My Goju-Ryu Journal -- 1997

January 2, 1997

Happy New Year! I got to class early tonight, got warmed up and ran through my Katas. We bowed in at seven with a very small class (5 students, one new, plus Sensei Yocham), and ran through exercises and stretching for about 40 minutes. Sensei Yocham then ran me through all of my orange belt (9th kyu) rank requirements, which are:
  1. Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi
  2. Koryu kata Sanchin
  3. Kiso Kumite Shodan
  4. Sparring techniques 1-4
I then worked on Tando-ku-kata-dai-ni and Sanchin kata. At the end of the class, I worked with the new student (Rudy ?) on sparring techniques one and two.

Sensei told me to be prepared for my orange belt test on Sunday.

January 5, 1997

I got to class tonight about 6:30, stretched and warmed up, and then ran through my katas a few times. Before class, we're required to do a certain number of crunches, based on our rank, but I have been trying to do 10 more than required, plus pushups, so I'm now doing 40 crunches and 40 pushups before class. I'm also trying to do the same every morning, as well as 30 leg lifts and 40 squats (in a shiko dachi).

Class started at 7:00, and Sensei Yocham ran us through stretching and exercises for almost an hour. By the end of it, I was pretty beat. At 8:00, Sensei dismissed us to get some water, and when we lined back up, called me up for my Orange Belt test (9th kyu). I ran through Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi several times in front of the class, and then he called up Glen (who is a black belt in TaeKwonDo, but a white belt in Goju Ryu) and we ran through it together. Sensei then told us to remove our Gi tops and perform Koryu Kata Sanchin, while he and David checked body tension, stances, balance, etc.

Sensei then had us put our Gi tops back on, had Glen sit down, and asked David to come up. David and I ran through Kiso Kumite Shodan and the first four sparring techniques. Sensei then had me run through Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi again. He then discussed things that I did right or wrong in my techniques and things I could do to improve them.

I definitely need to work on my Sanchin dachi, because I had some balance problems, especially laterally, when performing Sanchin kata. For Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, I need to work on my kiais, my chambering of the arm before the Shuto strike, and the final move, where you step back into a Zenkutsu dachi and perform the double punch, where I start to turn the wrong way, and also block, which is a move from Tando-ku-kata-dai-ni, but is not in dai-ichi.

After the test was over, Sensei lined us up, and then we paired off to work on two-man techniques. I was paired up with Cindy to start working on Tando-ku-kata-bunkai-dai-ichi, and we got through most of the techniques for one of the people (the techniques are different depending on whether you are person A or person B).

We then lined up and Sensei presented me with my Orange Belt, so I'm now a 9th kyu!

January 9, 1997

Very good workout tonight. Sensei decided that we were not answering quickly enough in class, so every time someone failed to answer his questions, or failed to kiai at the appropriate time, everyone was required to do ten pushups. Since I've been doing forty every morning, plus forty warming up before class, by the end of class, I had done 175 pushups for the day. Because of this, our exercise period was over an hour long.

After we finished exercises, Sensei had me take Rudy and teach him Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, and also work through Kiso kumite shodan with Yvette and Christopher. Class ran until almost 9:00, at which time we lined up and bowed out.

When I got home, I did 25 more pushups to make it an even 200 for the day. I don't plan on doing that very often.

January 12, 1997

Class was cancelled tonight due to an ice storm hitting the Austin area.

January 14, 1997

Makeup class for the class cancelled last Sunday. Class started at 8:00, although I had gotten there about 7:30 to stretch out. We skipped the exercise period and Sensei told us to work on whatever we felt we needed to work on. I paired up with David and we ran through Kiso kumite shodan and then worked on Tando-ku-kata-bunkai-dai-ichi. We then switched and I worked with Rudy on his Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, and I ran through Sanchin kata, kata-dai-ichi, and kata-dai-ni.

After that, I paired up with Jimmy and we worked on bunkai-dai-ichi again. I do alright as the attacker, but am not used to defending yet. Sensei then paired up with Jimmy, so I worked on kata for a while. Towards the end of the class, Sensei and I paired up together and ran through bunkai-dai-ichi again. I also had some questions about kata-dai-ni.

We bowed out a little after 9:30

January 16, 1997

I got to class at about 6:30 and Sensei said to stretch out and get warmed up for sparring. At 7:00, we moved into the main room with the Tae Kwon Do class that meets there on Thursdays, and paired up with TKD students for free sparring. We sparred for about an hour, switching partners periodically. From our class, I sparred with David, Jimmy, Jason, and Ashley, and then also with a couple of the TKD students.

I find that I really need to work on my control. It's OK with David or Jimmy, but there were a couple of times, once with Jason, and once with Ashley, where I hit harder than I meant to. These students are young (12 and 11, I think), and I need to be careful when I spar with them. Jason is very fast, and to defend I have to respond quickly, but this makes the control that much harder. Ashley, on the other had, is fast, but somewhat timid, at least when sparring with me (well, I do outweigh her by ~100 pounds).

When sparring with the smaller students, except for Jason, I was trying to just use my hands and fight from a low Shiko-dachi. Five minutes of that, and my legs were sore, but not as bad as they would have been three months ago.

After sparring, we performed Sanchin kata as a group, and then Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi for me and Gekisai-dai-ichi for the higher ranked students. We then split up to work on two-man techniques, and I worked with David on Kiso kumite shodan and Tando-ku-kata-bunkai-dai-ichi.

After class, David gave me his phone number and asked me to give him a call when I got home. I called him and we talked about my needing to work on my control. I think it was meant to be a friendly bit of advice, because David and I are both about the same size and the largest students in the class. Also, we are both able to take a pretty good shot. He said that when he started out, he had to work on his control as well.

January 19, 1997

I got to class early and stretched out, and then started working on my katas. At about 7:10, Lorene lined us up and we did warmup exercises, stretching, and practiced kicks. We then paired off, myself with Jimmy. We worked on Kiso kumite shodan and Tando-ku-kata-bunkai-dai-ichi. He then showed me sparring techniques 5-8, which are green stripe requirements, and we worked on those. Jimmy will be testing for his green belt on Saturday, so he also worked on sparring techniques 9-12, while I acted as the dummy defender.

January 23, 1997

I worked with Jimmy on his belt test requirements (at least the ones I knew), and then worked with Jason on my belt requirements (bunkai-dai-ichi, kiso kumite shodan, kata-dai-ni, and sparring techniques 1-8). We bowed out a little early, which was good, since some friends were having a get together for my wife's birthday, which is tomorrow.

January 25, 1997

Today was the day of the T.O.G.K.F. banquet. Since there were a number of dan-ranks in town, we were having belt tests for a number of students at our school. We met at the dojo around 10:30 and warmed up, and the test started at about 11:00. The test board consisted of Senseis Chapman, Yocham, Gonzales, Johnson, Van Horton (?) and two others whose names I forget. Students who were testing were : Lorene for brown, Jason for brown, David for brown stripe, Travis for purple, Ashley for purple stripe, and Jimmy for green. Glen was also running through the tests, but was not officially testing for any specific rank.

