Congratulations to all who participated in the grading today the standard was very high and all of the senior ranks and the spectators were very impressed. Well done!
As you may have noted I was videoing parts of the grading for later reference. I have got videos of everyone doing a few things, which total about half an hour or so. I have started uploading the videos to Youtube so members of the club (and anyone else who may be interested - eg other members of the TJKN) may reference what has been done.
The easiest videos to upload were the Jiyu Kumite (free sparring) because they were broken up into 2 minute packages and so I have done those first. I will add the other videos as soon as I am able.
Here is a playlist of the Jiyu Kumite
And the link
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5CAEFCF6C4105A5F
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
How not to do Tensho
Normally I avoid making negative remarks about demonstrations of techniques, because firstly it usually causes people to get defensive and not listen to the feedback, and secondly there is often something to learn from other people that I have not realized yet.
And then every so often along comes someone who deserves to be bagged...
Apparently this version of Tensho was taught by a master of Bullshido, who probably learned it from secret ninjas in Okinawa 200 years ago in the cover of darkness while becoming enlightened by mystic monks who could levitate through their breathing techniques, but in actual fact only hopped in crossed legs.
(I hope all readers know that Tensho was created in the 1920's by Miyagi Sensei)
What truly takes the cake (besides the fat guy in the video) is combination of the garish uniform, the bad music and the mystical rubbish. The part that scares me is that I have seen this disgusting trio of offenses rear their ugly head at purported Dan gradings before. *sigh*
Even though I normally am fairly understanding of stylistic differences (especially when they have an explanation, other than "uhh, I dont know, I just changed it to make it pretty") and beginners not doing things well (especially kids) I must give a warning to any of my students reading this post: performing kata like this is a great way to instantly fail your grading, or whatever else you are doing!!!
Watch and laugh (and pity the poor student as well)
and the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCtxpI2TCmY
And then every so often along comes someone who deserves to be bagged...
Apparently this version of Tensho was taught by a master of Bullshido, who probably learned it from secret ninjas in Okinawa 200 years ago in the cover of darkness while becoming enlightened by mystic monks who could levitate through their breathing techniques, but in actual fact only hopped in crossed legs.
(I hope all readers know that Tensho was created in the 1920's by Miyagi Sensei)
What truly takes the cake (besides the fat guy in the video) is combination of the garish uniform, the bad music and the mystical rubbish. The part that scares me is that I have seen this disgusting trio of offenses rear their ugly head at purported Dan gradings before. *sigh*
Even though I normally am fairly understanding of stylistic differences (especially when they have an explanation, other than "uhh, I dont know, I just changed it to make it pretty") and beginners not doing things well (especially kids) I must give a warning to any of my students reading this post: performing kata like this is a great way to instantly fail your grading, or whatever else you are doing!!!
Watch and laugh (and pity the poor student as well)
and the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCtxpI2TCmY
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Kendo Senpai...and feet
Last week at Kendo I got to be Senpai! (I missed training this week due to Adelaide Cup Day public holiday)
There is a bit of a roundabout reason for this.
[Discussion of my feet ensues - you may skip to next brackets to avoid]
I have been having a lot of problems with my feet because of Kendo - every week I get a massive blister that consumes the entire ball of my left foot. I have kinda got used to this after nearly 3 years of training but about a month ago I got some additional blisters on some of my toes and elsewhere on my feet. Normally the blister on the ball of my left foot breaks and comes off by the next training - so I am constantly growing new skin on the same place every week. However the other blisters (which were also on my right foot) caused heaps of additional skin to peel off. Then at my next training even more skin came off from around where the blisters has been.
To make matters worse other training started to cause my feet to peel - skin forcefully came off my toes at BJJ so much that I started bleeding and had to tape them up heaps (which was a pain because the tape kept slipping off due to the friction of the mats).
In summary my feet looked like the feet of a leper.
To remedy my feet I skipped a week of kendo and cut off as much skin as I could off my feet. My feet were doing better, until last Monday at kendo when I started to get a blister. I decided to wuss out (and let my feet recover) and so halfway through Kihon I stepped out and asked if any help was needed with the beginners.
[End references to feet]
At Kendo they only have beginner intakes at the beginning and the middle of the year. This means that Senpai are not spending all their time instructing new people on basics like how to hold a shinai, they just do it twice a year.
Last year the intakes were unfortunately a bit small, but a couple of good students joined out of them. When I started there were about 25 new people. Out of them only myself and another (who is an awesome kendoka) remain.
At this intake there were over 30 new people!!!
The other senpai found my big voice useful (and I have been teaching karate for 5 years not so I have a couple of tricks for keeping people engaged). Within a couple of minutes I went from assisting with a couple of students to taking the whole 30!
I tried to keep up the spirit of the class and did lots of big kiai's with the cuts. I think we even gave the seniors a run for their money! It was heaps of fun and there are lots of promising new potential kendoka. I really quite enjoyed being a Kendo senpai and wouldnt mind doing it a couple of more times during the beginner course.
Fortunately with kendo they really look after peoples training and it is unlikely anyone at the club will get stuck teaching and therefore miss out on their training. Everybody trains, every week. Even when we get visiting Sensei the highlight of the class will be doing 'Sensei-Geiko' (sparring against Sensei).
Everybody traiing is one reason why there are no Fat Sensei at the kendo club!
There is a bit of a roundabout reason for this.
[Discussion of my feet ensues - you may skip to next brackets to avoid]
I have been having a lot of problems with my feet because of Kendo - every week I get a massive blister that consumes the entire ball of my left foot. I have kinda got used to this after nearly 3 years of training but about a month ago I got some additional blisters on some of my toes and elsewhere on my feet. Normally the blister on the ball of my left foot breaks and comes off by the next training - so I am constantly growing new skin on the same place every week. However the other blisters (which were also on my right foot) caused heaps of additional skin to peel off. Then at my next training even more skin came off from around where the blisters has been.
To make matters worse other training started to cause my feet to peel - skin forcefully came off my toes at BJJ so much that I started bleeding and had to tape them up heaps (which was a pain because the tape kept slipping off due to the friction of the mats).
In summary my feet looked like the feet of a leper.
To remedy my feet I skipped a week of kendo and cut off as much skin as I could off my feet. My feet were doing better, until last Monday at kendo when I started to get a blister. I decided to wuss out (and let my feet recover) and so halfway through Kihon I stepped out and asked if any help was needed with the beginners.
[End references to feet]
At Kendo they only have beginner intakes at the beginning and the middle of the year. This means that Senpai are not spending all their time instructing new people on basics like how to hold a shinai, they just do it twice a year.
Last year the intakes were unfortunately a bit small, but a couple of good students joined out of them. When I started there were about 25 new people. Out of them only myself and another (who is an awesome kendoka) remain.
At this intake there were over 30 new people!!!
The other senpai found my big voice useful (and I have been teaching karate for 5 years not so I have a couple of tricks for keeping people engaged). Within a couple of minutes I went from assisting with a couple of students to taking the whole 30!
I tried to keep up the spirit of the class and did lots of big kiai's with the cuts. I think we even gave the seniors a run for their money! It was heaps of fun and there are lots of promising new potential kendoka. I really quite enjoyed being a Kendo senpai and wouldnt mind doing it a couple of more times during the beginner course.
Fortunately with kendo they really look after peoples training and it is unlikely anyone at the club will get stuck teaching and therefore miss out on their training. Everybody trains, every week. Even when we get visiting Sensei the highlight of the class will be doing 'Sensei-Geiko' (sparring against Sensei).
Everybody traiing is one reason why there are no Fat Sensei at the kendo club!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
