bushido_man96

Ok, State Championship tournament has come and gone, and I'm going to give this one a thorough rundown. We got in on the afternoon of 3/14, and Kenneth weighed in at 242 lbs. Day 1, 3/15/2025 Match 1: Unfortunately, this match was a scratch. Not sure what was up with the kid, but the new was the kid he was supposed to wrestle was 0-4 or 0-5. Still, would have rather wrestled than not. A note here on the bracket. The way it plays out, is depending on which district you get matched up with (they rotate them each year), the 1 seed gets a 4 seed from the other district. The 2 seed gets the 3 seed, etc. Well, the way it worked out, there was no 3 seed from the opposing district, so the kid Kenneth actually beat twice to get the 1 seed had a natural bye in the tournament, and Kenneth did not. I think that is something that needs to be addressed, as the higher seed should get rewarded with the bye if it's there. But, be that as it may, I'm certain Kenneth would have taken care of business if he would have had a first match. In a way, he ended up with a bye anyway. Match 2: At the start of the match, Kenneth was tying up well. His opponent did a lateral drop, but Kenneth had good pressure and hip placement to sprawl out and come back up with the opponent. So they were back to neutral and fighting for position. His opponent started a slide-by and ended up giving Kenneth a headlock. With that, Kenneth took him over and worked to pin. The opponent was rolling around and trying to roll Kenneth through, and he ended up rolling back into Kenneth, which allowed Kenneth to sink it in even deeper. He tightened it up and got the pin, nearly choking the kid out in the process. 2-0 on the day. Match 3: Semifinals! No matter what happened now, making it to the semifinals meant the lowest he could place was 6th, securing his first ever podium finish at state. Kenneth opened up with two underhooks and a throw for 3 points. The opponent rolled through and Kenneth "cut him" (let him up). They hand fought and pummeled, and the opponent went for a headlock, and Kenneth got a body lock with an underhook and threw him again, scoring another 3 points and also getting 4 back points for a near-fall. They ended up out of bounds and got reset, and Kenneth kept him broke down with a tight-waist/ankle and rode out period 1, up 12-1. To start the second period, the opponent chose top, and Kenneth did a "quad-pod" stand-up, and got caught in a cow-catcher. He sprawled out, got back to the quad-pod, posted his arms out and scored an escape. Kenneth got to the underhook body lock again and threw again for 3 more points, going up 16-1. Kenneth held him down after the takedown and pinned him for the major decision. 3-0, and into the finals! Now the lowest he could place was 3rd, and I'll elaborate on that in just little bit. Day 2, 3/16/2025 Match 4: This was going to be a tough match. The opponent was 4th place last year in this same tournament. The kid was very tall and was a very solid wrestler. When they started off, Kenneth was getting his inside ties and was doing ok pummeling for position. The opponent took shot a single-leg and Kenneth sprawled out, and they got up. The opponent came in for a headlock and Kenneth got his body lock again. From there, neither could get the position they wanted, so they backed out to collar ties. The opponent went for a trip but they had worked over to the edge of the mat and were called out of bounds and set back to neutral. Now here, it seems like Kenneth got pensive about tying back up. This was bad, because Kenneth was on his heels moving back slightly, and I started yelling at him to make some connections so he could work again. Too late. The opponent shot a blast double that finished out of bounds. The reset with Kenneth on bottom position, and from there Kenneth got broke down with a head lever and got turned for a pin. 3-1 for the weekend, and one would think that since this is the finals, Kenneth finished 2nd