I was there to watch the test and also to videotape. The test lasted until about 3:00, and involved kata, kiso kumite, sparring techniques, bunkai, and sparring. The brown belt candidates had to spar three opponents at once, while the purple belt and brown stripe candidates had to fight two. At the end of the test, everyone was awarded their attempted rank, although Jason's was made probationary.

At 5:00, we all met at the Hunan Lion in Round Rock for the banquet. After dinner, each of the head instructors spoke, naming their student of the year, most improved student, and family of the year. Sensei Chapman then spoke and awarded the school and instructor of the year. Sensei Yocham won instructor of the year and the Austin school got school of the year. Sensei Johnson then presented Sensei Chapman with a Kuando (Quando? Kwando?) which is a chinese weapon he has been wanting to buy.

After the banquet, several of us met back over at the dojo for a seminar on Saifa kata. It was a little strange for me, since I haven't learned Saifa yet, but most of what Sensei Chapman taught was bunkai and application, so it was pretty interesting.

January 26, 1997

Sensei Chapman stayed in town to teach on Sunday, so we met at the dojo for class at 12:00 noon. Sensei Owens, one of the Dallas black belts ran us through warmups and stretching, and then Sensei Chapman came out and ran class. We ran through kiso kumite shodan, but with Sensei Chapman showing a different possible ending for each sequence. For instance, the ending of sequence #1 blends easily into an arm break. He then went through possible bunkai for sequences in Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, with similar moves.

January 30, 1997

We had a long exercise period tonight. Sensei announced that one of the concerns that had come up in the yearly review with the senior students was that there needed to be a longer exercise period, so we had exercises from 7:00 till 7:50. We then partnered up and worked on techniques. I worked with Yvette, who Sensei is trying to get to punch harder and be a bit more aggressive. We performed Kiso Kumite Shodan, but instead of blocking her punches, I just took them (not to the face, just chest and stomach). I got some conditioning, and she got a mobile punching bag.

February 2, 1997

We had a heavy exercise period and then practiced kicks on the kicking shields. We did ten each leg of mae geri, yoko geri, mawashi geri, and ushiro geri, and then ten with each leg of some combinations. The combination I remember was a crescent kick, set down, and then perform a back kick. Jason was the bag holder, and I came around one time and kicked him in the hand. I hate it when I do stuff like that.

We then broke up into groups to work on kata and two man stuff. I worked with Jimmy on bunkai-dai-ichi first, and then went and worked with David on it.

February 6, 1997

We ran through light warmups and then moved directly into kata, especialy working on the kata we would be performing for the tournament on Saturday. I worked on Tando-ku-kata-dai-ni until about 8:00. We then lined up and Rudy tested for his 10th kyu orange stripe. We then paired up and worked on point sparring techniques until 8:45, when we bowed out.

We were told that everyone who was going to the tournament needed to meet at least two people who they had never met before and be able to tell what their names were.

February 8, 1997

Today (Saturday) was the T.O.G.K.F. tournament up in Irving. Rudy and I drove up there early in the morning (we left Austin about 6:45 a.m.) and got there a little before 10:00, when it started. I got dressed and then just waited around most of the morning, watching advanced and intermediate kata competitions. About noon, they had the adult beginner's kata, with six 8-10th kyu participants. I performed Tando-ku-kata-dai-ni, and came in second, getting beaten out by Joel Mendoza by 1/10th of a point (I scored 3 8.4s and 2 8.5s, he scored 2 8.4s and 3 8.5s).

We then did adult beginner's kumite, where I can in third. Again, Joel came in first, and I sparred with him during the first round. When time ran out, we were tied 2-2, but he scored the first point in sudden death overtime. Since there were only four beginners sparring, I competed with another gentleman for the 3rd and 4th place spot.

The Austin school did fairly well. There were only six us competing (David, Travis, Lorene, Jason, Ashley, and myself), and we scored 27 points (first place was 3 points).

I met Gilbert Delgado, who is a white belt under Sensei Gonzales in Brownwood (one of only 4-5 students, since the school was just founded), and Joel Mendoza, from the Walnut Hill school, under Brian Heier. Joel beat me out for first place in beginner's kata, and also for first place in beginner's kumite.

After the tournament, we all went to Furr's cafeteria, before Rudy and I drove back to Austin.

February 9, 1997

Class was almost completely exercise tonight. We worked on stretching, exercises, kicks, combinations, etc. until close to 8:00. Sensei then set up seven stations around the dojo. First was a high heavy back to practice jump kicks. Second was a heavy bag to practice just punches and hand techniques. Third was a heavy bag to practice hand and foot techniques. Fourth was the medicine ball. Fifth was a clapper target to practice circular techniques. Sixth was a kicking shield to practice linear kicks. In the seventh station, two people got together in Shiko dachi and practice jo-chu-ge punches and blocks, alternating attacker and defender. We worked each station for two minutes with a one minute break betwwen the rounds.

After we were done, Sensei said that he had heard some people curse when they had missed the bag or dropped the medicine ball, etc. He asked if anyone else had, and a few people had. He counted up the incidents, totalling 14, and had us do ten pushups for each one. After 140 pushups, I was beat.

February 13, 1997

After warming up before class, we got together with the Tae Kwon Do students and sparred. I sparred with a couple of their students, and also with a couple of ours (Glen and Rudy). We did this for about an hour and then broke up into pairs to work on rank requirements

February 16, 1997

After our warmup and exercise period, we performed group kata. After we had progressed past the kata I knew, Sensei told me to work on Bunkai-dai-ichi by myself. I found this to be very difficult, since you don't have the normal cues that a partner gives you, but I was able to do it, although I had to refer several times to the Toguchi book.

After kata was over, I worked on Bunkai-dai-ichi with Glen.

February 20, 1997

This was a hard exercise night, with a great deal of emphasis on kicking combinations. After we did all the normal kicks (front, side, back, and roundhouse), we practiced combinations of normal kicks, so, for instance, front kick with the back leg, step with kicking leg so it is now the front leg and execute a side kick with the front leg. Or, roundhouse kick followed by a spinning side kick. We did several sets of these.

We then broke up into groups and I ran through kata and kiso kumite with Yvette and Rudy. I then worked on Bunkai-dai-ichi with James.

February 23, 1997

Quickdraw practice.

February 27, 1997

Tonight was a very heavy exercise and kata night. After our normal set of stretches and warmup, we practiced 4-count, 3-count, and 1-count kicks for each of mae geri, yoko geri, mawashi geri, and ushiro geri. Between each set of kicks, we performed Sanchin kata.

We then split up into upper and lower ranks. The lower ranks stepped off the mat and watched the higher ranks perform kata. We then switched, and each of the higher ranked students was assigned a lower rank student to observe and make constructive suggestions. Jason watched me perform Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi. The two suggestions he had were to (a) narrow my sanchin-dachi, because it was too wide, and (b) work on my posture, because I have a tendency to stoop over some.

We then split up and I worked with David on Bunkai-dai-ichi.

