Sempai David, Ashley, and I will probably be testing at the upcoming TOGKF banquet (January 23rd), so tonight, while James ran exercises, Sensei took us three to the back of the room and ran us through our kata, looking for specific problems. Ashley and I will be testing for 3rd kyu (Brown belt), so we ran through Gekisai-dai-ichi, Gekisai-dai-ni, Gekisai-dai-san, Saifa, and Seiunchin, after which Sensei noted any problems. Sempai David will be testing for Shodan (Black belt), so he also ran through Gekiha-dai-ichi, Gekiha-dai-ni, Tensho, and Sesan. While he was doing that, Ashley and I ran through Saifa some more.
After exercises, we paired up and worked on Kiso Kumite. I partnered with Sempai David and we worked through Kiso Kumite Shodan through Godan (1-5). By the time we were done, my arms were quite sore, and the next day I had some nice bruises.
Sensei also announced that we will be having a kata of the month, which we should practice extra outside of class. This months kata is Saifa, which is one of my favorites.
The kata I'm currently practicing are:
I got up to the school before class and ran through some kata to warm up. I then worked on Bo/Bo kumite Nidan with Sempai David. It went pretty well, although I got whacked in the forehead on technique number five once. After that I made sure I got my head block up faster.
Sensei was talking to someone about class when class time arrived, so the rest of us got on the floor and started working on rank requirements. I paired up with Rudy and we worked on Bunkai kumite Godan (5th bunkai). We had run through it several times when Sensei came in to start class. After warm-ups, Sensei had us get into shiko-dachi and practice jo, chu, and ge blocks. Each student counted ten sets of three block (jo-chu-ge, ichi, jo-chu-ge, ni, etc.), from the lowest rank student up through Sensei. With nine students in class, plus Sensei, we ran through 300 blocks in shiko-dachi. By the end, I found that I was not in a very good shiko-dachi.
After we were all nice and tired from that drill, Sensei had us partner up and do some tension stretching. This is where your partner helps to stretch you, with you relaxing for a count of three and then tensing the muscle your trying to stretch for a count of three. Nicely effective, but tiring too.
Sensei then paired us up to work on rank requirements. I partnered with Sempai David and we ran though all of our bunkai kumite, focusing on 5th bunkai. We then started to work on our two-person weapon stuff, when Sensei lined us up and ran us through another one of those shiko-dachi drills, this time with jo, chu, and ge punches. This time I made a concerted effort to stay lower, but I still felt myself creeping up as the exercise progressed.
After that, Sensei bowed us out, which was a good thing, 'cause I was bloody exhausted.
After warm-ups and exercises, Sensei had us pair up and we worked as a class on Kumibo Shodan. I worked with Mike, and I think he got a bit frustrated because of the hand switching in Kumibo Shodan. It's not terribly complicated, but a lot of students have trouble with it when they first start. I certainly did, but it's pretty easy once you get used to it.
After that, we all got our sparring gear on and sparred. Sensei said that everyone could take a break during one round except for Sempai David and I (since we'll be testing this weekend). I sparred with Sensei, James, Sempai David, Lester, and Kelly. When I was sparring with James, we agreed to slow it down and try to work more on technique from the kata and two-man sets. At one point, he punched and I blocked the punch and then pulled, at the same time punching, very similar to a number of techniques out of the kiso kumite. Popped him right in the nose, but no blood. After the round, we bowed out and I apologized, but then in the next round, Roy popped him in the nose, and this time did bloody him up. Rough night for Jim.
After that, the rest of the class was finished with exercises, so Sensei split us up to work on kata. Sempai David and I worked primarily on Seiunchin until the end of class. After class, Sempai and I went to the back room and practiced Kiso Kumite Godan, which is as high as I will have to go in the Kiso Kumite, and also sparring techniques, dojo kun, and history.
I also talked to Sensei for a while after class. I had apparently bruised one of the younger students ribs sparring Tuesday night, and found out about it second hand. I was a bit concerned about it, both because I had not known and also because I was afraid I was using excessive force. It looks like everything is cool, but I still hate injuring people inadvertantly, even if it is a fighting art we're learning.