place. But not so fast.... Starting last year or the year before, KS Kids Wrestling started initiating the "true second place" rule. The way this works is that the wrestler that takes 3rd place can challenge the 2nd place finisher for "true second" if the 3rd place wrestler had not been beaten by the 2nd place finisher earlier in the bracket. We got to watch the 3rd/4th place match as they were up before his match. One of the wrestlers was the kid Kenneth beat in the semifinals, and I was hoping that kid would win, then there'd be no challenge. But the other wrestler won, and he was hanging around watching Kenneth's finals match. The 3rd/4th place match was a sloppy one, though. The two came in high on each other, basically in a headlock battle to see who would fall down first. They both had height and weight on Kenneth, but I really wasn't too concerned about either of them. The kid watching Kenneth's match yelled out in excitement at his chance to challenge for true 2nd when Kenneth lost. What I was really worried about was Kenneth's head-space after just losing a title match, and getting him mentally reset to take on one last opponent. So, I gave him a pep talk that I can't repeat here, but the abridged version of it was that he wasn't going to let this kid come take his runner-up finish away, was he? He agreed, and waited about 10 minutes for a few other true 2nd matches to finish up before we began. Match 5: This was literally the last match of the day; tape was getting pulled up and mats were getting rolled up all around us. So they go out, shake hands, and it's on. Kenneth gets inside ties, and the taller opponent tried the headlock like he did in the 3rd/4th place match. Kenneth explained to me that the opponent had the headlock on the wrong side, on his own (the opponent's) side, and he couldn't throw him. Kenneth had a true headlock. They ended up backing out of the headlock positions and pummeled for position. Kenneth got two underhooks and a body lock to a trip for a takedown and 3 points, and the opponent did a knee-slide out of bounds. They reset with Kenneth in top position, and Kenneth broke him down with an ankle ride. Kenneth defended a "big man roll" and broke him down again. He got a chicken wing and turned his opponent for 2 back points, and his opponent crawled out of bounds again and got called for stalling. That ended the first period with Kenneth holding a 5-0 lead. To start the 2nd period, Kenneth chose neutral, and he pummeled to an underhook, and the kid went for Kenneth's head, and Kenneth got the body lock with an arm in, and threw him nicely, landed on top with basically a barbed wire pinning combination set in, and Kenneth settled in, T-ed out, and got the pin! While getting pinned, the opponent got his hand pulled away from Kenneth's face by the ref; the opponent was trying to push Kenneth's head away, and nearly gouged his eye in the process. Either way, it wasn't enough to stop the pin from happening, and Kenneth secured his 2nd place finish! 4-1 record for the weekend! I was so happy for Kenneth, with this being his first podium finish, after 7 years of wrestling. It had been a long time since that 6U 4th place finish. Kenneth was so happy, too, and we got to share that moment together, and I'll always remember it. And he's got one up on big brother Kendall; Kendall's best state finish was 3rd. What I really think kicked things off for Kenneth this year in wrestling was the success he experienced at the Heartland Duals we went to last year. I think it set him up with some understanding of how to compete and that he knew he could compete. This year he got past the point of worrying about everyone being heavier and taller than him; he knew in high school wrestling he'd have to be a giant slayer this year, and he carried that attitude into the Kids season. It has all paid off. I'm looking forward to three more years of wrestling. Come what may, we got to have this year, and this year was great.