March 2, 1997

I arrived early tonight and got warmed up. When class started, Sensei lined up the students except for Rudy and myself, and let Jason lead them in exercises. He took Rudy and I to the back of class and ran us through the requirements for our next ranks. For me, this is Tando-ku-kata-dai-ni, Bunkai-dai-ichi, Kiso Kumite Shodan, adn sparring techniques 1-8. Sensei said that I needed to work on my stances, for instance, my Shiko dachi was a bit to narrow during kata, my Sanchin dachi was a bit too wide, and during kata, I had a tendency to lift my back foot when punching. He told me to work on these things, and that in a week he would look again and if they were fixed, he would schedule a green stripe (8th kyu) test.

After this, Rudy and I lined back up with the rest of the class and we worked on some more kicks and combinations. Around 8:00, we paired up to work on punching drills and conditioning. We performed jo/chu/ge punches and blocks, traveling up and down the mat.

Sensei also announced that we would be doing breaking on Thursday (the next class).

March 6, 1997

Tonight we did stretching and exercises for about 45 minutes. We then sat down and each got an opportunity to try some breaking. David broke three cinderblocks. I broke one board, and then two. Several other people broke multiple boards and blocks.

Breaking is something I had never really done in Isshinryu, and I think it is more of a treat than anything. Kind of fun, though

March 9, 1997

Pre-pre-test

March 13, 1997

March 16, 1997

Tonight was a heavy kata night. Sensei told Rudy, Yvette, and I that he wanted to test us for our next rank on Thursday night (March 20th). I will be testing for my 8th kyu (orange belt with green stripe), so I worked on my test katas (Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, Tando-ku-kata-dai-ni, and Sanchin kata). I also worked with Travis, who ran through my two-person requirements for the test.

Sensei started me working on Gekisai-dai-ichi, and got me through all of the moves. He also paired me up with James, and told me that he would be my partner for the two-man techniques on the belt test. We ran through kata, bunkai, kiso kumite, and sparring techniques.

March 20, 1997

We ran through stretching and exercises for the first half of class. For the second half, Sensei lined up Rudy, Yvette, and myself for belt tests. I was testing for 8th kyu, and Rudy and Yvette were testing for 9th kyu.

We ran through Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi and Koryu kata Sanchin, and then I paired up with Rudy for Kiso kumite shodan, and we performed that. Rudy is not tall, but he punches with a great deal of force (good control, though). There were a couple of techniques (#5 and #6 especially), where I saw that fist coming for my face and thought he was going to nail me.

We then did sparring techniques 1-4, alternating attacker/defender. When it came time for me to do techniques 5-8, Sensei let Rudy remain my partner, but when he was the attacker for 5, he came in and performed the kick that I was supposed to perform. After that, Sensei took him out and placed David as my partner. I ran through 5-8 with him without incident.

I then performed Tando-ku-kata-bunkai-dai-ichi with James as my partner. We performed it three times without any terribly notable incidents, although once we clashed in ge blocks when I blocked when I should have punched.

We finished this and Sensei lined us all up and called Rudy, Yvette, and I up to the front, where he promoted all three of us.

March 23, 1997

Sensei Johnson was in town and we did group sparring.

March 27, 1997

I missed class tonight. Last night, my wife, Kelly, gave birth to our third child, Carlisle Joy Esther Woodward, so I was still at the hospital.

March 30, 1997

I made it to class tonight, although Kelly and the baby were still in the hospital (Kelly had had a C-section and Carly was running a bit of a fever). I hadn't gotten any exercise for close to a week, so Kelly told me to get out of the hospital and go to class.

We had a pretty good exercise period and then spent the rest of the evening working on kata. I primarily worked on Gekisai-dai-ichi.

April 3, 1997

After the initial exercise period, I started learning Kiso Kumite Nidan with James. We worked through sequence number 4. James then went to work on some other stuff and I worked through sequence number 6 with Jason.

April 6, 1997

Tonight, I worked with Glen on rank requirements. We started with Tando-ku-kata-bunkai-dai-ni, which is very similar to bunkai-dai-ichi, in the same way that kata-dai-ichi and kata-dai-ni are very similar. We then worked on Kiso Kumite Nidan, and worked through all six sets of techniques. Sensei then asked David to come over and start me working on Kihon Kata No Bo, and we got about a third of the way through.

April 10, 1997

We had a real rough exercise period tonight. After stretching out, we went through about a lot of stomach exercises, consisting of a number of different types of crunches, and also leg lifts.

After that, I worked with Jason getting the full sequence of moves for Kihon Kata No Bo, but we were in the back room and didn't have much room to work it out. We moved up into the front room after the TKD class left, and Sensei went over the kata with both myself and Rudy. It made a lot more sense when I actually had room to perform it.

April 13, 1997

After the exercise period, I worked on Kihon Kata No Bo some more. We worked on kata until about 8:00, and then we geared up for sparring. We sparred two minute rounds with a minute break, switching partners each time.

April 17, 1997

We lined up for a light exercise period, and then split up into two lines facing a partner. Sensei told us to partner with that person and work on any thing we needed a partner for. We worked with a given partner for about 10 minutes, then lined back up and rotated partners.

I would up working on Kiso Kumite Nidan with Sensei, James, David, and Ashley (and boy were my arms bruised after working with Sensei), and I also worked with Rudy on Bunkai-dai-ichi and Alladio (sp?) on Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi.

Alladio is an interesting case. He doesn't speak a whole lot of English, so you pretty much have to demonstrate things to him, and correct errors using gestures. I know that the marines who brought Isshin-Ryu back to the states had the same problem studying under Tatsuo Shimabuku, since he spoke very little English. Gives a little insight as to how difficult it must have been.

April 20, 1997

Hey! This is my six month anniversary studying at the school. The first time I attended class was October 20, 1996. It's also been 16 months since I had my last cigarette (December 19, 1995).

There were only five of us in class tonight (David, Travis, Jason, Ashley, and myself). Most of the class, I worked on kata alone (Kihon Kata No Bo, Gekisai Dai Ichi, Sanchin), with Sensei occasionally pointing out problems. I also worked with Sensei on Kiso Kumite Nidan and Bunkai-dai-ni. Sensei also started me on Kihon Kata No Nunchuku, which is a basic Nunchuku kata.

While working on KKNN, I nailed each of my elbows at least once. I'm not a huge fan of chucks as weapons go. The kata is not part of the regular rank requirements, just kind of an extra, which is cool. Sensei said to play around with the chucks for a while and get a good feel for them, since i have a lot of problems using them right now.

I also watched Sensei working with David and Jason on Bo/Tonfa kumite. That was pretty interesting.

April 24, 1997

After the exercise period, we paired up for arm conditioning. I was paired up with David (of course). We did conditioning exercises for about 10 minutes, and then David worked with me on kata Gekisai-dai-ichi, and Kiso Kumite Nidan. Between the conditioning and the Kiso Kumite, my arms were quite sore by the end of the evening.

April 27, 1997

Sensei was out tonight, because it was his anniversary. Jason led class through exercises, and then we paired up and worked on rank requirements. My brother Jim was in town, so he came to class as well.

