Questor

Last weekend we had our first SSU Oceania Gasshuku since 2019 up in Brisbane. 2 days of training learning katas Papuren and Gojushiho, as well as drills around their application. Sadly Ishitobi Sensei couldn't make it down from Japan (as he wouldn't have been able to get back into Japan afterwards) but it was great to train with people from all over Australia (and New Zealand) and be surrounded by fellow karate geeks.

Great class yesterday - we spent pretty uch the whole 1h15 going through the 6 main bunkai we have for Bassai Dai. Bunkai can sometimes seem rather esoteric when related to the kata, but these were really excellent, and in some cases, rather brutal

I have been rather slack updating my experiences here, apologies. Have been consistently training 3 days a week most weeks, I can definitely feel myself getting more proficient as I go along. Last weekend we had our quarterly grading. The week leading up to it had been nice and cool (low 20s degrees C) and of course grading day got up to 32..! My sweat got me through and I'm now 4th kyu. I still can't quite believe my progress, but being regular to training definitely helps. The most exciting thing is that our Australian Union of dojos in our style are having a Gasshuku in Brisbane at the end of April and I have booked to go. Sadly our Japanese head of style cannot make it this year, but it should be a great weekend, as I understand it we will be going through the kata Gojushiho, with all the bunkai and kumite applications. Really looking forward to it.

Keep us updated on your progress HM756

Been a little while since my last update. Today we had our final grading for the year. Melbourne decided to make it tough for us, and we graded in 33 degrees C heat! Much hydration was the order of the day. I managed to successfully grade to 5th kyu. We start to slow down from here, and promotions only come every 6 months at the earliest, but I don't mind that, as I don't want to rush into anything. Looking forward to getting back on the mats again this week for the last few classes before christmas.

Get better friends? *grins* But seriously, that's ok. I have found that I have become friends with the people I train with, or some of them at least, and we can all indulge our MA passion together. It's good that not everyone is into the same things, though not if people can't take the hint if you're obviously not interested in what they are talking about.

Awesome news - I have grading in 3 weeks too

We've been back in dojo for a week now. As expected there has been quite a bit of kumite work happening, given how long we have all been training on our own at home! I have had a mixed week. Thursday night I had one of those nights where I felt I was just not on my game, and my techniques and kata were behind what I know I can do. I know we all have those days so I am trying to not let it bother me too much. This morning's class was good. Had a little issue with one sparring partner who was throwing roundhouse kicks like he was trying to hit an impact shield (he has a few issues he is dealing with so I am not holding it against him too much, but I did have a word to sensei to maybe get him to rein it in a bit, as while I was quick enough to get out of the way, others might not be). We then worked a little more on the advanced kata we were learning through Zoom, Anan. I actually really like this kata, it is something very different to our usual.

Almost back into dojo! Our hard lockdown ended this past week, though we are still not allowed back into dojo until we are at 80% fully vaccinated, which is projected to happen by the end of this coming week. Outdoor 2 on 1 classes have been continuing though, and yesterday morning I went for a 20 minute 2-1 class that turned into staying around for over 2 hours. Was great to get some personal feedback and help me work on stuff that I had been struggling with. Also started to learn the kata I will need to grade with in about 6 months, Bassai Dai. It's a bit of a step up from the Heian katas I have been doing, but it seems pretty easy to learn so far. Mastering it is what will take the time of course!

It's been a little while since I posted. A few things have happened: We opened up in early August and after 3 days of freedom got locked down again. We had 4 hours notice of lockdown, so got a last class in on Thursday evening, then the Dan grading candidates had a very late notice late night grading because otherwise we weren't sure when that was going to happen! Since then we have been training via Zoom, it's of course not the same, but I've been going OK. The last couple of weeks, our vaccination rate has gotten to the point where 2 on 1 outdoor personal training can happen, and Sensei has been offering us the option to do some face to face classes that way, dodging the rain that comes with a Melbourne spring This all culminated in a grading happening today, 2 students to 1 instructor, outside, and without kumite, as contact is still forbidden. Only those of us who have kept up training online were invited to attend, but I managed to successfully grade to 6th Kyu. Hopefully in a few weeks time we will be back in the dojo, and we can get back to that all important in person training. Onwards and upwards

Back in the dojo this week after a couple of weeks locked down. Tonight's class was excellent, had a good chat with sensei around kata, along with a fellow student (same level as myself). He said that as we are moving more to the intermediate stage of our kyu ranks he's going to get us putting more technique into the movements and not just following the pattern, and also doing more bunkai. Bunkai is one of the things that really helps me get a kata into my head so I am definitely looking forward to that!

And we're back to lockdown, thanks to people not following the rules (not dojo related, just 'people' Before we got locked down, I started learning the last 2 Heian katas I have yet to learn, Shodan and Yondan. I think with a bit of practice they should be fine.

grading day was yesterday and I promoted to 7th kyu An hour and 40 minutes of full on work, rather proud of myself, even though there's still so much to learn. Kumite is always going to be my hardest discipline I think, it just doesn't come naturally to me, but that's why we train right?! Osu!

Saturday was a much better day - still plenty to work on, of course, but I didn't feel like everything I was doing was awful, which is an improvement!

Super frustrating session (personally) last night, just felt like I was a little 'off' with everything I was doing. I think I made it worse in my own head because I know I can do all the things we were doing much better, and so I was being extra hard on myself. Oh well, we all have days like that, just gotta come back next session and do my best