3/13/2025 TKD: Rank Class: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. We got through half of the basics roughly. For our typical side kicks drill, we changed it up to do one low, then one middle, then one high. After basics, we spent the rest of the time on one-steps. I did white belt and low blue belt one steps. My head was not feeling great, but got through it all. BJJ: 7:00 - 8:15 pm. Class focus was on the front headlock position. Warm-up: 3 low speed rounds, 3 minutes each. Then we spent time going over the anaconda, the darce, the guillotine, and the arm-in guillotine as finishes from the front headlock position. Game 1: The "top" player, or the player controlling the head I guess, his job was to get a submission or to improve position. If we got a Darce set in but couldn't finish it, then the goal was to move to mount or side control. Bottom player was trying to escape/separate. I think I got maybe one submission set while playing here, but I did move to improve my position a few times. I need to get better at letting my partner take my weight and I need to follow my moves more. 5 min x2 Game 2: We started with the controlling player moving through the submission positions. As we moved through them, the coach would call "stop," and wherever we were, that was the sub we tried to finish. I had trouble getting things set right. Pretty concentrated night. I didn't free roll due to my head feeling really bad.

Talking along the line of migraines, I recently was prescribed Verapamil to take daily. Last Saturday was a bad day, but Sunday when I got to eat some breakfast and take that pill, it made a difference. I also have prescription diazapem in case of severe cases of vertigo.

I just finished it up tonight. I was kind of getting dragged down by the overly-dramatic things going on, and in the back of my mind I kept wondering why it was titled Cobra Kai when everything seemed to be turning up Miyagi-Do? But then they brought everything full circle, and did a pretty masterful job of it. Great end.

Been a rough week. Haven't felt good at all, but finally made myself get to class. 3/11/2025 No class, but had some thoughts about a class designed around training the chamber positions of blocking techniques as the actual "block" or "reception" and using the rest of the technique as the strike and finish. I've got a few ideas down, and need to put them to paper. 3/12/2025 Made myself get to class. My head hasn't been feeling great all week, but I didn't want to give up an entire week of training. TKD: 5:15 - 5:30 pm. Solo workout, on my old ATA forms. I focused on Songham 4 several times to get it re-memorized, then did Songham 1-3 as well. 5:30 - 6:00 pm. Forms/One-Steps Class. Had two students, and I taught the class. We did Chon Ji several times at my count. On the 4th run through, I had the students say the techniques they were doing out loud in hopes that it might help make it stick more. We moved on to Dan Gun hyung, and went through it 3 times at my count. On the big turning techniques (180 degree and 270 degree turns) I had them focus on bringing their feet close together in order to keep better balance and allow them better foot placement and hand/foot timing. We moved to their current form, Bo Chung hyung, which they did twice, at my count and then their own. It's done in basically the same floor and stepping pattern as Dan Gun, so I had them focus on the close-foot turning there as well. It made a huge difference in their performance. We did Chon Ji one more time, then moved to one-steps. They got through all their low and high orange belt one-steps, and I cleaned up some technicalities along the way. 6:00 - 7:10 pm. No one for this class, so it was back to solo work for me. I went over Songham 5 several times to get it down, then I did Songham 1-5 altogether. One thing that is unique to the ATA forms is that they were all devised to run together on a floor pattern referred to as the Songham Star. Each form is designed to be able to continue right into the next one without having to reset to the joon bi position. So the more forms remembered, the longer the overall form can be. They aren't much for applications, other than the straightforward combinations you can see, but there are some challenging segments in the forms that I think should help with my technique moving forward. That, and these are the forms from my MA childhood, so they are kind of nostalgic. I know there are lots of mixed feelings about the ATA, but I had really good instructors that harped on hard work and proper technique, and my MA "childhood" was a good one. I did a stretch in The Rack for a little bit, and reviewed the next ATA form, called In Wha 1. I went through this one several times, and feel I've gotten it back. I stretched in The Rack again, and reviewed In Wha 2, then went over that one several times. If I can keep all these straight, then I only have 2 more ATA colored belt forms left.

I take a Dramamine here and there to try to quell it. If things get really bad, I have some more potent prescriptions. If there is anything natural that anyone knows of, I'm all ears, too.

I did not know this! Happy Birthday Chuck! Chuck Norris movies were a mainstay in my home growing up; my dad was a big fan, and one of my earliest memories is watching Lone Wolf McQuade with my dad as a kid. I loved it when he used the nitrous boost to drive his buried patrol vehicle out of a hole! When I got older, I remember watching Walker, Texas Ranger on the regular. And of course, there are all the Chuck Norris Facts out there....

The coach has done some of this as well.

I have some base knowledge to fall back on, so I have an idea of how to do some submissions. Not a lot, but enough to get by right now. My son, however, does get frustrated because he can apply all kinds of good pressure and good positions, but he doesn't have a very extensive knowledge of how to do the submissions. I've talked him through some, like the Americana and the armbar, and the coach has shown us the RNC, the anaconda, and the Darce. I think a brief technique session prior to the games would probably provide a happy medium for those that don't have some base knowledge.

