Cool stuff I learned this week

[Patrick]

Sorry for your loss, Ken.

[aurik]

And so it begins... (Another test prep cycle).

Last night was the first night of the spring test prep cycle.  We had 9 students there, and there are 23 students who will be testing for various grades of black belt this coming May.  (2 sandan, 6 nidan, 4 shodan, and 11 shodan-sho).  This is probably the biggest testing class I've seen since I've been an instructor.  The class was scheduled to start at 7:10 in the upstairs dojo (much smaller than downstairs, and with bamboo flooring instead of tatami mats), but the previously scheduled aikido class went over.  

As I've come to expect, the first few minutes of the class was all about setting expectations; the goal of this class is to fine-tune everything you need to know for the test.  Yes, he is explicitly teaching the test in this class.  The only material on the test is covered in the class, and the idea is you get feedback on what you need to work on in the test prep class, and then you work on those items in your other regular classes during the week.  The general rule is if you have something big that's wrong and you can't fix it during the test prep, you need to wait until the next testing cycle to test, and there are a finite number of classes you're allowed to miss (3), or you will not be allowed to test.  He always explains the rules up front, but in each cycle there are always one or two students who miss classes and find themselves "on the bubble" where if they miss another class, they won't be able to test.

We skipped warmups and went straight into hojo undo.  Unfortunately with the aikido class running late, I didn't have a chance to warmup at all, but the hojo undo kind of did that  anyways (even though I was kind of stiff for the first few elements).  Next up was Sanchin kata -- the students testing for shodan-sho apparently didn't get the memo that this part of the test was done top off (ladies are allowed to wear a t-shirt or sports bra), and they weren't aware that there is a "right" and "wrong" way to take off/fold/put away your top and belt.  Well, technically there are a couple of "right" ways, and many many other wrong ways.  The important part is that you don't drop the belt on the ground, and neatly fold the gi top, and put the belt neatly on top of the gi top.  On the test, this is done in full view of the test board; you won't get bonus points for doing it well, but you can get points deducted for doing it poorly.

The Sanchin kata wasn't much of a surprise to anyone -- they have all been subject to shime ("focus") testing for their last couple of tests.  We did one kata as a full group, and then he broke us up into smaller groups to do shime testing.  A few students got feedback on their Sanchin (mostly the shodan/shodan-sho candidates), and then we moved on to kotekitae, where we were all partnering up.  I partnered up with Parker (he is also testing for sandan) for the evening, and we worked kotekitae for awhile (arm rubbing/arm pounding).  As we were working through the different drills, we were giving each other feedback throughout the evening (we are also both candidates for shidoin licenses).  

Next came Seisan kata bunkai -- I haven't worked this much lately, so I definitely need some tuning up on it.  Parker gave me some good feedback on things that didn't look quite right, and I did the same for him.  Additionally, as we were in between repetitions, we noticed some of the more junior students struggling with a few things, so we walked them through some of the nuances.  I also gave him corrections as well, mainly adjusting his targeting by a few inches on certain parts.

Last up was our rank kata (Kanchin).  Since this is the new item on this test for each of us, this is the item we are both working the hardest to fine-tune.  The sequence I've been struggling the hardest with is the one I got the most feedback on -- it's a sequence that starts from a cat stance right after a wa-uke strike.  The sequence starts with a left half-step forward followed by a right full step into a zenkutsu-dachi.  At the same time, the right hand posts to interrupt a downward two-handed strike (think sword or baseball bat), the left hand then circles underneath to catch/redirect the opponent, while the right hand pulls hikite and then as the right foot lands in the zenkutsu-dachi, you use your forward momentum to strike with a mae-hiji-tsuki (forward elbow strike).  After that elbow strike, we shift into a shiko-dachi, perform a scooping block to catch an incoming kick, and then push forward/throw the attacker.  All in one sequence.   If you look at this video the sequence is shown in slow motion around the 1:30 mark.  

Well, our CI gave me some detailed feedback on the sequencing on that, and I spent a good part of the remainder of class working on that.  And I'll be continuing to work on it.  The thing is, we have a similar sequence in our Seisan kata (required for shodan), but there are subtle differences, and those differences are what are driving my muscle memory crazy.  But this is also the *exact* thing I needed to hear so I can work on it.  And that one piece of feedback made this class very valuable to me.

Tonight I'll be doing Kobudo and teaching again.  Hopefully I'll be able to work in enough time at the end of class to run Kanchin with the other nidans.  Until next week.