Thoughts on these forms please

[skullsplitter]

Ladies and gents, if you have time we'd like some feedback on these forms. We highly value my son's sensei's input, but we'd like to hear some thoughts (good or bad) from others too in an effort to get better.

Traditional bo - first time with this form and heavy bo

Traditional kata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y6CQyjOZCo

Team Sync

Thank you.

[Harkon72]

I like the first form, it shows focus and commitment.

The second is good also but maybe the shiko dachi could be deeper and the student may take more time over it.

The third is a nice display, it looks good and has aesthetic value. It's quite hard to synchronize and it must have taken a lot of work.

Good Job.

[wayneshin]

I'll restrict my comments to the traditional form. Your son shows good power and intensity. The main area that stood out for me that he would benefit from working on is his feet. At times he adjusts his feet prior to moving fwd or back to help him with weight transference. The supporting foot needs to be stable when moving. I think i also noticed at times he lifts his rest heels when landing on a forward stance.

Get him to work on the first part of his movement to get the weight moving without moving his foot. Hope this makes sense and helps.

[sensei8]

As your son matures, both physically and MA, he'll be solid across the board. He'll be much more tone in movements as he matures; crispness and effectiveness will begin to replace some of the "kid" stuff he still possesses, and that's not a bad thing because he's still maturing across the board.

[sensei8]

I'll restrict my comments to the traditional form. Your son shows good power and intensity. The main area that stood out for me that he would benefit from working on is his feet. At times he adjusts his feet prior to moving fwd or back to help him with weight transference. The supporting foot needs to be stable when moving. I think i also noticed at times he lifts his rest heels when landing on a forward stance.

Get him to work on the first part of his movement to get the weight moving without moving his foot. Hope this makes sense and helps.

Solid post!!

[AdamKralic]

I like the more traditional forms/kata...your son is working on a strong approach to them. Very cool...would love to see more videos in the future.

Oh and do you guys go north for some of the smaller tournaments or just the big ones?

[CredoTe]

I'll restrict my comments to the traditional form. Your son shows good power and intensity. The main area that stood out for me that he would benefit from working on is his feet. At times he adjusts his feet prior to moving fwd or back to help him with weight transference. The supporting foot needs to be stable when moving. I think i also noticed at times he lifts his rest heels when landing on a forward stance.

Get him to work on the first part of his movement to get the weight moving without moving his foot. Hope this makes sense and helps.

He definitely shows great focus and determination , but I agree conceptually with wayneshin. Working on his tanden (control of center / center of gravity) and tenshin (i.e. footwork) will help improve his movements. As it is in the videos, it looks like he moves as if he's off balance or trying to catch his balance in a lot of the stepping, body-shifting movements.

The basics of tanden is such that all your movements should be done as if someone is pulling you with your belt. That part of your center should always initiate stepping, body-shifting movements. Once this concept is practiced and understood, then the tenshin will follow suit.

[Nidan Melbourne]

what i noticed about his traditional kata is that it doesn't have much fluidity. From what it looked like it was seeiunchin kata from goju-ryu (with variations of course) but every step it looked like he went for power yet lost its fluidity.

He has some pretty good footwork, yet his hand techniques look a little choppy.

If you want i am actually going to be filming some kata tonight if you would like to see what i meant by having fluidity and not being too choppy with the hand techniques.

[sensei8]

what i noticed about his traditional kata is that it doesn't have much fluidity. From what it looked like it was seeiunchin kata from goju-ryu (with variations of course) but every step it looked like he went for power yet lost its fluidity.

He has some pretty good footwork, yet his hand techniques look a little choppy.

If you want i am actually going to be filming some kata tonight if you would like to see what i meant by having fluidity and not being too choppy with the hand techniques.

I believe that his choppiness will be replaced once he's more mature in both the MA and within himself. Time is still on his side, imho. His power over fluidity will also become as one as he matures across the board.

[skullsplitter]

Thank you for the comments and for taking the time to watch.

@harkon - the sync did take a lot of time and they are still working on it. They've been doing it less than a year, plus the young lady started learning bo just for the team.

@wayne - the lifting of the heel you mention is a constant fight for him. He has a mild case of a muscular disease and it really causes some tightness in his hamstrings and heel cord. Therapy, extra stretching, and hard work have made it better but he's determined to get that heel down and keep it down

@Adam - normally the AKA in Chicago is the only far north one we do. There's an NBL tournament in Chicago in June we may do this year and may add Diamond Nationals in Minnesota next year

@sensei - yes much more maturing yet to do in both body and mind as he's not quite 13 yet. He's a very humble young man and is open to learning all he can so the next several years should be intereting

@credoTe - your comparison to being pulled with your belt really clicked with him

@nidan - he'd love to see the video if you are willing to share