District Championships results from this weekend: Kenneth went 2-0 and placed first. There was only one other kid in the division this year, and they wrestled a best 2-out-of-3. Kenneth handled business in the first match, getting into the second period and winning with a pin. In the second match, the other kid came at him really hard; it appeared to be an attempt to try to catch him off-guard and get a desperation headlock to get a win. Kenneth responded well, kept good position, and took the kid down and pinned him in the first period this time. This is also his first time winning the district championships. This is great, because he'll go to State as a number one seed, and face the 4 seed from one of the other districts. I've also heard via the coach that there are only 12 in the state bracket for his age/weight class. Stay tuned for next week!

Kirk Cousins could very well end up being the highest paid back-up QB in the league if the Falcons decide to lead with Pennix. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. Maybe they split time? Chiefs re-sign LB Nick Bolton to an extension, and also bring back Hollywood Brown on another one-year deal. Xavier Worthy made the news by getting arrested on felony domestic charges, which ended up being dropped. Browns re-signed Myles Garrett to a big deal, making him the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history (until next week, at least). Kind of a shocker considering his thoughts on wanting to seek a championship. Bills released Vaughn Miller, but are open to re-signing him to a different deal.

Geno Smith will provide a stable bridge to the QB of the future for the Raiders. The question is, will they find the QB of the future in this draft or in next year's draft?

3/6/2025 BJJ: 7:00 - 8:30 pm. Today's focus was on back control. I think I got all the games we did down, although I might have left something out. Today he did it differently; we started from a submission, and then worked backwards in the progression. We started in the backpack position, where the "top" player is seated behind the "bottom" player with hooks in. Warmup: 3 minutes at 15%. Kendall's 15% is faster than my 15%.... Submission technique: We worked on the rear naked choke. Game 1: Back or "top" player tries to set the choke, while the "bottom" player tries to control the hands to prevent it. Top player started with arms in the seat belt position. This kind of became a lot of cross-facing to try to get a good bite with the arm to set the choke. Hands for both players are always active. 5 min. Game 2: Same, but top player from the seat belt position had to get control of the hand(s) (1-on-1 or 2-on-1) before trying to set the choke. More focus on making connections and establishing good control before trying to set the choke. 5 min. Game 3: Same, but the bottom player now had to try to break the chest/back connection and escape or reverse. Options he showed were a parachute escape by pulling up on both feet and moving the hips away, and also laying back on the top player to apply pressure, then sliding one and then the second shoulder to the mat to get the separation. I had a much easier time with the latter process. The top player started with double underhooks this time. The top player had to control wrists or arms before advancing to the seat belt position. The top player still trying to get the choke, but would need to try to reset the position if the bottom player started getting separation. I had some luck with reconnecting as the top player most of the time. 5 min. Game 4: Same, but this time the top player started with the double underhooks and moved to a body lock or wrist/arm control (1-on-1 or 2-on-1) and tried to hold the position. This time, the top player was not trying to set the choke. One of the rounds I was drilling with a guy who was constantly pulling on my feet when he was bottom. I was constantly trying to reestablish the connection with my hooks, and he was able to slide his knee and elbow together to make a frame really well. 5 min x2 Open mat: I rolled several times, a few with Kendall and some with some of the other students. I've seen a pattern in my rolling; I go from crappy positions to worse positions regularly...

If it were easy, everyone would do it!

Chiefs traded Joe Thuney, likely in a move to clear up space to sign Trey Smith long term. It sucks to see him go, but I trust the powers that be know what they are doing. They currently have to LT's on the roster that aren't so good at playing LT, so it's likely one of them will bump in to guard. Or, they feel that Caliendo filled in well enough when they kicked Thuney out to LT that they feel comfortable going with him at LG moving forward. I'm sorry to see him go; he's been a great mainstay for an awesome interior line. But, that's the business of football. On another note, the Seahawks released Tyler Lockett, and shortly thereafter DK Metcalf requested a trade. Those are some good receivers hitting the market.

It's likely the decision of whether he gets in or not will come down to the sports writers that hold the votes. Some of them are rather sanctimonious and could likely hold Rose out of the Hall.