The test actually started very close to 10:00. There were six of us testing: Sempai David, Caleb and Annetta from the Stephenville school, Myself, Ashley, and Suzy from the Irving school. There were a *lot* more black belts on the test board: Senseis Werther, Gonzales, Johnson, Heier, Yocham, Marble, Escobar, as well as Shihan Chapman and the two Sensei Owens (mother and daughter). Boy, I hope I didn't forget anyone, I'll have to go back and check my rank certificate since they all signed it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Sensei Yocham bowed us in to the test board and then we started running through the numbered kata. We performed 1st through 5th katas, and then the purple belts stood and watched as the brown belts performed 6th kata, and then Sempai David performed 7th. We then all lined back up and removed our gi tops for Sanchin kata. This was probably one of the roughest Sanchin katas I've had. We all got banged around pretty good, and I got hit in the rear again. I had my butt muscled tightened this time, but the hit was on the exact same spot where I had been hit before. Pretty painful, but since I was getting hit most everywhere else, I forgot it pretty quick.
After Sanchin, we performed Saifa and Seiunchin, then the brown belts performed Tensho, and then David performed Sesan. We then grabbed our weapons and performed Kihon Kata No Bo, Tokumine No Kun Sho, Tokumine No Kun Dai, and Kihon Kata No Tonfa. Then the brown belts performed Bama Higa Sho Tonfa, followed by David performing Kihon Kata No Sai. That was the last weapon kata and finished up that portion of the morning's festivities.
Somewhere around in here, Sensei Yocham asked me to recite the Dojo Kun. He had been periodically stopping and testing one or another of the test subjects on it. Instead of just doing it straight 1-10, he called out a number and asked me to recite it. I have had dojo kun down for months now, but I drew a complete blank on number 8 (Treat a person with respect and you shall gain respect). I got number 5 (Be courteous in mind and heart, respect the teachers who have taught you and be grateful) in a continuous loop in my head. Luckily, the test board was patient and waited while I sorted it out. I got it, but it probably took 30-45 seconds (feeling much longer). After that, I cranked through the rest, no problem, except that I probably had a pissed off (at myself) quality to my voice.
Next, we paired up for Bunkai Kumite and Kiso Kumite, myself with David, Annetta with Caleb, and Ashley with Suzy. We performed 1st through 5th bunkai kumite both directions, and then David and Sensei Yocham performed 6th and 7th bunkai kumite both directions. Both of those are very pretty, with lots of elbow blocks and hammer fists and other good stuff.
We then partnered back up and performed 1st through 5th kiso kumite both ways. We then watched while Caleb and Annetta and David and Sensei Yocham performed 6th kiso kumite, followed by David and Sensei Yocham performing 7th kiso kumite. Lots of joint locks and throws in 6th and 7th kiso kumite.
After that, we partnered back up for two-person weapon sets. Again, I partnered with David and we ran through Bo/Bo Kumite Shodan and Nidan, followed by Kumibo Shodan and Nidan. After that we watched while Caleb and Annetta and David and Sensei Yocham performed Bo/Tonfa Kumite. We then took a quick break to get a drink and put on our sparring gear.
We each sparred multiple rounds and, except for Suzy, with multiple opponents. I started out sparring Byron, a big green belt from one of the other schools. I then sparred Sensei Marble, and finished it off with Annetta. I'm pretty sure that the rounds were less than the normal two minutes that we normally spar, but the rest periods were very short, 15-30 seconds between rounds. I was very pleased because I was able to relax and not get incredibly winded like I often do in sparring. That was saved for my multiple sparring round, when I went against Byron and Sensei Heier. By the end of that, I was exhausted.
We all got to watch Sempai David's sparring rounds. He had at least seven rounds with one opponent (I lost count), and then an additional round sparring 5 of the black belts. That one was really rough and he was pretty banged up by the end of it.
After that, we all rested while the test board deliberated our fate. I felt like the test went very well. There were a few minor flubs that I noted when they happened, but not many. Of course, I'm sure that there were mistakes that I didn't note, but except for the averted disaster of forgetting the Dojo Kun, they must not have been too bad, because a few minutes later, we were bowed back in to the test board and were all promoted. The promotions were: Suzy to 4th kyu (brown stripe), Ashley and myself to 3rd kyu (brown belt), Caleb and Annetta to 2nd kyu (single black stripe), and Sempai David to Shodan (1st degree black belt). All in all, the test ran for about four hours, even though the test board tried to run it very efficiently, with few pauses for correction and comment. There's just a lot of stuff to test on.
