My Goju-Ryu Journal -- 2003
January 2, 2003
Happy New Year! Tonight was our first night back after the Christmas
break, and boy was I feeling it. I was pretty good over break, but
didn't get as much exercise as I should have, and didn't get any karate
workouts in.
Kicks were killer. About the fourth set, I felt ready to throw up.
Breathe, boy, breathe! Got through it, though. It is amazing to me that
a simple two week break can have that much effect, but it does.
Welcome back everybody!
January 9, 2003
After exercises, I worked with Mrs. Beathard on her upcoming test rank
requirements. The test is on January 18, so it's coming up soon. We
have a number of Austin students testing. Mr. Light will be testing for
his shodan (first degree black belt), several students for brown belt
ranks. Eight students from Austin in total, I believe.
For the last 20 minutes or so of class, we got together and sparred.
January 14, 2003
I ran class this evening. Sensei came in right as class started, but
told me to go ahead and run class. While we were stretching, we had a
visitor, so Sensei sat down and talked with him. The visitor turned out
to be an old student, Mr. Garcia, who had moved down to San Antonio a
few years ago for work. He's back in Austin again now and is going to
start training again. Very cool!
After exercises, I paired up the class to work on rank requirements. I
was the odd man out, so I worked on Tozan Nichogama kama kata and
Tsuken Shitaku sai kata. For Christmas I had ordered a pair of Shureido
sai and a pair of purpleheart-handled kama from another company. The
sai came in before Christmas, but I'm still waiting on the kama. They
should be very nice when they come in. They're from a company that
makes high-quality hardwood weapons, and I already have a purpleheart
bo from them that I love.
Towards the end of class, we switched around and I started working with
Mr. Bonicoro on Bo/Tonfa Kumite. We got into it for a few minutes, but
then Sensei bowed in and worked with me on Saifa Bunkai Kumite until
the end of class. I had not worked on Saifa Bunkai for a while, and it
showed. It's a Nidan requirement, and there just aren't many people
doing it. Since Sempai Williams moved, I've only hit it a couple of
times.
I need to make sure that if I don't get with Sensei during class, that
I get with him after class and hit those two-man requirements.
January 18, 2003
Today was the annual TOGKF banquet. As usual, we also had a board test
scheduled in the morning, with a whopping 18 test candidates for 5th
kyu (purple belt) all the way up to Shodan (Mr. Light).
The test started at 9:30 in the morning. I had driven up the night
before, so no early mornings for me. In fact, I got to the test site
well before it was opened. Just not used to it not
taking a lot of time to get there. We actually ran two tests, with
Sensei Marble, Sempai WIlliams, Semp;ai Gonzales, and myself sitting on
the lower rank test board, and Shihan Chapman, Sensei Owens, Sensei
Yocham, Sensei Werther, and Mr. Fauth (a Tae Kwon Do 4th degree who
we're friends with) sitting on the upper rank test board.
The test ran until almost 2:00. I partnered with Mr. Borg for part of
the test, which did not, unfortunately, run as smoothly as I had hoped.
We had not worked out together in quite some time, and he was not aware
that he was going to test until the week before. It went fine, but I
did not help him to look as good as he should have, which is really
part of the responsibility for a test partner.
All in all, though, the test was very good. Everyone who test was
promoted. Mr. Light was promoted to Shodan, so he's now Sempai Light.
Mr. Borg, Sempai Pew, and Mr. Elliott were promoted to Ikkyu. We could
potentially have three students from Austin testing for Shodan in the
summer if Sempai Light and Mr. Elliott bust their butts. Sensei would
like me to be ready to test for Nidan as well, so I get to bust my butt
also.
The TOGKF banquet started at 2:00 at the Panda Restaurant in Dallas. A
great time was had by all, and many great door prizes were given.
Unfortunately, I don't yet have all of the Dojo and Federation awards
to list, but when they are sent out, I'll list them.
For the 8th year in a row, Austin took the TOGKF School of the Year
award. For the first time in eight years, Sensei Yocham did not
take to TOGKF Instructor of the Year award. Instead, that went to
Sensei Marble, so a big congratulations there. I was very proud that my
family was able take home both the Austin Dojo and the TOGKF Family of
the Year award.
January 21, 2003
Class got started a few minutes late this evening. The Aikido class
that works out before us was doing some very interesting stuff, working
on energy redirection. They ran a few minutes over, and then I talked
to the instructor for a few minutes as well. Again, interesting
similarities between different arts.
I ran the class through stretching, and then Sensei came in. He had me
bow out and bowed Sempai (!) Light in to run kicks. Sensei then took me
outside and showed me Bama Higa no Tonfa Dai. This is the last kata for
Nidan which I hadn't been shown yet. It's very similar to Bama
Higa Sho, just some extra strikes where in Sho there are straight
punches.
We then ran through all of my Nidan requirements, while Sensei pointed
out areas that needed fixed. Most of my kata was pretty good, but I'm
having a lot of trouble on the two-man bunkai kumite. Needs more
practice, mainly, but I have some confusion with the pattern of Kakuha
Dai Ichi Bunkai Kumite.
After we finished running through everything, we headed back inside.
Sensei took Sempai Light and started him on Kakuha Dai Ichi and I
worked with Charemon and Ray until the end of class.
January 23, 2003
Not too heavy a workout tonight. Sensei was sick, but he was still
running class. We ran through stretching and kicks, and then paired up
for rank requirements. I worked with Sempai Light on Kakuha Dai Ichi
kata, and then with Cindy on Gekisai Dai San Bunkai Kumite. I then
paired up with Mr. Bonicoro and worked on Bo/Tonfa Kumite.