May 1, 1997

Starting in May, we switched from Sunday and Thursday nights, 7:00 - 8:30 to Tuesday and Thursday nights 7:30 - 9:00. As a consequence, almost everyone got to class at the normal time, which is now a half hour early. Several of the classes at The Karate Chop were moving around, and half of them didn't get the word. We were supposed to move up to the front room, but it was occupied, so we stayed in the back.

All in all, it was kind of a mess, but no worse than could be expected.

We got two new students, Roy and Lydia, who are a married couple, and Lorene started back (she took a leave of absence for the month of April).

May 6, 1997

We had our first Tuesday class tonight. It's nice to have Sundays free now, but that 5 day break between Thursday and the next Tuesday is kind of long. Things went smoother than last Thursday, but we were still a few minutes late starting class waiting for the Tae Kwon Do class to finish up.

May 8, 1997

Things are starting to run a bit more smoothly now. We came into class, warmed up, and broke up to work on kata. Jason helped Rudy and I out with Kihon kata no bo. Rudy and I also worked together on 1st kumite, 1st bunkai, and sparring techniques.

May 13, 1997

After exercises, I worked with Roy and Lydia (two new students), starting them off on Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi. They had already gone through basics with someone else (punching, blocking, etc.)

After that, Sensei worked with me on kata for green belt (Gekisai-dai-ichi, but also 1st and 2nd kata). He said that we all need to work on getting more spirit into our kata, so he had me run through Gekisai-dai-ichi as fast and as powerful as I could. At first, I was doing it powerfully, but screwing up the moves, but as I performed it more, I was able to do it correctly with incresed power.

May 15, 1997

I worked with Lydia some more on 1st kata. As she got comfortable with it, I worked on kata myself, and also paired up with James to work on 2nd kumite.

About 8:30, we geared up for sparring. I was sparring with James and he came around with a spinning back kick as I was throwing a front kick. We clashed knees, the front of my knee hitting the side of his. Didn't feel like much to me, but he collapsed and wasn't able to spar the rest of the evening.

I get really upset when I accidentally hurt people like that. I know it hapens, but when I do it, it's annoying. He was fine the next day, though, so it wasn't a big deal.

May 20, 1997

Sensei said that he would like Rudy and me to test next Tuesday, Rudy for 8th kyu, and myself for 7th kyu (green belt). Sensei separated James and I out at the beginning of class and we went through all the 7th kyu requirements (2nd kumite, 2nd bunkai, Gekisai-dai-ichi, Kihon kata no bo, sparring techniquest 1-12).

May 22, 1997

We warmed up and worked on rank requirements for the first hour of class. We also took about fifteen minutes and had a question and answer period (Q&A going both ways, from and to Sensei). For the last half hour, we then lined up, and as a class, went through the katas we knew. I performed Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, dai-ni, Sanchin kata, and Gekisai-dai-ichi, and then dropped out. The more advanced students performed Saifa, Gekisai-dai-ni, Gekisai-dai-san, Gekihat-dai-ichi, Seiunchin, and Sesan, plus a few of the White Crane katas which I've seen but don't know the name of.

I'm still trying to figure out if the Goju-Ryu Sesan kata is related to the Isshin-Ryu (and, I guess, Shorin-Ryu) Seisan kata. There were some vague similarities, so it would not surprise me if they were related in the dim past, but they are certainly not close at all.

Anyway, 7th kyu test next Tuesday.

May 27, 1997

Tonight there was a big storm in Austin and the towns to the north. There were a number of people killed in Jarrell, north of here. As a result of the storm (which blew in about 4:30, and out about 6:30), I didn't get to class until 7:30, just as class started.

I had intended to get in early and run through my kata and two-person techniques, but that didn't work out. We started class a few minutes late, and most of us had already warmed up, so we went immediately into working on kicks. We performed all the regular kicks solo, and then we paired up and worked on kicking and defending. I paired up with Roy, who has a good strong kick, if not too fast yet (but he hasn't even been a student for a month, so that's understandable).

After this, about 8:15, we started the belt test. We all lined up and ran through Kata-dai-ichi, dai-ni, Sanchin kata, and Gekisai-dai-ichi. While performing Sanchin, Lorene got behind me as I was coming back with an elbow strike, and I hit her in the head. Whoops.

I then performed Kihon kata no bo, which went pretty well. I then paired up with Rudy and went through Kiso Kumite Shodan and Bunkai-dai-ichi. Both of those were kind of sloppy. We also worked through sparring techniques 1-12, which went reasonably smoothly.

Jimmy and I then paired up together and performed Kiso Kumite Nidan and Bunkai-dai-ni. Again, both of them felt relatively sloppy, whereas we had worked on them together Monday night and they went well. After that, Sensei lined us up and made suggestions as to areas we could improve.

At this point we ran out of time. We had finished the test, but the next class was waiting for the floor, so Sensei lined us up and awarded orange stripe to Aladio (Hilario???, pronounced Aladio?). He told Rudy and I that we would get our test results on Thursday.

All in all, I wasn't terribly pleased with my test. It went OK, but not as smoothly as I would have liked. I guess I'll see on Thursday what Sensei thought about it.

May 29, 1997

Well, I guess the test went well enough, because tonight we lined up for class and Sensei promoted Rudy and I. I am now a 7th kyu green belt.

James started working with me on third bunkai, corresponding to Gekisai-dai-ichi, tonight. We worked on that until about 8:30, when we started sparring. For the first few rounds, we did something strange. One of each of the sparring pairs was the attacker and the other was the defender. The defender was not allowed to respond with an attack until the attacker had thrown at least three techniques. At that point the roles swapped. I found it very difficult to not respond to an attack with a counter-attack, but it did seem to make me a bit more aware of blocking.

After a few rounds of this, we did regular sparring until 9:00.

June 3, 1997

June 5, 1997

Sensei Yocham was out this evening because he had Strep. Jason ran class, and we worked on rank requirements.

June 10, 1997

Sensei was still recovering from Strep, so we had a fairly low-key class tonight. I mostly worked on kata and two-man techniques.

June 12, 1997

Apparently Sensei has finished recovering from Strep. We did exercise for about an hour and fifteen minutes tonight. We started off with the normal warmups, but we soon went into the normal kick-stretches and kicks. We then performed four-corner front kicks, after which we practiced kicks on a shield held by a partner.

In the four-corner kick exercise, the student squats down on the ground with one leg out. On the count, they either jump up, kick, and turn, or they jump up, turn, and kick (we did it both ways). After four sets of corner kicks, I was quite tired, and pretty sore the next day.

After this, we worked on kata and bunkai for the rest of the evening.

June 17, 1997

We warmed up and then went through exercises for about 45 minutes, and then we split up and worked on kata and two-person drills. I worked on third bunkai with David and then worked on sparring techniques with James. We then suited up and sparred from 8:45 until 9:00.

June 19, 1997

We started out class with the normal exercise and stretching period, but it was made quite unpleasant by the fact that there is some construction going on at the school, so power to two of the four fans, and to the air conditioning, was off. After about 45 minutes, I was wiped out.

After that, we split up. I worked with Lorene, who started me on Saifa kata. We worked through the first knuckle strike to the throat, which I believe is not quite halfway.

