Author: Joelle White

This week I’ll be sharing from my journal about what I learned about the relationship between martial arts student and instructor.  Today’s sub-theme:  Good instructors care.  A lot.

2/1/16  College Dojo

I do know this already, but today it was really driven home to me how much College Sensei, who is also our organization’s Chief Instructor of Washington State, cares about my progress.

I have a rather unusual situation for a beginner.

Home Dojo is struggling, and it’s not Home Dojo Sensei’s fault.  Due to his employer and the YMCA, we have zero time before or after class to ask him questions that involve him demonstrating movements.  Home Dojo Sensei relies heavily on us senior students to teach new beginners.  We’re willing, but that means we sacrifice a good bit of our own training.  We used to have two Senseis, but Major Employer laid off one and nobody else can replace him.  No brown belts live close enough or can schedule the time.  So that is what it is.

College Dojo is a college class, so it’s really geared towards beginners.  That said, College Sensei likes it that some colored belts are sticking around for fun – I overheard him telling the big group of new white belts that he’s trying to give them the experience of being in a real dojo.  However, because this is a college class, often Sensei is busy with administrative stuff and, let’s face it, if someone is paying for a class they’re taking for credit, they get first priority for Sensei’s time (or even my time as the 2nd most senior student) after class.

I figure I will need to juggle training and teaching sooner or later anyway, so I’m not complaining.  So this has come sooner in my career rather than later.  OK – bring it.  This is the path I’ve chosen, these are the dojos I will be teaching in once I reach Shodan.  So I have to be clever.  I train at a third dojo on Saturday and visit others every now and then on Fridays or during college breaks.

This hasn’t been a problem until I started learning Bassai Dai kata after I promoted in mid-November.  It took me about six weeks to realize that it’s not my imagination, the three Senseis I train under have three different ways to do the last two ending movements.  Yeah I’m kinda slow, but to be fair, there were hugely significant holiday breaks that majorly disrupted my learning this kata.

I wasn’t about to say anything but “Ossu!” and learn the three ways of doing things.  I was going to simply pick my fave for tournament and do Home Dojo Sensei’s way for my next belt test.  But long story short the cat was very definitely let out of the bag at an organization-wide event last month.  All three Senseis who I train under regularly now know 🙂

Today, this, that, and the other happened and College Sensei couldn’t help me with my kata.  But he stopped me after we bowed out of the dojo and asked how I was coming along with it.  We talked for awhile about how I was learning three different things.  He just needed to hear that I was not discouraged by my experiences.  I was able to assure him that once I realized what was going on, I thought it was pretty cool to learn different ways of doing things.  I affirmed that I just have to remember which dojo I’m in while I’m teaching  kata (there are two extremely slight differences in two of the Pinan series as well).

I think College Sensei is a bit dismayed that so much is being put on a 6th kyu’s shoulders.  So he was checking up on me to make sure I’m not buckling under the pressure.  That was really, really, really cool of him.  I’ve known him for a little over two years now (my daughter took his class before I joined the Y class) and I think of him as a teacher and friend.  So yeah, he cares.  But today it hit me that this Godan (5th degree black belt) who is Chief Instructor for Washington State cares about a lowly 6th kyu’s progress.  Wow…

2/3/16 – College Dojo

Today’s lesson – continuing on the theme of how much College Sensei cares about my progress.  He taught the other colored belts how to foil my signature move (roundhouse kick to the head).  If you stop and think about it, if I’m to make any sort of progress, I can’t be a “one trick horse.”  And if the rest of the class can’t counter what I throw, they need to make progress defending themselves  🙂  So College Sensei also cares about my classmates 🙂

This journal entry was definitely about my learning process, but it didn’t fit neatly into kata or kumite subcategories.  So this gets a post all of its own!

Feb 21, 2016 – Home Dojo  Advanced Class:  First Day

Oh my gosh…  What a treat today was!

Class consisted of me, my “big brother,” Sensei, and Sensei’s wife (if she’s going to be a regular part of our dojo I need something better to call her).  Wow.  Talk about personalized instruction and individual attention!

We started off with some light warmups, then…  Just jabbing while standing in shoulder stance.  Yep – jabbing.  With me, that meant I got to work on having loose shoulders and getting some hip action going.  After I got in a good many repetitions  of that, Sensei broke out a focus mitt.

“Hit this the way you were hitting.”

thock.

“Now hit it the way you’re supposed to hit.”

WHAP!!!

I got a good many repetitions of that in.  Sensei upped the ante.

“Close your eyes.  You know where it is.  Hit it!”

WHAP!!!  WHAP!!!  WHAP!!!  WHAP!!!  A good many repetitions of that!

I was left to my own devices to drill some more while Sensei worked with my big brother.  I centered myself at the dividing line between two mirrors and carried on jabbing while waiting for the next activity.

When we were done jabbing, Sensei asked, “What do you want to work on?”