David is Sensei Yocham's first student to be promoted to black belt, so there were many congratulations exchanged all around. At one point, Shihan Chapman addressed David as Sensei Williams, and he got to looking pretty uncomfortable. We'll see how long it takes him to feel confortable with it.
After the test, we got a quick lite lunch and then Shihan Chapman ran a self-defense seminar for students and family, while the black belts had a black belt only workout. About 4:00 in the afternoon, we packed it up, changed, and headed over to Lemon's Barbecue for the banquet. Much cheer was had by all, although my legs kept cramping up through dinner. After dinner, awards were presented. Once again, the Austin school took School of the Year, and Sensei Yocham took Instructor of the Year. That's four years running.
About 7:45, the banquet ended and I headed back to Austin. A long day, but a good one.
After exercises, Sensei taught Ashley and I Gekiha-dai-Ichi, or sixth kata. After that, he started us on sixth kumite (Kiso Kumite Rokudan?), but we only got the first technique before the end of class.
We also had a couple of new students in class tonight, Leroy and Tim (I think that's right, it might be Tom).
The kata of the month for February is Sanchin (hey, it's a classic). Sensei had put it on the sign-up sheet, but apparently no one looked at it, because when he asked each of the students during class, no one knew what it was. We got to do lots of pushups for that.
After exercises, we paired up. Ashley and I asked Sempai to work with us on sixth Kiso Kumite. We got the basic moves for all six techniques and practiced them for the rest of class. Very nice, throws, joint locks, close-in work. I found out that (a) Ashley has very flexible joints, and (b) combined with the size difference, I had trouble applying the joint locks to her. It was easier to apply them to Sempai because he's closer to my size.
After the kata performance, we geared up and did some point sparring. We split up into upper and lower ranks, and ran a quick set of point sparring rounds. For the upper ranks, if we weren't sparring we were helping to judge. I find judging to be difficult, but I think the key is consistency. If you don't see a point scored, you don't call it just because Sensei does.
Around 10:00, Shihan Chapman called us all to attention and bowed us in. He then lined up with the black belts and they introduced themselves. We had a couple of new black belts to introduce. One was another Sensei Johnson, who has been studying Goju-Ryu for many years, but is now joinging the TOGKF. The other was Sempai Williams, who earned his Shodan in January.
After the black belt introductions, the competition started. My first event was advanced (purple belt and up) empty-hand kata. I performed Gekisai-dai-san and took first place, competing against Caleb A. performing Sesan, Rudy L. performing Seiunchin, and Suzy C. I believe that Rudy took second, although I may be wrong.
The next event I competed in was advanced self-defense. Rudy was supposed to be my partner, but he had hurt his shoulder the previous day, so I partnered with Sempai Williams, running through a few techniques. Sempai was then called away to help with some of the judging (I wasn't supposed to be using a black belt partner anyway), so I grabbed Jason H. It went pretty well, considering that I hadn't worked anything up before hand, except that Jason kept falling down every time I would do a technique. That's OK, I just kicked him on the ground instead of standing up, and it worked pretty well. Well enough for me to take second place in the competition, anyway.
I next competed in advanced weapons kata, taking first place with Tokumine No Kun No Dai. I competed against Ashley, Rudy, Caleb, and Suzy.
After that, I had a pretty long break to wander around and watch. All of the Austin group was doing quite well, including four kids that Sensei had brought up from the Austin kid's class. We have always tended to do very well in the adult divisions, and then get beat out in the kid divisions, simply because Sensei didn't have a kids class until fairly recently (6 months or so). For the previous two winter tournaments, we've been in first place up until the kids divisions, when we got beat out for first by Family Karate Academy.
Around Noon, we took a break and the black belts ran a demonstration. Then we came back and finished up the competition. My last event was men's advanced sparring, where I competed against Rudy, Caleb, Roy C., and another gentleman from an invited Tae Kwon Do school. I didn't place in that event, although if I remember correctly, Rudy took first place.