June 24, 1997

After stretching and exercises, I worked with Hilario on Kiso Kumite Shodan. We worked through the first three sequences. Right before the end of class, Roy tested for, and was awarded, his orange stripe (10th kyu).

June 26, 1997

Lorene led us through exercises, while Sensei worked with Glen, checking him out for an upcoming belt test. We stretched out, ran through kicks, and then paired up to work on two-person drills. I paired up with Jason, and we ran through 1st and 2nd kiso kumite and 3rd bunkai. He then showed me most of the rest of Saifa kata (up to the second top-of-the-head strike). I worked on Saifa the rest of the evening.

July 1, 1997

Jason worked with me tonight and we finished up all the moves from Saifa kata.

July 3, 1997

July 8, 1997

I skipped class tonight because my wife just got back into town. She had flown up to Pennsylvania with our daughter to visit the grandparents.

July 10, 1997

Since we're trying to get ready for a Goju-Ryu tournament coming up on July 26th, instead of doing the normal stretching and exercises, we ran through kata tonight as a group. I worked up through kata-dai-ichi, dai-ni, gekisai-dai-ichi, koryu kata sanchin, and koryu kata saifa.

We worked on group kata for about 45 minutes, and then a number of us paired up and ran through rhythm bo. This was my first introduction to it.

For the last fifteen minutes or so of class, I worked with Lydia on kata-dai-ichi and kiso kumite shodan.

July 12, 1997

Today is Saturday, and David, Travis, Jason, and I met up at the dojo to work on some techniques for the upcoming tournament. Part of the competition may be a self-defense section, so Jason and I worked on defense against a jo punch, mae geri, bear hug from behind, and knife attack.

Working on self-defense for a tournament has some interesting requirements. The technique has to be a reasonable defense technique, which generally implies simplicity, but on the other hand needs to be flashy enough to look good to a judge. These conflicting requirements are eased somewhat by the fact that the tournament will be small, primarily stylists from the Texas Goju-Ryu schools, with a few other schools being invited.

Anyway, my favorite technique we worked out is the knife defense. In it, I, as the attacker, come in with a straight stab to the gut. Jason steps off the line of attack and folds my hand, grabbing the wrist on my knife hand and striking the back of the hand. This performs two functions. First, it causes me to release my grip on the knife, and second, it sets up the second part of the technique.

In the second part of the technique, he continues the arc of the initial block and loops it back around over the shoulder on the attacking hand side, forcing a drop to the ground. He then follows it up with a double strike to the ribs.

Boy, it's hard to explain this stuff well :-)

July 15, 1997

Sensei was not in class tonight, so Jason ran class. I was pretty impressed, actually, considering he is only 14. He really gets a great deal of respect from the other students, including the adults.

Most of the class was exercises. After stretching out, we set up a number of stations to work around, and then we worked at each station for two minute rounds, followed by a one minute rest break. The stations were:

  1. Heavy bag for hand techniques
  2. Jump rope
  3. Two-person shield kicking
  4. Light hanging bag for kicking techniques
  5. Two-person clappy things (I forget what they're called) for kicking techniques
  6. Push-up stand
  7. Exercise wheel (gee, that sounds like a small rodent exercise, but I mean the wheel with a handle on either side, kneel, then roll out and back, works abs)
  8. Two-person medicine ball throw
We went through the stations once and then broke up to work on two person techniques. I worked with David on sparring techniques 1-16, concentrating mostly on 13-16, which I had not been shown previously.

July 17, 1997

Sensei was back tonight. After exercises, I worked with Glen on second kumite and second bunkai.

July 22, 1997

We stretched out and then went outside and worked on breaking. I broke two boards with a palm strike, and then one with a front kick.

At the end of class, Lydia tested for, and was awarded, her orange stripe (10th kyu).

July 24, 1997

Since we have the tournament this weekend, we worked on tournament stuff this evening. We mainly worked on sparring techniques, but we also went through a mock kata competition.

July 26, 1997

Today was the Goju-Ryu tournament up in Dallas. I drove up there early in the morning with Matthew, my five-year-old son. I competed in the intermediate division for weapons kata, open-hand kata, kumite, and then I was the attacker for Jason for the advance self-defense division.

All in all, I didn't do as well as I would have liked. I did not place at all in the weapons kata division. In the open-hand kata division, I came in fourth, although the scoring was very close. There was only a four-tenths of a point difference between first and fourth place.

In the kumite division, I came in third, but there were only three of us competing. It was David Williams, Adam Leja from Walnut Hill, and myself. I sparred Adam, and did reasonably well, considering that he competes in Muy Thai kickboxing as well.

Lastly, I assisted Jason in the self-defense division. We did defense against a punch to the face, a bear hug from behind, and a knife attack. We tied one of the other groups and had to perform a defense against a roundhouse kick as well. Jason placed first after the tie breaker.

July 29, 1997

We lined up for class and Sensei presented David with his brown belt (3rd kyu). David and Jason had both tested in Dallas on Sunday, David for 3rd kyu and Jason for 2nd. Jason was not in class, so he was not promoted.

After this, James and I worked on Saifa together for some time, refining and fine-tuning it pretty well. I then worked with Lydia, starting her on Sanchin kata.

July 31, 1997

I took tonight off, it's my son's 5th birthday.

August 3-4, 1997

I took my family to the beach (Corpus Christi) this weekend with several other families. One of the families who went was Jim Greene from class and his wife and son. Both Sunday and Monday mornings, Jim and I woke up and went down to the beach at around 8:00 and worked out until 9:15 or so.

Primarily we worked on two-person techniques. We worked through Rhythm Bo, which we hope we are remembering correctly. We also worked on third Bunkai.

I also got Jim to show me Gekisai-dai-ni, which is an open-hand version of Gekisai-dai-ichi, and a requirement for my next rank test. It's very similar to Gekisai-dai-ichi, only with open hand blocks, and a slightly different ending.

August 5, 1997

Tonight, Sensei ran us through three different version of Sanchin kata. The first was the normal Goju-Ryu Sanchin we perform in class, although he also went through some bunkai for it. The second was a form of Sanchin Miyagi performed after World War II. This version was very similar, but there are no turns. I believe that this is similar to the Isshinryu version.

The last version was the Uechi-Ryu version, which was very different. It is completely open-hand techniques, and the breathing is quite different as well.

August 7, 1997

I was out of class tonight. My son is starting kindergarten next week, and he had orientation tonight.

August 8, 1997

Roy and Lydia had a salsa party this evening, so we all got together, ate a bunch of salsa, drank some beer, showed off the kids, etc.

Sensei Gonzales was there along with Sensei Yocham, and they demonstrated Saifa Bunkai. They also showed us some of the White Crane exercises, Hakutsuru So and Tan. Pretty interesting, because it's very soft, but Jimmy was saying that several of the techniques were similar to some Aikido techniques he has studied.

August 12, 1997

Sensei did a pre-test on Roy, Hilario, and Rudy tonight, while Jason ran class. After exercises, we split up and James and I worked on two-person techniques.