After class, I asked Sensei to run through Saifa Bunkai Kumite with me.
We ran through it several times until it was a little bit smoother.
Needs lots of work, though.
January 28, 2003
Sensei Yocham and Sensei Marble are heading up to Vancouver tomorrow to
study and teach with Shihan Hargitt's group, so Sensei Marble was in
town. He attended the Kobudo class over at Mr. Fauth's and then came to
our class. In addition, Mr. Fauth and three of his students (Chris,
Eddie, and John) came and joined us as well. We also had two new
fellows joining us to check out the class. All in all, it was a very
full class this evening.
We started off with exercises, stretching and kicks, and then geared up
for sparring. I sparred with Mr. Fauth, Sempai Light, Bill P., Chris,
and Cindy W. It was interesting sparring with Mr. Fauth and Chris.
They're Tae Kwon Do stylists, and have very fast kicks, but really good
control. It was challenging, which is good, but they had enough control
not to take your head off if you messed up, which is also good. A great
time was had by all.
January 30, 2003
Sensei Yocham was out of town tonight, so I should have run class.
Unfortunately, I was feeling very sick, so I asked Sempai Light to run
class instead. I was able to hang back and watch and comment, but was
careful not to interrupt anything.
Towards the second half of class I was feeling better and got together
with Rey to work on Kiso Kumite Shodan.
February 1, 2003
No karate update, but the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost today while
reentering the atmosphere for a landing in Florida. It broke up over
Texas, killing the seven crew members.
I started to write a poem, but then I realized that it was already
written better than I could. From Robert Heinlein:
The Green Hills of Earth
---------------------------
Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet
Of the cool, green hills of Earth.
We rot in the moulds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.
[ --- the harsh bright soil of Luna ---
--- Saturn's rainbow rings ---
--- the frozen night of Titan --- ]
We've tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.
The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
ALL HANDS! STAND BY! FREE FALLING!
And the lights below us fade.
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps a race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet ---
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the friendly skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
-- Robert A. Heinlein
This poem/song was in the short story of the same name. Heinlein never
filled in the missing verses, and I refuse to try.
R.I.P.
February 4, 2003
We had a very small class this evening, just seven students. I ran the
exercises and stretching, then Sensei came in and had Sempai Light run
kicks while Sensei worked with me on Kakuha Dai Ichi Bunkai Kumite and
Saifa Bunkai Kumite. After Sempai Light finished the kicks, we paired
up and I worked with Amy on rank requirements.
Sensei started Sempai Light on Kakuha Dai Ichi Bunkai Kumite. Great! I
have another partner to work on one of my weakest things!
February 6, 2003
After exercises, Sensei took Sempai Light and myself outside to work on
eku kata. Sempai Light is starting Tsuken Aku Chu, while I am working
on Tsuken Sunekake. I have a lot of trouble with Tsuken Sunekake,
especially the ending, but I think that I have it hashed out and
written down now.
I also worked on Tozan Nichogama kama kata, fixing a couple of
missing moves.
February 11, 2003
I got to class early and worked out with Sempai Light on Kakuha Dai
Ichi Bunkai. I then ran the exercises until Sensei Yocham arrived. We
had a gentleman visiting the class, so Sensei was talking to him. I
split up the class and we worked on rank requirements.
February 13, 2003
Sensei was at class when I arrived, but he had to leave to take care of
some personal stuff. He asked me to run exercises and then to work on
stuff for the upcoming tournament on the 22nd.
I ran through exercises and then we formed a ring and took turns
working on tournament kata. Towards the end of class, I paired people
up and ran a ring working on point sparring.
February 18, 2003
After the class exercises, Sensei took Sempai Light and myself and we
worked on Kakuha Dai Ichi Bunkai Kumite. We had two people working on
the Bunkai, and one mirroring without a partner. After the two partners
completed it, we rotated so that the two partners changed.
I am having a tough time of this Bunkai.
I'll be out of class on Thursday, but we're all heading up to Dallas
for the TOGKF Winter Tournament on Saturday. Should be fun. Mr. Fauth
is bringing a bunch of his students up, and they are very good
sparrers. Not sure about forms, but tough to point spar.
March 25, 2003
OK, it's been a while since I've updated, but here goes. We went to the
TOGKF winter tournament on February 22nd, and the Austin group did very
well. We wound up taking first place overall, and retaining the yearly
trophy. The Woodward family did very well, as well. I took Matthew and
Aubrey up with me, and they both placed, while I took first place in
Black Belt weapons kata.
Other than that, I've just been working my butt off trying to get ready
for my Nidan test. The test has been scheduled for June 21st, and
Sensei has registered me. Pass or fail, I will be testing, so I need to
do everything I can to make it 'pass'.
One bad thing happened last week. I have a Schuai Jiao buddy that I
spar with on a regular basis, usually weekly. Last wednesday, we were
sparring and he came in for a throw. I went to punch him in his
headgear, which I do if I have a good open shot and to let him know to
guard his head. Unfortunately, he popped up at the last instant and I
broke his nose. Not too bad, but he had to get outpatient surgery to
get it straightened. Bummer...
Tonight Sensei took me to the back of the class and we worked on Saifa
Kaisai (application) while Sempai Light ran exercises. After exercises,
Amy and Rey tested for, and were awarded, their 8th kyu (green stripe).
I then worked out with Mr. Bonicoro until the end of class.