Big brother hesitated, so I spoke up.  I’ve known for a few days now everything I want to work on and which one is my highest priority.  Sensei got me started with his wife, and the two of us worked together while Sensei worked with my big brother.

I have trouble with tournament fighting.  I’m used to free sparring, which is a whole different animal.  So a few days ago I narrowed it down to one specific thing that could be an exercise in and of itself.  What to do when directed to start fighting.

Something interesting that I’m going to have to get used to with this training is I should expect the unexpected.  I’m used to the rules of the normal classroom.  At one point when Sensei got me started on what I wanted to work on, I misunderstood something and came out the worse for it at the hands of his wife.  So I was told to defend myself even if I think I’m not following instructions 😉  A couple of minutes after that, Sensei deliberately set me up.  He gave me some instruction or other, we did what we were supposed to, but then I found myself in a full-out sparring match with Sensei!  YIKE!  OK, message received 🙂

Sensei’s wife was wonderful to work with.  She scaled things back and broke things down as needed.  Her explanations and feedback were clear and direct.

The hour was up all too quickly.  I almost wanted to cry like a small child because playtime was over.

MAN that was fun!

So I have a feeling there was more to the “close your eyes” exercise than Sensei’s explanation of not focusing on the mitt being there but instead focusing on targeting beyond the mitt.  That’s the surface of the exercise, and a very valuable lesson it is – I’m not discounting that.  But looking deeper…

How much do I trust Sensei that this exercise will work?  If I didn’t even try, if I argued or whined, I wouldn’t be a good student.  So I have to trust that I’ll learn from the exercise even if (actually, especially if) I fail and punch Sensei’s nose instead – which wouldn’t happen ’cause he’d move out of the way.  More than that, Sensei’s assertion of, “You know where it is,” means he’s telling me to trust myself.

In the dojo, there’s no hiding what I am and what I am not – especially when I’m in a tiny class.  Every technique that I struggle with, every hint of exhaustion or bad attitude, every imperfection is impossible to hide.  I can’t pretend to have abilities I don’t have.  I cannot pretend to be perfect.  There’s a vulnerability there – the real me is out in the open.  But at the same time, it’s liberating because if I acknowledge the areas that need work, that is the beginning of my growth in skill and knowledge.

I was at college dojo today, and warm-ups barely warmed me up.  There is an optional belt test on Monday, so College Sensei pulled me out of line to go around the dojo and give feedback.  Then he had everyone sit down and called up groups by rank.  By the time I was called at the very end of class, my muscles had lost what little warmth they’d had.

I did my kata “cold.”

I sucked big time.

So that in and of itself was a lesson – get warmed up in staging before entering a tournament ring.  But College Sensei saw deeper into what was going on with me.  The whole class got to hear his feedback, and I hope they got the same things out of it I did.

Without realizing it, I was caught in the Centipede’s Dilemma:

A centipede was happy – quite!
Until a toad in fun
Said, “Pray, which leg moves after which?”
This raised her doubts to such a pitch,
She fell exhausted in the ditch
Not knowing how to run.

– Unknown

College Sensei assigned me some homework.  Get the bunkai I want down solid for each and every movement and sequence.  Then forget about pretty form and exact cadence – just unleash the beast and do the kata as if I were fighting for my life.  Do that as many times as it takes to get the drama and emotion that is lacking due to my crippling worry over all the nitpicky details.  Then go back to the proper form/cadence.

The underlying lesson for me and my kohai was this:  When your student has a big problem, try to give him or her a tool he or she can use for making improvements.

The room emptied after class, and I was alone.  I got started on my homework.  I broke all the rules.  I breathed as loudly as I wanted.  I kiai-ed whenever I darn well felt like it.  I even did a few moves faster than I’ve been told to because if I’m going to dislocate two or three joints at one go I don’t want to draw out the torture, I want to get the job done!  I think I ran through the kata about eight times before I realized I needed to scoot on home.

I was dripping with sweat and exhausted, but I felt great.  I’d just defeated a bunch of creeps who had been about to gang-rape my daughter (I’m an old-fashioned “method” actor – it’s all about motivation).  I also felt a little sad that I had strayed so far from what’s worked for me in the past – pretending I’m in a real fight, to the point where I can tell you what my attackers look like.

I didn’t feel like running the kata the way it’s supposed to go.  That can wait for tomorrow evening’s class.  I just want to let the feeling of “unleashing the beast” sink in.

Yes, I’m on a roll, folks.  So to review, I was challenged to document lessons learned during one month.  I broke down my journal entries according to theme.  This week I’m exploring my own learning process.  Today’s sub-theme is about what happened with my sparring in February 2016…

2/9/16 – Home Dojo

Innovation and asking for specific help pays off.

The senior student outranks me by 1 belt and has helped me tremendously all throughout my training.  He is taller than me and I think of him as my “big brother” even though he’s young enough to be my son.  We meet for about half an hour before class to get equipment out of storage and for him to teach me.

Tonight I brought masking tape to the dojo.  My feet are roughly ten inches long, so I did a rough measurement of standard tournament starting positions for sparring and marked them with masking tape.