That about wrapped things up, so Shihan Chapman presented the school trophies. The Austin school took first place for the first time (at least since I've been coming). There is also award an annual trophy that gets kept for a year by the winning school, so we got that as well. The Family Karate Academy has had it for the last few years (at least two, possibly more), so we got it back for the TOGKF schools (FKA is not in the TOGKF, they're a Shorin-Ryu school that Shihan invites to the tournament.)
Around 4:30, I got changed up and drove back to Austin.
After exercises, we split up and worked on rank requirements. Sensei asked Sempai David and I to circulate around, not working with anyone in particular, so I worked on 3rd Bunkai Kumite with Eva, 3rd Kiso Kumite with Roy, and other stuff with a few other people. We also worked on some Chi Sao (sp?), or sticky hands training. I've done this before, where you partner up with someone and then you both put your right arms together. You then try to touch the other person and prevent them from touching you, by maintaining contact with the arms. It's hard to describe, but it's part arm conditioning and part sensitivity training. After you finish with the right arms, you do the left arms, and then both arms, and finally both arms with your eyes closed.
We had a couple of really worn-out students in class tonight. A couple of the students (names withheld to protect the guilty :-) were back in the backroom chatting when Sensei was ready to start class. Sensei called them three times and then had to go back and get them to start class, so they got to do lots of pushups, basically through the entire exercise period, which is usually about 45 minutes. Lesson to remember: Don't ever make Sensei come and get you.
Somewhere in here, too, I forgot my Dojo Kun during class, and Sensei took my brown belt away from me. Either the next class or the one after, he retested me on it, and I knew them all (you bet I did). After class, he gave me my belt back. Embarassing!
On the other hand, since there's a lot of lower ranks in class now, all of us upper ranks are getting a good amount of teaching experience. I find that I talk too much, though. All good information, I think, but probably more than a white or orange belt needs. I'm working on it.
Sempai David ran exercises while Sensei talked to a couple of prospective new students who were there to watch class. After exercises tonight, Tim and Lahona tested for their 10th kyu (orange stripe). They both did well and Sensei presented them with their rank certificates and striped them, except that he ran out of orange tape while striping Tim, so he only had half a stripe on his belt. Sensei promised to bring more tape next class and finish him up.
At the end of class, Sensei called up Tim, Ashley, and Eva. He finished striping Tim, presented Ashley with her Matsusokan patch, and then, much to Eva's surprise, striped Eva with her purple stripe. She was supposed to test when Jason tested and had missed the test for some or another reason. It's unusual to have someone promoted without a formal test, but not unheard of.. Really, every class is part of the testing.
After exercises, we split up and worked on rank requirements. I worked with Rudy for part of the evening on two-person bo stuff, especially bo-bo kumite nidan, which he needs for his upcoming test. He and Roy will be testing at the campout this weekend.
Sempai David ran class again. After exercises, we split up and worked on rank requirements. I worked with Rudy on his two-person empty hand stuff (4th and 5th kumite, 4th and 5th bunkai), and then worked with Stan on 2nd kumite and 1st bunkai, and then with Dave and Kristin on 1st kumite.
The next morning, we got up and had some breakfast, and then Shihan started us on a white crane kata, and then we worked on self-defense techniques for a while. We then returned to the white crane kata and finished it up. We were supposed to have a Tai Chi class from Shihan Shipes from the Kenshin-Kan organization, but he was unable to make the campout, so Shihan Chapman taught the white crane kata as more of a slow, Tai Chi-like form. He also demonstrated part of it at a normal kata speed and showed some application.
After that, we took a break for a while and had lunch. We returned in the afternoon and worked on Saifa and Saifa Kaisai for an hour or so. Towards the end, Sensei Yocham kept coming up to Shihan and reminding him that we needed to fit in a belt test. Several "just one more technique and I'll be done"'s from Shihan later, we broke up and the test board got ready for the test.
We had two Austin people testing, Rudy for 3rd kyu and Roy for 5th kyu. There were also a couple of other guys testing, Brock and Carl. I was Rudy's partner for the two-man stuff that Roy wasn't also working on. That actually only turned out to be 5th Bunkai, 5th Kumite, and Bo-Bo Kumite Nidan. The total test was short, since the test board waived the sparring requirement since we'd already been working out all day. At the end of the test, the test board conferred for a few minutes and then came back and promoted Rudy, Roy, Brock, and Carl.
