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Post by genkaimade on Oct 22, 2010 20:45:00 GMT
...and I'm currently a mixed bag of emotions. Starting with the warm up, I was really psyched - this warm up was really quite physically testing, with the plank, press-ups, and chin-ups to really separate the men from the boys Following that, we did a good chunk of combination-kihon, and once again, I found myself thinking "damn this is good!" Then we moved on to kumite, and this is where I found myself a little annoyed on the inside. Firstly, let me say that there are dan gradings next week, so I can understand that the people that I was paired with might have wanted to take it a little easy. When we were doing this kumite though, and it was light-free-kumite at that, I felt absolutely nothing. It's like they didn't think I was worth their time. I wasn't about to hit them hard just to wake them up, but when a simple not particularly quick oi-zuke jodan then immediate gyaku-zuki chudan nearly gets your opponent right in the stomach without them even noticing you've executed both techniques and come back to shizentai, you really do have to question whether they're seeing you as an opponent or just a "lower than me" 3rd kyu... Kata followed, and we were taken through Jion (holy mother of cow I'm going to enjoy this kata when I'm actually good enough to do it properly ) and Bassai dai (I spent about 15 minutes at the end of the lesson just doing the first move, over and over again :/ ) Alex PS. In the kumite, in spite of how incredibly spiritless it was, I found myself blinking much more than I should have; any tips on how to rectify this?
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Post by Bob Davis on Oct 22, 2010 21:14:45 GMT
If they are then more fool them, pretty much every time I've had my ribs cracked or busted it been by a brown belt, now good enough to be dangerous but not quite good enough not to be (and I'm not being smug there as I was taken aside as a brown belt and given "the talk" because it was getting to the stage where none of the blackbelts wanted to train with me, you tend to forget they are "just people" too). I'd also find this a little surprising, normally it seems to be the other way round, heaven help everyone in the face of upcoming dan gradings as the candidates are so fired up that everyone has to be on their metal. Do you think that you may just have been expecting more out of it the step up than there was, it's quite easy post grading to be on a slight downer when things feel like nothing's actually changed (despite the fact that it will have). You'd have had a great time at the sensei Hazzard course then (for which you now qualify to be in the senior grade sessions , as we worked Jion specifically as a fighting kata and broke it down in some detail. Lots of fun to be had from this point.
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Post by Paul Bedard on Oct 23, 2010 2:02:36 GMT
Alex, I must say that I appreciate your description of your first session as a brown belt. As for as the dans not being challenging during kumite, I`m with Bob on this one. If they are testing soon, I would be expecting them to be turning it up. Regardless of that, my way of thinking is I give what I get. If my partner is going slow & easy I`ll try & be close to the same. If my partner comes in harder 7 obviously found an opening in my defense, Ill try to not let that happen & return the favour. I like to be a little bit harder than my opponent, no disrespect intended, but I like for them to know that it`s alright with me if they decide to turn it up a notch. Even if they score on me with not to much trouble. That just gives me a chance to be honest about a weak point. Also gives them a chance to see where they are strong. Never underestimate a brown belt, they have the eye of the tiger. I also love Jion, I tested for both my nidan & sandan with this kata. It is powerful, it has a nice flow, self defense, weapons defense, throws, destabilizing etc.. I don`t know if you know the meaning of Jion, so pardon me if I`m telling you what you already know. Jion is temple. An old temple in China. Legend has it that at this yemple there was a monk who also went by `Jion`, he was shorter & stocky, hence the point that it`s not acrobatic `shorei`, it is a solid strong kata. It is good that you are working on Bassai dai & doing the first move for so many reps makes sense to me. Bassai means `to penetrate a fortress` also a` shorei` kata. Now is when you`l start to understand `shorin`more light & acrobatic ie.. empi & unsu also gankaku & `shorei`more solid & strong ie bassai dai, jion & sochin. Some of the classes that I have enjoyed the most as a brown belt, were when we did the sentes kata - bassai dai, empi, jion & kanku dai. Great fun & learning. From what I`m feeling Alex, I think that you are going to be doing your sensei proud by working hard with what you will be getting exposed to now. Don`t let some of the dans lack of ambition bother you, you will get teamed up with one who will gladly bruise you up a bit & you`ll have great fun learning how to not make it easy to score on each other.. Osu Paul B
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