Sparring and one-step with a twist – 11/18/08 – Tuesday Karate class
This class was turning point for my sparring.
The light bulb came on…
Sensei Noia had us spend most of the class working on sparring drills. I paired up with one of our black belt assistant instructors named Mike Buss. Mike has been in Martial Arts for many years and is one of the hardest fighters in our club. When he hits you, it is like getting hit with a hammer but he always asks how hard do you want to go. This is how much control he has over his punches and kicks but the few times I said “lets go hard” in the past, I ended up with some really nasty bruises and sore ribs.
I had asked Mike to help me out and give me some pointers since my sparring is really below where it should be. He gave me the following advice:
Instead of turning my body sideways, he said to may upper body almost straight ahead. He said to block front or forward kicks with the front hand and roundhouse or turned kicks with back hand. This worked extremely well and although he was taking it easy on me, my blocks were working better than ever from using his suggestions.
One of the biggest tips he gave me was to watch my partners distance, when they are moving in a circle sideways. I never noticed until today that when they move like that, they are getting closer and I never noticed it. After that, I was able to keep my distance right where I wanted it and even though I didn’t have a great deal of attacks, I was able to block pretty much everything he threw from that point.
Sensei Noia told us to switch partners. I went with my friend Robert who I can never defend. Out of six or more exchanges, Robert was only able to score on me one time. I blocked every other attack he threw and I would have scored on him be he beat me to the punch with his one score. It all had to do with his timing and when he would circle he was get closer but now that I knew his trick, I was able to keep my distance and block his attacks for the first time.
Thanks Mike for all the good tips!
One step with moves from kata…
For the last few minutes of class, Sensei Noia had us work on one-step sparring but using moves from our kata’s instead of the normal block and counters that we always do. I really enjoying this type of one-step since it gives me the change to work on kata bunkai as I see it. One of my favorite moves was doing the yama zuki from Bassai Dai as the block and counter.
It was a really good class.
Ladders and one-step sparring – 11/17/08 – Monday Karate class
Today was our first Monday back after an unscheduled and scheduled day off. Because of the extra day off, we had a two hour class. Sensei Brien was out so Sensei Beth Noia and Sensei Sarah Plackett gave us an excellent class in his place.
We started out with some simple Kihon and combinations to get warmed up.
One-step with the entire class…
The was a little different, at least for me. We started one-step sparring with a partner and then switched partners until we did one move with the half of the class. Next, we all lined up in a square. One person would attack, then step into the line and we would move out and attack and keep going around the square until the entire class had a change to attack and defend with against everyone.
Ladders, focus mitts and kata…
This was a good drill. We started shifting in and out of the floor ladder with both feet together. After the ladder, we stood in front of one of the Sensei’s holding a focus mit on each hand and cross punched and backfisted each one. For example, with our left hand, we would punch his left hand, since he was facing us, and then backfist the mit on his right hand and we used the other hand. This was an excellent coordination drill and once I got the hang of it, I was able to move fairly fast. Next, we went through another ladder and shifted side to side but with really wide shifts. After that, we went off to the side and did our own kata.
Kata…
We spent the last part of class working on Kata. We started with Heian Shodan and went up to Heian Yondan. After we finished working on the Heian kata’s we spent the rest of the time working on both Jion and Bassai Dai. This was really good since both Sensei Beth and Sensei Sarah spent a lot of time correcting each of us individually when we were doing our kata.
A lot of moves and a lot of fun – 11/16/08 – Kick for Cures
Today was our Kick for Cures event and it was a great success. By the time we were finished, our club had already raised near $75,000.
For the first time, since I have been doing this event, it felt easy. I would normally be ready to drop after an hour of kicks, punches and blocks but I felt so good, I ended up staying and doing another 1000 moves along with my wife and son.
It was a great event with a lot of great people and all for a good cause.
If anyone would still like to donate, you can do so at the Kick for Cures website, There is still time until the end of this month. Yo
Some Karate history – 11/15/08 – Saturday Karate class
Sensei Gatch had us start class doing Heian Shodan and kata’s all the way up to our own rank kata. We have done this before but the part that made it interesting was the Karate history that he explained between every couple of kata’s.
Karate history…
One of the more interesting bits of information was the meaning of Bassai. He said that this means the splashing of waves off the rocks in the ocean.
Sensei also talked about the meaning of Shotokan. Shoto is pine waves or the movement of wind through a pine tree and kan which means house.
He also gave us the Japanese names of many the more complex moves from the various kata’s.
One-step down the line…
After our kata, Sensei Gatch had us work on one-step sparring. We did it a few times with one partner and then he had us move to a different partner each time until we did an attack and a block with counter with everyone in the class. This is pretty helpful considering that we have people of all different sizes when we do one-step at our exam.
Sparring drills – 11/14/08 – Friday Karate class
Sensei Noia had us work on our sparring drills today.
All sparring…
The first drill we worked on was shift in and attack while our partner stood there as a target. We then did a similar drill but our partner could block our attacks. After that, our partner could block and counter our attacks and we changed sides so that both all got a chance to do each drill.
Free sparring…
Next, Sensei Noia had us test our skills, from the drills we were working on, with some free sparring drills. I took Sensei’s advice from last week and waited for my partner to attack me instead of me chasing him down. It worked a little bit better but I still have more to learn.
Next, Sensei had all of us get into a circle. From there, he told one of us to get in the center and he called one of us to go and spar. After a few different people, another person would go into the middle and the do the same thing. I still need some more work at this point but I am starting to get an idea of what doesn’t work for me.