August 14, 1997

James and I pre-tested tonight. We did pretty well, although Sensei noted several areas we needed to work on. However, they were mainly refinements, rather than gross errors. We spent most of the class, running through katas 1-4, bunkai 1-3, kiso kumite 1-2, kihon kata no bo, Sanchin kata, Saifa kata, and sparring techniques 1-16.

August 19, 1997

Jason was promoted to ni-kyu in weapons class over the weekend, the highest rank anyone in our class has obtained. Sensei took him aside at the beginning of class and started working with him, leaving David to run the class. Partway through exercises, Sensei dismissed David to work with Jason, and released James and I to work on rank requirements for the next test.

Sensei told us that Tuesday of next week, he would be testing Roy, Rudy, James, and myself for our next ranks. so James and I spent the rest of class working on two-person techniques, running through the whole set (bunkais 1-3, kiso-kumite 1-2, sparring techniques 1-16).

August 21, 1997

James and I were hoping to work on two-person drills, but no such luck. We had a class dedicated to energy training. We also worked on two-person stretching, and two-person punching drills.

August 26, 1997

Tonight was a test night for a number of us. James and I were testing for 6th kyu, Rudy for 7th kyu, and Roy for 9th kyu. James and I arrived early and ran through all our kata, bunkai, kiso kumite, and sparring techniques.

Jason ran us through exercises until around 8:00, at which time Sensei had all the test candidates line up, and told everyone else to sit down at the edge of the floor and watch. He then had us perform tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi and tando-ku-kata-dai-ni. He then told us to remove our gi tops and we performed Sanchin kata, while Sensei and the three Sempai (Jason, David, and Lorene) tested us for stability, muscle tension, etc.

I noticed something about Sanchin. I felt I was much more stable this time than on my last test. More rooted, I guess. Still unstable, but I could really feel improvement.

After performing Sanchin, we performed Gekisai-dai-ichi and Gekisai-dai-ni, followed by Saifa. We then paired up, with James and I working together, and performed kiso kumite shodan and nidan, and then bunkai 1-3 (#3 is tando-ku-kata-bunkai-gekisai-dai-ichi, whew!). James and I had a fewer minor flubs, but in general, I felt that we did very well. When we did mess up, we recovered well, although Sensei had us perform 2nd bunkai several times after we messed up one move.

After bunkai, we performed sparring techniques 1-16, and actually remembered them all (a big concern). We then performed kihon kata no bo, which none of us did a particularly good job of. Sensei then noted some of the problems and had us perform it again.

In general, I felt that we all four had a strong showing on the test. There are still a number of areas for improvement (but aren't there always?). Sensei noted some of the problem areas, but said that overall, the test was very good and that we'd shown a lot of improvement. James and I had gotten together Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings to go through everything, and I felt that it really showed.

Anyway, at the end of class, Sensei lined up the test subjects and promoted us all. He then lined up the class and bowed us out.

August 28, 1997

I had hoped that Sensei would start James and I on some new stuff tonight, since we'd just been promoted. No such luck. After exercises, we talked about meditation and energy training. We also tried the unbendable arm thing, but I was unable to get it to work well.

September 2, 1997

After warm-up exercises, we worked on first and second kata, and first and second kiso kumite. What made it interesting was that we worked them as mirror images. So, for first kata, start with left sanchin dachi, instead of right sanchin dachi, and turn to the left first. Very difficult, but we were all doing fairly well by the end of it.

I also started teaching first bunkai to Roy. I found out there, again, that I didn't know it as well as I thought. I can do it solo, starting as either attacker or defender, but when I had to explain it to another student, it was quite difficult.

September 4, 1997

Before class, I got together with Glen and sparred for about 20 minutes, so I was pretty wiped when class started. We ran through stretching and exercise fairly quickly, and then broke up into groups. I worked with Roy and we worked through to the end of first bunkai and practiced it a few times. Jimmy and I then started working on third kumite (Kiso Kumite Sandan).

This was my first time running through Kiso Kumite Sandan. It's interesting, because the moves are very similar to Kiso Kumite Shodan, only with open hand techniques (Jo block is a wrist block, Chu block is open hand, Ge block is done with heel palm). It also has similarities to Kiso Kumite Nidan, because there is a lot of blocking, grabbing, and pulling into the finishing technique.

I'll be off next week, traveling up to Seattle for work. However, I found a Seattle Goju-Ryu school and I'm going to work out there while I'm in the area. It's a slightly differently style (Sho-rei-shobu-kan), but still descended from Master Toguchi's lineage, so it could be similar. Even if it's not, it should be a good learning experience. I'll report when I get back.

September 8, 1997

I was up in Seattle this week, and I studied with Sensei Kris Wilder at the West Seattle dojo. It was interesting to see how similar our substyles are. I worked with one of the students, Ann (?), who is a brown belt, and we ran through the first three Kiso Kumite (Shodan, Nidan, and Sandan). We ran through them slowly first, but once we were sure that all the attacks and blocks were what we expected, we went ahead and did it at regular speed. We also ran through a number of kata, and again, they were very similar. Minor difference in Sanchin kata, but not significant.

I find the differences in kata interesting, not so much because they are different, but because there is a specific reaon that they are different. Sensei Wilder and I ran through Saifa kata and we looked at the differences and discussed (well, I mainly listened) the different interpretations of the moves which result in the differences. For instance, in the last move of Saifa, I preform a mawashi uke, palms forward. They perform it palms sideways (facing each other). Sensei Wilder showed me the bunkai for this, as a throw after a strike to the throat.

September 10, 1997

I worked out again at Sensei Wilder's dojo. He introduced me to some exercises to bring back to class. The first was leg throws, where one person stands up straight, and the other lies on their back with their hands on the upright persons ankles. The prone person lifts their legs and tries to kick the upright person in the stomach. The upright person pushes the prone persons legs down and the cycle is repeated.

Sensei Wilder also showed several types of group pushups, box pushups and snake pushups. In box pushups, four people lie on their stomachs in a square, each with their legs on another persons back. All then push up at the same time. Snake pushups are similar, only with the whole class forming a zigzag line. We also worked heavily on Tai Sabaki, or body movement, moving from cat stance to cat stance.

We also worked on Ippon Kiso Kumite (?), where one starts with the killing move from one of the Kiso Kumite, defends against it and throws a responding technique, and Yakushike Kumite (again ?), where one person attacks and the defender defends against it and then throws three followon techniques. We worked on throws, after I messed one up in the Ipon Kumite, and we talked about bunkai from Saifa (not Saifa Bunkai).

One of the really interesting things I took away from the class, though, was the concept of Go No Sen, Sen No Sen, and Sen Sen No Sen. Go No Sen means to defend against an attack, or to react to an attack, and forms the basis for all the Kiso Kumite. Sen No Sen means to strike the attack or to cut the attack, and means defending against an attack while it's still in it's infancy, essentially to jam it, or to make it ineffective. Sen Sen No Sen means to defend against an attack before it has materialized, so that it almost looks like the defender is the one attacking. The idea of Sen No Sen gave me some ideas about bunkai for Saifa.

