Testing Reflections, 2/6/2025

[bushido_man96]

Another round of testing done.  It was another small one, as most of them seem to be anymore.  We had one white belt kid that showed for regular class, so we used it as an opportunity to have her up in front going through material and offering advise on fixing things.  This testing went from about 6:00 - 7:20 pm (by the time we got done with feedback afterwards).

We started with some basics for warmups.  We had a low green belt, a high green belt, and a high brown belt test.  The high brown belt had to do three forms, all one-steps, sparring and board breaks.  The others did their form, one-steps, and sparring.  The following are some things that I saw.

Hand techniques: I saw some low chambering, and it should be higher, crossing the arms in front of the face/neck area, but also out away from the body slightly, and not in like jamming oneself.  I think of that crossing position as a defensive position in and of itself, and teach it that way.

I saw some upper body techniques that were disjointed from their stances, and mostly from the low green belt.  Good hand/foot timing (strike thrown and lands as the foot touches down) will help with this.  I told them that stances help with power, and good hand/foot timing does as well.  Getting this down will help with understanding how to generate power in the techniques even when not stepping into them.  Along with this, I saw some "happy feet" in the forms, where they'd step into a stance and then fidget their feet around to adjust the stance before moving to the next, never really settling into the stance.

I then went on to discuss comfort in stances, and how a practitioner must learn to "feel" when they are in the proper stance, and that the stance is done right (proper weight distribution, proper hip placement in regards to where the stance is centered, etc).  I said they have to start developing that kinesthetic awareness of knowing where their body is and what it is doing in space.  Some of the students are already starting to feel this, and some are rushing through things too much to feel it.

Something else I saw was the pivot foot following the kick, and not pivoting during the kick or slightly before kicking.  I told them they lose power and follow-through that way, as well as being not good for the knees.

With that said, I did see power coming along in the forms quite well from last testing.  They are starting to understand power generation, and hopefully the above comments will help them even more.

Orange belt one-step #3....this is a takedown, and a couple of the students just "sat down" from the technique.  I explained that the technique is a takedown (it's done with a step behind the attacker's front foot, like a trip, but also can be done as a reap at higher ranks).  I told them that the attacker's job is to fall, and it should be a breakfall, with some slap and some noise, not a sit-down quietly.  It means the defender is not doing it properly, and the attacker is not making them have to do it properly.

I told the high green belt that she was using good footwork and body positioning in her sparring, staying bladed and not presenting big targets.

I also heard too many apologies during sparring.  A "sorry" here and there.  I told them to stop doing that and just keep sparring.  It's not uncommon to get someone jammed up, or bounce off their leg when kicking at the same time, and other such incidental contact.  If something really untoward takes place, we'll stop the match and have a discussion about it.  If you have to break momentarily for some reason, get reset, touch gloves, and go.

The students did meet the requirements to pass, and they received their belts on the spot.