3/5/2025 Aikido: 6:15 - 7:45 pm. We did a brief warmup, then moved into aikitaisos, but Sensei had us focusing on some internal aspects to help make them stronger. We worked on dropping our center and building structure while also extending to the sides. We worked on absorbing pressure into us and using unbendable arms out to the sides to work on that extension. It was a cool aspect to work on, and he plans on focusing more on internals along with select aikitaisos going forward. Next, we worked on forward rolls. I did them kneeling this time, but from a higher kneeling position, and really focused on making sure to get good extension in my arms so I wasn't crashing onto my shoulder. I saw some improvement. For technique work, we worked on shionage from a same-side wrist grab. We worked on the entry first, several times. Breaking down the entry first I find quite helpful, as I can focus on the nuances of arm placement, distance, and placing my steps. Then we put it all together, finishing with the throw. I was much better with my posture and breaking uke's posture today. Sensei and I had a fun discussion today between aikitaiso work and rolling. I asked what aikitaiso translated to, and he went into several different things. Aiki-tai-so: "harmonious" body movement. Te-sabaki: wrist movement (or shifting). He demonstrated some of this. Some of it was like the re-grabs we would do in Combat Hapkido. Tai-sabaki: body movement (or shifting). He conversed on these for several minutes, which was fun to talk about.

Several years ago, I wrote an article that focused on a class full of front kicking, with lots of component breakdown and variations on the basic front kick. I shamelessly plug that article here: Just the other day in class I found myself breaking down the flying side kick we do in our version of Choong Moo hyung, and it's enough material to be considered a class all on it's own as well. So I thought I'd share an article in the same vein here. I referenced the process I used in that class in a post in The Martial Artists' Training Log, but I've refined it much more here. Enjoy, and I look forward to KF feedback! The Choong Moo Flying Side Kick Breakdown Class Here is a step-by-step breakdown to help students better understand the nuances of the flying side kick in our version of Choong Moo hyung. Where noted, a Wavemaster standing bag will be used to give the student feedback on the alignment and power direction of the kick. The student starts in a left foot forward back stance, double knife hand block, just like in the hyung. The only difference is I'll have them switch and do both sides. The kick is only done with the right leg in the hyung. This teaching progression is also good for the 3rd dan and higher ranks that have to the flying side kick over obstacles for their testing. The flying side kick is done after taking two steps, then jumping by throwing the back leg up and using it as the momentum to get up, turn sideways, and kick. It's not done like the traditional ITF version of Choong Moo; this version is easier. This version is basically a back leg side kick just done in the air, and I like to break things down all the way to the most basic movement. The big focus in a good back leg side kick is getting the knee chambered up tight and around so the body is side-on to the target and then finishing by pivoting the base leg foot and turning the hips to get power. The two steps done prior to the flying side kick shouldn’t be great big, bounding steps. Instead, they should be more controlled steps that help build a little bit of momentum and then allow the student to spring up as high as possible to kick. The goal of this kick is not to travel a huge amount of distance, but to jump high while advancing about another stance length while kicking and then recovering with a controlled landing and double knife hand blocks in back stance. Constantly remind the students that they have to keep the knee tight and get it around so they don’t end up kicking with the toes or the ball of the foot. If the pivot isn’t tight, the toes or ball of the foot tend to lead the kick instead of the heel. The pivot is just as important when done in the air as it is when done on the ground. 1. Back leg (#2) side kick. Floor drill, no bag or shield. 2. Back Leg (#2) side kick, this time on Wavemaster bag, both sides. Many reps. Partners could also hold kicking shields for each other, backing up for each new rep. 3. Add the two steps for the flying side kick, done at my count; 1st step, then 2nd step, then chamber position, focusing on getting the chamber around and tight by pivoting the base foot. Three counts, no kick, no bag, no jump. Do as floor drill, starting and finishing with double knife hand blocks (remember hand/foot timing!). 4. Same as step 3, at my count, but adding a fourth count, which is to back leg (#2) side kick. So four counts at this point in the progression. Floor drill, no bag or shield, no jump. Finish with the double knife hand blocks in back stance. 5. Same as step 4, but now done with a partner holding a kicking shield, backing up for each rep. Partners then switch roles once they get to the end of the floor. Or use Wavemaster. 6. Same drill as step 5, but now the student has to put it all together and at his own pace and count. Here is where you start to see them cheating on the chamber and have to correct it. Slow and smooth, smooth is faster. 7. From the back stance and double knife hand blocks, bring the back leg up to that chamber position, getting the chamber around while jumping into the air (not taking the two steps, and not kicking). The goal is to "throw" the back leg up while "pivoting" in the air to get the body turned side-on, keeping the knee tight. The knee is thrown up to gain momentum in the jump, much the way we do with our jump front snap kicks in basics; we just add the turn here. The student finishes by landing and setting down into the double knife hand block in back stance with the other leg forward. Floor drill advancing about one stance length with each jump, no kick. 8. The next progression is adding the "cannonball" aspect (that's how Master Biskie referred to it). When running and jumping, you want to pull the knees up as high as possible. The student takes two quick steps, bursts off the ground by throwing that back knee up high and turning, “pivoting” while in the air, and pulling up and tucking the knees as high and tight as they can (the “cannonball”). I shall affectionately refer to this drill as “The Cannonball Run.” 9. Now the students do the flying side kick, all together at their own count. Start in the back stance/double knife hand blocks and finish in the back stance/double knife hand blocks. The trick here is to land on the base leg foot with the kicking foot rechambered, then reach back and set down into the blocks. Again, hand/foot timing! 10. For the students preparing for flying side kicks over obstacles (which is usually two or three people) for testing, the next progression is to set up some kicking shields or other obstacles on the ground in front of the Wavemaster. I set the shields on their sides and about 6 inches apart from each other to represent the obstacles. This version of the kick is usually done with more distance and taking more steps and has more of a forward trajectory than the kick in Choon Moo hyung.