September 16, 1997

I'm going back and trying to fill in some of these dates, since I've been busy and somewhat negligent since getting back from Seattle. The first thing we did tonight was to line up and then recite the Dojo Kun. Each time someone was unable to remember one of the lines, we had ten pushups added. We got through all ten lines, but had to do 200 pushups by the end of class.

 We have a couple of new students. I'm not sure about their actual start dates, but their names are Yancy and Joey. Yancy is a friend of Ty's, and Joey is a friend of Roy and Lydia.

Lydia and Hilario tested tonight for 9th kyu, and both passed.

September 18, 1997

Tonight we went over the Dojo Kun again and had to do considerably fewer pushups. A quick 200 pushups is a real good training aid.

David ran class while Sensei took some of us aside to start on new techniques. He started Rudy on Kiso Kumite Sandan, and then took me aside and taught me Tokumine No Kun Sho, the short version of Tokumine Bo kata.

September 23, 1997

After warmups and exercises, Sensei split us up into groups. Lorene took Ashley and I aside and we worked more on Tokumine No Kun Sho again. I'm at a point where I think I know all the moves, even if I can't perform them spectacularly well yet. It's always practice, practice, practice!

After class, James and I went outside and worked on Kiso Kumite Sandan. I definitely need to practice it a lot. I know the moves, but I have problems with things like chambering my non-blocking hand properly during blocks. Since the blocks are open hand, the chambers are open hand as well, making them different from first and second kumite. We also worked on Rhythm Bo.

September 25, 1997

After exercises, I started Yancy on Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, and got him about halfway through. I also started Roy on Kihon Kata No Bo. After class, James and I went outside and worked on rank requirements again.

September 26, 1997

Friday night, both James' wife and my wife were out taking a mutual friend to dinner, and I was watching their son, so after James finished Aikido, he came over and we ran through the rank requirements. We played around some with Fourth Bunkai, but got confused in the ending sequence, so we need to get some help with it.

After our wives got back, we demonstrated so advanced kotikite. Standing face-to-face, swing arms and hit forearm to forearm, then block chu hitting arm-to-arm, and then blocking ge, hitting arm-to-arm. Then, and here's the advanced part, switch your beer to the other hand and repeat. Didn't do it for long, though.

September 30, 1997

Class has suddenly grown quite a bit. We had a number of new students wanting to join the class, but the Sempai(s) and Sensei needed to decide whether to allow them to join (since it would take us above Sensei's limit of fifteen students). They voted to let everyone in, so now we have Barry, Matt, Eva, and Bob joining us. Barry is a Round Rock police officer, and Matt, Eva, and Bob all have some previous martial arts experience.

We ran through the Dojo Kun tonight and did much better. We're still not perfect, but we only earned about thirty pushups. This means that only three people out of the class did not know the specific number of the Dojo Kun they were asked, but the next person did.

After exercises we paired up and practiced a couple of different kinds of kotikite, or conditioning exercises. Sempai Lorene and I worked on arm conditioning, and then Sempai David and I paired up and we worked on leg conditioning.

After class, James and I went outside and worked on rank requirements again. David helped us to start on fourth Bunkai, Tando-ku-kata-Gekisai-bunkai-dai-ni. The only major differences are the changes to open hand chu blocks preceding the kicks, and the ending moves being (a) moving off at a 45-degree angle, (b) moving into cat stance, (c) and the different killing move.

October 2, 1997

After exercises, we split up into groups. Sensei asked me to work with Bob and run him through blocks and punches, and if they looked good, to run him through Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi. Bob has a fair amount of previous experience, and definitely looked good. We actually worked all the way through first kata.

After class, James and I worked on rank requirements.

October 7, 1997

Tonight was another big class, with sixteen students. We ran through exercises, and then Sensei paired us up (I worked with David) and we worked on a neat throw.

In the first part of the technique, the attacker punches chu, and the defender steps to the side opposite the attacker's punching hand, and blocks with an open-hand parrying block. When stepping, the defender actually steps around to the back of the attacker, keeping contact with the the punching hand, and with the other hand grabbing the attacker's shoulder on the same side.

In the second part of the technique, the defender, who is now behind the attacker, drives their knee into the back of the attacker's leg, driving upwards and breaking the attacker's balance. The defender also kicks out and traps the attacker's foot so they can't slip it away. As this is done, the defender pulls the hand which has control of the shoulder back to chamber.

If I've described this correctly, you can see that the defender is pulling the attacker's shoulder down while forcing their lower body up and breaking their balance, resulting in the attacker being driven to the floor. Pretty neat, eh?

October 9, 1997

I worked with Glen tonight on Kiso Kumite and Bunkai. It was pretty interesting, because he had injured his shoulder in Judo, so he was unable to punch or block well with his right arm. What that meant was that as we were practicing the techniques, I would punch full force and speed for his good side, and punch slowly on his bad side, and he would do the same. The combination of fast and slow made it a very interesting exercise.

During class, we also paired up and ran through Kiso Kumite Shodan (first kumite), and I really fouled it up. The problem is that I've been working so much on 3rd kumite, and it's so close, that I started mixing up the techniques.

I also worked with two new students, Matt and Eva (father and daughter) on Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi.

October 14, 1997

Before class, I got together with Roy and ran through Kiso Kumite Shodan and 1st Bunkai. After my experience last class with 1st kumite, I wanted to practice it with someone who was currently working on it.

After class started, I primarily worked with James, on Kiso Kumite Sandan and 4th Bunkai. We worked out for a while, and in fact, Sensei did not really get the class lined up and bowed in until well after 7:30 (this often happens if everyone is working out well on their own). After we lined up, we ran through exercises, and then paired up to do some kotikitae (conditioning exercises). Roy and I worked together.

After class, James and I went outside and worked on Kiso Kumite, Bunkai, and Rhythm Bo.

October 16, 1997

After exercises tonight we partnered up for sparring. I sparred with James, Matt, Roy, Sensei, David, and finally Barry. Barry was interesting because he is a white belt, but he has studied some Tae Kwon Do and also some Kickboxing, as well as being a Police Officer. He's fast, strong, agressive, and he's got no control at all. Needless to say, I was very sore after that bout.

After class, James and I went outside and worked on our 5th kyu rank requirements.

October 20, 1997

Hey, it's my one year anniversary studying Goju-Ryu. No class tonight, just thought I'd note the date.

October 21, 1997

I got to class tonight just in time to get changed and do my crunches. I got together with James and ran through Kiso Kumite Sandan, and had just finished when Sensei lined us up for the beginning of class.

Instead of our normal set of exercises and stretching, we performed all of the empty-hand kata we had learned, performing Sanchin kata between each set. The kata I have learned as of today are:

  1. Tando Ku Kata Dai Ichi
  2. Koryu Kata Sanchin
  3. Tando Ku Kata Dai Ni
  4. Gekisai Dai Ichi
  5. Gekisai Dai Ni
  6. Koryu Kata Saifa
After performing Saifa, Sensei stopped and told us that he was somewhat disappointed with our performance, so he dismissed the lower ranked students to work on their own techniques and he had us run through Saifa a number of times. He also had the brown belts work on Seiunchin kata, although I remained working on Saifa.

