Monthly Kick – When Karate Feet Take Control

Once a month, always on Saturdays, my best friend Jonas (21) and I meet for karate training in the small, old dojo. Unlike judo, things get serious here: hard punches, fast kicks, endurance drills until we drop. We love this contrast – judo is ground fighting and throws, karate is explosiveness and precision. After training, we're always the last ones to leave; the others disappear quickly. The two of us stay, tidy up a bit, talk about techniques, and laugh about our bad kicks. Just best friends who live and breathe the same sport.

Today's training was particularly tough – 90 minutes of kihon, then sparring. Our feet are burning in our karate shoes, our toes aching from all the front kicks. The first thing we do in the locker room is take off our shoes. The typical musty smell of karate feet rises up – sweat, leather, mat. Jonas stretches, wiggles his bare toes, and groans, "Man, my feet are killing me." I laugh and say, "Mine too, but somehow it feels good." We sit down next to each other on the bench, feet on the floor, and I realize I've been staring at his sweaty, powerful feet with their high insteps for a few seconds too long. He doesn't notice... or does he? The air suddenly feels a little thicker.

We shower quickly, get dressed again – just the two of us in the empty hall. Jonas sits down again, doesn't put his socks on, and suddenly says, quite casually, "You know, I once read that a lot of martial artists secretly have a thing for feet... because we work with them all day." I swallow, my heart racing. "Really? I wouldn't have guessed," I lie, trying to sound cool. He just grins, lifts a foot, and wiggles his toes right in front of my face – maybe 30 centimeters away. "And you? Do you have a secret thing like that too?" I blush, say nothing, just stare at his slightly dirty, perfect soles. The tension is palpable now, but neither of us makes the next move.

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