3/4/2025 TKD: Rank Class: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. I helped out while the 3rd dan led the class. After basics, I went through Chon Ji with the new white belts. Sparring Class: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. I led this class, and participated as well. We sparred round-robins, each getting at least four 1-minute rounds. After that, we did three 30-second rounds of mirroring footwork, with one person designated to lead. We finished with a few more rounds each of sparring, 1-minute rounds again. Floor stretch afterwards.

3/3/2025 TKD: Forms/One-Steps Class: 5:30 - 6:00 pm. I taught this class tonight. We started by going through all colored belt forms: Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Bo Chung, Do San, Won Hyo, Yul Kok, Joong Gun, Toi Gye, Hwa Hwrang, and Choong Moo, and then Do Gon 1. I joined in with the class to do these as well. After the forms, the 1st degree rec. black belt went through all the colored belt one-steps. I sat and had a nice floor stretch while watching and critiquing. Sparring Drills Class: 6:00 - 6:30 pm. I got to teach this one as well, and put my hogu on and jumped in on the drills as well. I went back to the kicking drills class format I had laid out and started them on last week, and went deeper into it. We started with the hop-in round kick, making contact with the hogu, then added to it by hopping in, round kick, then hop back out, then adding a reverse side kick. It looks like skip in, kick, skip out (brining the kicking foot back down next to the base foot and stepping the base foot back to the original position) reverse side kick. The goal was to get the footwork right and make contact with both kicks on the hogu. After working that, we went back to the offensive player doing the skip-in round kick, and the defensive player blocking/shifting and countering with a reverse round kick. We worked actually blocking then kicking, and countering right off the attack with less focus on the block, but still keeping the arms in good defensive position, just in case. After repping the reverse side kick, we switched the counter to the spin heel kick, then to the spin outer crescent kick. Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. We all did Do Gon 1, and then had the rec. black belt do it on his own so we could watch and offer feedback. Then the 3rd dan and I did Do Gon 2 while the rec. black belt did Do Gon 1 again. Next, I had the rec. black belt do his form, Choong Moo, first on his own count, then by my count so we could offer feedback and clean up various parts of the form. There is a flying side kick in that form, and I spent time breaking it down so he could get that kick locked in. Here's the breakdown, done using a Wavemaster standing bag for feedback. The student starts in a left foot forward back stance, double knife hand block, just like in the hyung. The only difference is I'll have them switch and do both sides. The kick is only done with the right leg in the hyung. 1. Back leg side kick. The flying side kick is done after taking two steps, then jumping by throwing the back leg up and using it as the momentum to get up, turn sideways, and kick. It's not done like the traditional ITF version of Choong Moo; this version is easier. This version is basically a back leg side kick just done in the air, and I like to break down things down all the way to the most basic movement. The big focus in a good back leg side kick is getting the knee chambered up tight and around so the body is side-on to the target, and then finishing by pivoting the base leg foot and turning the hips to get power. 2. Back up, add steps, at my count, 1st step, then 2nd step, then chamber position, focusing on getting the chamber around and tight. Three counts, no kick. 3. Same, at my count, then adding the last count to kick. So four counts at this point in the progression. 4. Same drill, but now the student has to put it all together and at his own pace and count. Here is where you start to see them cheating on the chamber, and have to correct it. Slow and smooth, smooth is faster. 5. Now the student does the flying side kick, all together at their own count. 