He then told James and I to get our Tonfa. Sensei kept working on other empty-hand kata with Sempeis Jason and David, so James and I ran through 3rd Kumite, 4th Bunkai, and then 2nd Kumite. 3rd Kumite and 4th Bunkai definitely need work, but are generally looking pretty good. After this, Sensei had finished working with the Sempeis, so he started James and I on Kihon Kata No Tonfa, or basic tonfa kata. This was recently added as one of the weapons requirements for 5th kyu.

James and I are starting to get a bit nervous, because once we finish Kihon Kata No Tonfa, we'll have all of our rank requirements for 5th kyu, so we can expect to test in the next couple of months.

October 23, 1997

Sempei David ran exercises tonight while Sensei took all of our new white belts (Barry, Yancy, Matt, Eva, and Joey) to the back of the mat and ran them through Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi, to see if they were ready for their first test. After that, he pulled me out of exercises to start Barry and Yancy on Kiso Kumite Shodan. We made it through all six sets of techniques.

Towards the end of class, we worked on a takedown technique, which involved taking an attacker to the floor, and controlling him there. I worked with Matt, who is about my size, and it worked quite well, but it was interesting, because the technique called for one to fall to the floor with the attacker on top, with their back to you, as you controlled them via pressure on the throat (with your arm) and the groin (with your heel). It looked like you would be pretty vulnerable, but with those two sensitive areas controlled, you actually had a quite amazing amount of control.

October 28, 1997

David ran the class through exercises while Sensei worked with James and I to finish Kihon Kata No Tonfa, at least getting all the moves. We worked on that for a while, and then moved on to Bunkai 1-4 and Kiso Kumite 1-3. Except for a few sparring techniques, we now have everything we need for our next test.

October 30, 1997

After exercises, we split up into groups. I got together with David and worked on 4th Bunkai. Around 8:30, Sensei told us all to sit down at the back of the mat, except for Yancy, Barry, and Eva. He then tested them for the rank of 10th kyu.

Sensei, Sempei David, and Sempei Jason then went back to discuss the test, while the rest of us worked on rank requirements. Sensei asked me to start Lydia and Hilario on Kihon Kata No Bo, but we didn't get very far into it. When they came back, we all lined up and Sensei discussed areas where the test subjects needed improvement, and then he promoted them.

November 1, 1997

This weekend was the T.O.G.K.F. campout up in Bastrop. I wasn't able to go for the whole trip, but James and I drove up on Saturday afternoon and worked out with everyone. First, we were working on the three Kiso Kumite we have learned, and as we were working on Kiso Kumite Sandan, first technique (where the defender drops down to pull the attacker's feet out from under them), we had Sensei's Chapman, Owens, and Yocham come over and put us under a microscope. It was a big help, and I learned that the technique, which I had thought was an imobilization of the foot with one hand and a throw by pushing on the side of the knee, is actually a pull on the foot, with the knee hand merely aiding the fall.

After that, Sensei Chapman gave a seminar on bunkai for Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi for about 1 1/2 hours. There's a lot of stuff in a basic kata. We finished as it was getting dark, so we lit a campfire and got some dinner and generally socialized. About 7:30, James and I drove back to Austin.

November 6, 1997

James and I got to class early and started running through our two-man stuff. We then lined up for class, and Sensei ran us through exercises, continuing into kata as a class. We ran through all the kata up through Saifa, but Sensei was not pleased with our Saifa performance. He had the higher ranks (myself (!), James, Ashley, David, and Jason) run through Saifa a number of times while the lower ranks worked on their stuff.

After kata, we broke up into two-person groups. James and I worked on rank requirements, and then Sensei came over and showed us sparring techniques 17 and 18.

November 11, 1997

Sensei lined us up for class and we ran through exercises and stretching. We did leg lifts, but we also paired up for two-person leg lift drills. This is similar to something I did up is Seattle, where one person lies on their back on the floor, and the other person stands over their head. The person on the floor kicks their legs up into the assistant's stomach. The assistant catches their feet and throws them back down. We had a contest to see if anyone would drop their feet to the floor, but noone did.

After exercises, we paired up and worked on kicking techniques with a partner holding a shield. We then sparred for the last 15 minutes of class.

December 20, 1997

Tonight we had the Austin school Christmas party at Roy and Lydia's. Before the class, the upper belts (surprisingly, me!), 7th kyu and up got together to talk about personal goals and goals for the school. I won't talk about the school goals, but I wanted to write down my personal karate goals for 1998. These are:
  1. Make 3rd kyu by the end of 1998 or early 1999.
  2. Make a concerted effort to improve my flexibility and speed.
  3. Learn more about Goju-Ryu history.
My goals from last year were:
  1. Continue studying (obviously I made that one).
  2. Make 5th kyu by the end of the year. Pretty close, I'll be testing mid-January.
  3. Get in better shape. I've lost 20 pounds this year and increased my strength and endurance.
  4. Continue not smoking. As of December 19, 1997, I haven't had a cigarette in 2 years.
  5. Improve my flexibility. I've seen some improvement, but I need to get in a regimen of regular stretching, which I did not do in 1997.
So, all in all, I did pretty well with my goals for last year.

December 23, 1997

Well, I haven't been keeping up my journal the way I would have liked, so I'm skipping through November 13 til now. Too hard to remember everything I've been doing. I am still studying, though.

Sensei has told James and I that we will be testing for 5th kyu (Purple belt) the weekend of the TOGKF banquet, which is on January 17, 1998 up in Irving. It could be Friday evening or Saturday morning, we're not sure yet. In any case, James and I are busy getting ready. Things we have to know for the next promotion are:

  1. Tando-ku-kata-dai-ichi
  2. Tando-ku-kata-dai-ni
  3. Gekisai-dai-ichi
  4. Gekisai-dai-ni
  5. Sanchin
  6. Saifa
  7. Kihon Kata No Bo
  8. Kihon Kata No Tonfa
  9. Tokumine No Kun Sho
  10. Kiso Kumite 1-3
  11. Bunkai Kumite 1-4
  12. Rhythm Bo Kumite
  13. Sparring techniques 1-20
Wow, that's a lot of stuff!

 Tonight we primarily concentrated on weapons. We worked on Kihon Kata No Tonfa and Tukumine No Kun Sho, and then James and I worked on Rhythm Bo. Sensei also started us on Bo/Bo Kumite, which we don't need to know for the test.

December 30, 1997

Wow! Last class of the year! Tonight, we primarily worked on our empty hand forms. We ran through all of our empty-hand katas as a class, and then Sensei split us up into the upper and lower ranks. The upper ranks worked on bunkai for Saifa kata, during which time I jammed my thumb on Sensei's head (working on the opening technique), and David punched me in the face, when I failed to block as I should have. Sometimes just working on techniques is more dangerous than sparring.

It was fun, though. I really like Saifa, and it's good to practice the techniques out of it separate from the kata.

Well, that's it for 1997. See you next year! 

wpwood@saifa.net
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