Around 8:15, I bowed out and headed home.
After exercises, Sensei finished working with me on 6th kumite, and then I partnered up with a few other students.
After class, I got together with Sensei to put in an equipment order. I had already told him previously what I wanted, but this was a big one. I ordered two new gis, a pair of sai, a purple heartwood eku from Kemco, and bo and sai carrying cases. Total close to $400 and the most I've spent in one lump sum on equipment. Sensei had already brought the eku and the bo carrying case, so I got those immediately. The purple heartwood eku is more than, say, an ash or hickory eku, but it sure is pretty. Makes it worth the extra $.
I had played around with the eku before class, running through Tokumine No Kun Sho Bo kata. It's interesting, though, because the feel of the weapon is very different from a bo. I had always thought of an eku as just a bo with a flat end, but it has much more of the feel of a bladed weapon, primarily because that's how you strike with it, with the blade of the oar.
After lunch, the seminar resumed with the brown and black belt portion. I was the only brown belt there. We worked on Hakutsuru Sho kata, which I had never seen before. I really didn't get much of the kata at all, but we worked some interesting application and I got some of that. After that, we worked on an eku kata, Aku Hachi (sp?) until about 4:00.
After the seminar, we wnt over to Shihan Chapman's house, got cleaned up, and then headed to a Thai restaurant for dinner. I headed back for Austin about 7:30 or so.
After exercises, Sensei and I worked on fourth and fifth bunkai, and then he started me on sixth bunkai, but we didn't get too far into it.
We switched to empty-hand two-man sets and finished up through 3rd kyu requirements (up through Kiso Kumite Godan and Bunkai Kumite Godan).
Oh, my Purple Heart tonfa came in from Kemco. Beautiful!
At the end of class, Sensei lined everyone up and promoted the test subjects. All in all, a good test.
Sensei also asked me to set up a private lesson over the weekend so he could take a look at the rest of my techniques to decide if I should test at the October board test.
The test will be in Austin on October 16th.
Tonight we had a belt test for Dave T., Joey, and Cynthia. Dave and Joey were testing for 8th kyu (green stripe) and Cynthia was testing for her 10th kyu (orange stripe). Sensei also pre-tested Brittney for 8th kyu. I got to help with shime during Sanchin, which was interesting. Dave and Joey are pretty big guys, but Brittney is a 70 pound 10-year-old girl (sorry, Brittney, if I got the age wrong :-)). She still needs to be tested, but it's kind of intimidating, because you need to test her, not too hard, but still hard enough.
We did have one exciting moment in the test, where Joey went to throw sparring technique number 5, which is a spinning back kick, and he kept his support foot planted on the ground, instead of spinning it. Pop goes the knee, and he's down on the ground. It took him a few minutes to recover, and he still couldn't fully support his weight on it. Sensei gave him the option of quitting the test, but he went ahead and finished it up. He did have to modify the remaining sparring techniques a bit.
The test went well, and at the end of class, Sensei promoted Dave, Joey, and Cynthia. He also called up Brittney and promoted her, telling her that she had done at least as well as the other two 8th kyus.
That said, I was able to at least keep up with karate, even though I was only studying one night a week. I tested for my 2nd kyu (brown belt with one black stripe) on October 16th in Austin. I tested with Roy, Jason H., Jason P., Adam from Irving, and someone else, but I forget who. The test went well, and I had a couple of guys from work come by and watch me get knocked around in sparring.
December 4th was the Brown and Black belt workout down in Austin. That was a lot of work, but really good. Shihan made a few changes to some of the techniques (specifically, a couple of techniques in Bo-Tonfa kumite), and we also worked on the higher level (for me, anyway) kata, bunkai kumite, and kiso kumite.
December 9th was my last exam for SWT, so I took a couple of classes off to spend some much needed time with my family. I started back to karate in the second half of December. The last class of the year was December 30th (and, arguably, the last class of the century and millenium). At that class, Sensei worked with me on 5th and 6th Bunkai, and then taught me Kihon Kata No Sai, the first basic Sai kata. Kihon Kata No Sai is very easy to pick up the pattern to, because it is the same pattern as Kihon Kata No Tonfa.
Happy New Year! I hereby resolve to do a better job keeping up my journal in 2000.
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