6. We practiced from a back stance and double knife hand blocks, bringing the back leg up to that chamber position, getting the chamber around while jumping into the air (no kick). The goal is to "throw" the back leg up while "pivoting" in the air to get the body turned side-on, keeping the knee tight. The knee is thrown up to gain momentum in the jump, much like we do with our jump front snap kicks in basics; we just add the turn here. I have them finish by landing and setting down into the double knife hand block in back stance with the other leg forward. This makes for a nice floor drill. The next time I teach this progression, I'll add this step before doing the actual kick. I thought of this drill after I had him doing the flying side kicks. This was another way to get him to focus on getting the chamber around tight. 7. We went back to the bag and put it all together again. The next progression I'll add is the "cannonball" aspect (that's how my previous instructor referred to it). When running and jumping, you want to pull the knees up as high as possible. I kept reminding him that he has to keep the knee tight and get it around so he doesn't end up kicking with the toes or the ball of the foot. The pivot is just as important when done in the air as it is when done on the ground. This was a fun progression to work through with him, and I'm going to keep all this in my back pocket to work with the other black belts, and to use as the teaching tool for future high brown belts that have to learn this hyung.

Thank you @sensei8. With the high school season over, he's turned to the Kid's Wrestling season. This Saturday he'll be competing in the District 4 Championships, and the top 4 go onto the State tournament in Topeka. The weight classes are slightly different; there's a 235 class and a 265 class, then 285. He's going to be wrestling in the 265 class, which is nice, because he doesn't have to worry about cutting a bunch of weight, and he'll only be giving up at most 20 lbs to an opponent, as opposed to up to 45 lbs. I'll be updating this weekend.

2/28/2025 BJJ: 7:00 - 8:15 pm. We worked in gi tonight, which was waaaay different. I don't know that having the gi on helped me any more than not, but it did slow the scrambles way down, which was helpful in it's own way. Warm-up: moving back and forth just focusing on getting grips on the gi. We'd start on one side, work up the arm and to the lapels, working across to the other arm. The rest of the night was a guard focus. We started off drilling how to set the triangle from guard, focusing on using grips to control structure and posture. Game 1: Top player started in either x-guard, the start of the knee cut position, or the camping position, and his job was to try to pass. Bottom player's job was to try to hold position and prevent the pass. 5 min. Game 2: Same setup, but now the bottom player's job was to try to off-balance or sweep the top player. I think I had some success here. 5 min. Game 3: Same as Game 2. 5 min. Game 4: Top player starts standing, and the goal was to get grips on the knees or at the ankles and pass to the side, then work to complete the pass. Bottom player's goal was to try to prevent them from passing, sweep, or off-balance them. Kendall is pretty good at getting pressure, and I struggle. I would try to knee shield and get on my hip, and he'd just crush and pass. 5 min. As we went along, I was starting to try to figure out when and how to posture away or bring them in. Open mat: I rolled with Kendall several times. On one of the rolls, he connected, drove in deep to a knee while pulling my arm and just threw me over the top. It was a slow-motion type of throw. Fun, but not fun, in that "that was really cool, but wished it wouldn't have happened to me" sort of way. He also got a sub with an armbar. During one of the rolls with him, I got to the front headlock position, but we had to stop and reset as we got too close to another group rolling. Once we got reset, I lifted his chin and ran an Iowa on him! Took him straight to his back. I remember when he was around 10 letting him drill that move on me over and over and over again. That year he rode that move all the way to the state podium, and I finally got to do it myself. He said I cheated because I improved my position when we reset....I claimed that I "improvised." At any rate, I'm taking that win. I rolled with coach once, and he did some nasty gi choke on me using his own lapel. I was on my back in side control, which seems to be where I live in BJJ, whether I want to or not, so I couldn't see him set it up. He showed me what he did afterwards. It was pretty cool, but it sucked.

