So, due to having an interview in the morning, I had to do a double class tonight of regular class time and instructor class time, since I was making up the morning class AND there are no classes on Saturday due to the ATA school picnic (which I can't attend this year because of my BIL graduation from college).
The first class was fine. Just doing warm up drills, and then we did practice graduation. There were two girls who had signed up a few months ago, but then had put their classes on hold due to other school activities, and are now restarting. Now, yes, they are only just really starting now, and they are white belts, but MAN. Talk about uncoordinated! I mean REALLY uncoordinated! And they didn't seem to, well, have it together. I know they go to a school for kids that are learning different, and I can say this because my kid IS learning different, but man, they were SLOW to catch on. So between being highly uncoordinated and slow, well, all I can say is that they have a long road ahead of them. And good for them for trying something new that's not easy. I was glad that after some of the warmups, where they really weren't catching on even though some of it was very basic stuff (like just to a straight leg kick to warm up) that they were separated out from the rest of us, so we could not be slowed down. That sounds awful that I'm not that patient, because I know I appreciated it when others were patient with me, but then again, I understood how to do a straight leg kick from the get-go, at least.
So as we are practicing, I realized a few things. First, I really need to watch that DVD of my form. I know it, and found that if I didn't take my time, I did a better job. However, I'm still making a few mistakes with little half-steps and such to get me going in the right direction, as those little half steps are actually part of the form. Oops. Well, then again, it's not like I've been getting a heckuva lot of help. Second, I really need to practice my weapons routine. SJBs are not my forte in weapons, and so to do doubles, as I've said before, well, I'm just torturing myself. I know more or less what I want to do, but I really need to practice so I actually DO what I intend, not goof up and do something cockamamie. Even if it's a freestyle, it shouldn't look stupid if you can help it!
I also found out tonight that I didn't need to just break for permission to test tonight. I thought that was all I had to do, and I'd do it tonight, and get it over with. Oh no. I was informed that because I'm testing for "rank" (even though it's not a full belt, I guess going for 1BR/1st degree Black recommended, that's testing for rank), I actually have to break AT TESTING. Well, I've never done THAT before. Yikes! I can tell you this, however-- I am glad I am breaking with a palm heel/roundkick combination for rank instead of the elbow/run-jump-sidekick! I got the ugly one out of the way, so you can say that I chose wisely! WHEW!! Had I known that before, I would've made the same choice, but not knowing, I'm glad I did what I did! Fortunately, these breaks I have to do aren't bad. In regular class, I got both boards on the first try. At instructor class, where we had another practice, I got the palm heel break with no problem, but as I was throwing the roundkick, I just totally blanked out from what I was doing. I got it on the second pop easily. Just have to slow down a little, or instead of the usual "don't think", at least with the roundkick, I need to think a little bit!
Just some tweaking that I have to make some time to do, but I'm not worried about making rank to 1BR. After this, then I'll be working on CJ#2 again, and having to get it ready big time for a tournament this summer. I'll have to practice my kama routine again to keep it fresh, because why do something else when this routine wins, right? Don't fix it if it ain't broke! Just need to get through next week, and then I'll be fine. I'm not really worried about this testing, even though I have to break boards in front of EVERYBODY. I can break them pretty easily, so I'm not worried. I'm used to having to get up and do my form by myself and stuff like that, so this is no different. Just concentrate on where to place my boards, breathing and follow through. That's it. Making that switch to my left foot from my right for the kick really has made the difference.
So...next posting...most likely will be after the completion of getting my first real "rank" testing out of the way!
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5 comments:
Good luck on your testing, and with your breaking. We didn't have to break anything for my test. In fact, I've never broken a board in my life! Sensei has some PVC re-breakable boards from Centuryfitness.com, and they are tougher than real boards. Several people who have broken both have told me so. That being said, I have no doubt that I can break a board if I tried.
I have broken those plastic boards as well, as those are what we normally practice on. However, for testing, you need to break real wood, so I'm getting the practice in on that. What I've learned from others as well as experience is that with the plastic boards, you learn precision-- you have to hit it exactly on the line where it's put together with the right amount of force or else it won't break. And for that reason, they ARE harder to use. However, with wood, you don't need to be exact and you can still break it, but you still need a certain amount of force to break a board. And I've broken plenty of both, but having to actually break at testing itself is new. Like I said in my post, I'm just glad that I'm doing the easier of the two breaks I had to do for this belt for rank at this testing! You should ask your sensei, just for kicks and giggles, if you can try. I mean, usually we just do something whereby it's a front kick, side kick, roundkick, or some variation (reverse side, jump front, etc.), and some hand technique. My favorite hand is a knifehand strike. Almost nobody does that for testing, but I did! :-) It's actually fun. And if you don't know which of those boards to use, if it's the same ones that we use, you would use a blue board. (Brown and black are for the guys, but being that you are an established black belt, you might be able to do the brown, which equals two boards. ;-))
I have never broken a board either. You've done a knifehand strike to a board? Is it a stab or do you strike with edge of the hand?
Good luck on your testing! I'm sure you'll do great
Hey Frotoe/M,
That's amazing that both you and Becky haven't broken any boards. Man, they start the kids on that as soon as their parents let them, as early as a white belt! A knifehand strike break is with the outer edge of your hand. It's a slightly odd break, because unlike the punching breaks (palm heel, elbow, hammerfist, punch, etc.) which are all forward, meaning that you are hitting something in front of you, this one is going behind you like a backfist, only it's a knifehand strike, if that makes any sense. Breaking boards is fun! If that was all I had to do in class for a few hours, I would. It only hurts if you do it wrong! ;-)
I tell you, along with John V's request to see my "winning" kama routine, I should see about having my board breaking video as well.
Isn't it amazing how uncoordinated some people can be? I'm not blaming them but I always felt kind of bad for the adults who couldn't master the simplest form.
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