be successful. When a student shows little confidence, we have drills that help them become stronger mentally and physically.

This process builds the platform for growth and proves to the student why they are worthy of success. It simply improves their belief in themselves which expands towards success in life.

In a traditional karate program, the student will learn not only physical attributes, but also how to focus on and develop mental drills. Theses drills include breathing, learning to follow instruction on command, commanding their bodies to perform certain tasks upon demand, and learning to block out verbal intimidation or distractions. These are all similar traits of team sports with the key difference being a karate student must learn these skills individually. Through repetitive drills that challenge them to focus beyond their discomfort zone, they develop the physical and mental strength to address such challenges with unwavering confidence, which can be used in the classroom, workplace, dangerous situations, etc.

When younger students have to deal with bullies, they do not have their instructor or peers physically with them. They have to rely on what they’ve learned and be able to execute with confidence. 

When an individual develops the ability to do five pull-ups after they could not even do one, it gives them a boost of confidence and belief. When a person learns skills to protect themselves with proper mental control, this addresses the powerful emotion of FEAR.

The fear of being attacked or picked on and not sure what to do, nor have the confidence to do it is immobilizing. When you develop this skill of defending yourself by using all senses through repetitive drills and training, you become confident you can defend yourself in most situations.

One cannot think that the mission at hand is to prepare students for battle. The goal is to arm students with a strong mental and physical presence that serves to protect them and help them navigate through life’s many challenges. If students are picked on, they should develop the strength to walk away from the situations and only use their training as the absolute last resort.

It takes a lot of confidence and a strong person to master this task, and certainly not an impossible task.

George Whitten can be found at Fighting Tiger Family Karate, located on 6701 Glenwood Ave., Suite 103, Raleigh, NC 27612. For more information, call (919) 787-2250 or visit www.ftfKarate.com.