Congrats on the Judo grading! That's awesome! My dad fought gout years ago; it was a nightmare for him, so I kind of know how you feel. Not fun at all.

2/27/2025 TKD Class: Rank Class: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Prior to class, I warmed up with some ATA forms again, reviewing the camo belt form, and then doing Songham 1-4. For class, we got through most of basics, then I had a nice floor stretch while other students were doing their forms. I led the white belts in stretching while they were back there. After forms, I did white belt one-steps, really focusing on the proper front stance/down block to start. The CI brought the 2nd dan up to lead class again, so it was slower paced, and he took quite a while with basics, hence they got cut short. BJJ: 7:00 - 8:15 pm. Warm-up: Nice, easy roll, about 15% speed, just getting back into the swing of jiujitsu. Game 1: Bottom guy in half-guard, trying to keep it. Top guy try to get connections up top and pike up to pass (win). Switch positions if the top guy passed. 6 min. Game 2: Same, but bottom player could try to get to a knee shield to prevent the pass. Top player still passing (win and switch). 6 min. Game 3: Same setup, but now the bottom player could try to sweep or transition to otherwise take the back. 6 min. After those drills, it was open mat rolling. I rolled two rounds with Kendall, and helped him not freak out about being on his back (still a wrestler), and I also talked him through an armbar and an Americana to finish. Then I rolled with coach. He lets me work, but keeps the pressure on. I got another decent takedown, but he just positions well and makes space and frames. He took my back once, and set me in a choke once. When he moves around, it seems so effortless, and it almost seems like he's moving slow, but I can't do anything about it. I also had him help me with chaining together takedown attempts.

So, last two tournaments: first one, he had a rough day, went 0-2. Next up was regionals. This regional was probably the toughest regional for heavyweights in 3-2-1A KS. He lost his first match to a senior, then went to the backside of the bracket and had a couple of byes. He met up with a sophomore he's wrestled several times, and he pinned him, moving on. The last match was against a really talented freshman. Kenneth wrestled great, went all three periods with the kid, but lost 9-2. He had two great standups against him, which showed me he couldn't keep Kenneth down. Kenneth had two takedowns that were great; the first I think was well out of the ring, so didn't count. The second he definitely still has a foot in the ring, but the ref called them out, and the only reason I can guess that is because they were close to the scorer's table. As I think about it, they should have had those tables backed off from the mats more so the wrestlers got the full use of the ring. But either way, it is what it is. If he would have won that match, he'd have wrestled in the 3rd/4th place match, and gone to state. I'm super proud of his effort; he worked really hard. He finished the season right at a .500 record, 17-17 or 18-18, can't remember which. What's really a stinker is the region west of us had a freshman in it that Kenneth has worked all year long. That kid finished 4th and got into state. That region was considerable weaker. Kenneth's region had last year's state runner-up and third place finisher. So, with the high school season closed out for him, he's signed up for Kid's Wrestling, and has this year to wrestle 14U again. He's going to give it his all in the hopes of making a run to the podium.