We’re not allowed to spar without the presence of a black belt – that’s both by the rules of our Karate organization and the YMCA.  I asked Big Brother if we could simply run through some scenarios without making contact – just moving ourselves around, no throwing any techniques.

The problem I was solving is this.  In class, we’re in neat little lines and we’re closer to our opponents.  We don’t have all sorts of space around us to play with – our initial movements are usually straight in towards each other.  Starting six feet apart in a nice wide open space with no one else around gives one all sorts of possibilities.  I have a bad habit of not utilizing those possibilities when I’m in the ring.  Because I’m used to the constraints of neat little lines, I often go charging straight in.  In the ring, six feet feels like an enormous distance, especially if my opponent steps backward from the starting position.  Then I end up eating something because all anyone has to do is stick out a fist or foot and wait for me to run onto it.

Big Brother talked and walked me through all sorts of possibilities for starting sparring.  Without Sensei, that’s all we could really do, but it helped.  The masking tape I put on the floor gave us consistency in our starting positions, just like in a tournament.  So then I was able to really see the distances involved when my opponent does this, that, or the other.

The most wonderful thing is Sensei came in early – usually his work and traffic combine to get him to us either on time or late.  He was tickled to see what we were doing.  Then – boo yeah – action!  Not full out sparring but more like hands-on demonstrations with either Sensei or I attacking depending on what Sensei wanted to show me or have me do.

I feel much better prepared for tournament now.  All because I thought to put masking tape on the floor and ask my big brother to teach me in a specific way that I’ve never seen anyone else do before.

Innovative teaching was always my trademark during the years that I home schooled my kids.  I should continue this not only when teaching others, but also sometimes when I need to be taught.

2/14/16 – Tournament

3rd place Ladies’ 45 and Older (I was the “older,” LOL) Kumite.  Observers commented I was stiff and my reaction time was slow.  I’ll write about the hero of the tournament…

About three weeks prior to the tournament, I got in trouble with Sempai Drill Sergeant at College Dojo.  I cut a young lady some slack when she got tired while sparring with me, and Sempai Drill Sergeant didn’t like that one bit.  A few days ago Sempai Drill Sergeant got through sparring with one young man and then handed him over to me.  Sempai Drill Sergeant told me, “He’s tired, so kick his ass.”  The young man was exhausted, I reluctantly obeyed Sempai.  I didn’t want to do push ups, after all. I got the kid up against the wall, then he rallied and proceeded to really give me a run for the money.

Today that young man faced two – count ’em – two huge brawny monsters in tournament today.  One right after the other.  That young man is maybe an inch or two taller than I am, slender build, and he won against two football player types.  The second of these giants punched him a good one in the ear – Monster Number Two probably lost points for that but it doesn’t matter – the young man rallied and won the match.

DAMN I’m proud of that young man!!!

Oh, and after I stripped off my fighting gear I watched the fight for first place.  I positioned myself behind one of the corner judges so I could see things from her perspective.  I played a game with myself – what would I call if I were in her chair?  I also looked at the other corner judges to see what they called.  It was a very interesting exercise!

Feb 23, 2016 – Home Dojo

I found this journal entry to be more about the attitude I brought in to sparring than about the specific things I needed to work on.  I’ll include the full text later this month.  To summarize: Sensei had a talk with me about what needed to change.  Now let’s see what I did with this the next chance I had to do some sparring…

2/27/16 -Affiliate YMCA Dojo

I can turn things around.

We finished class with everyone getting a chance to spar tournament-style.  Unexpectedly, the dojo Sensei gave me a choice of sparring partners.  I chose the highest ranked (2nd kyu).

My goal was to work on loose shoulders and clean techniques no matter what.  No matter what she threw, no matter if she totally beat me up.  I chose the highest ranked because I knew I had to be pushed and pushed hard.

I won.  But even if I’d have lost, I’d have still won if I’d reached my goals.

2/29/16 – College Dojo

I have a bunch of homework from yesterday’s training.  Today while sparring I pulled off something Sensei drilled extensively into me yesterday.

I have an old bad habit of charging in and all someone has to do is stick out a fist or a foot and let me run onto it.  Yesterday, Sensei showed me how I can turn that weakness into a strength and drilled me on it.

Basically, I come charging in as usual, but I anticipate something will be thrown at me.  So I clear the road with the hand that’s on the same side as the back leg – cross the midline of my body and guide whatever’s being stuck out away to the side.  Simultaneously jab and then follow up or get out.  This works especially well with people who are used to my “charging bull” act.

So I had a chance to try it out today.  There’s a guy one rank below me who knows very well that I often come in like a charging bull, and he’s good at stopping me.  Hee hee hee.  I bounced in as usual, but – surprise!  I got him 🙂

************

Yes, I learned a good bit about kumite and made some progress in that aspect of Karate, but I also learned some deeper lessons.  I learned that innovation and asking for specific help really pays off.  From pushing that young man hard and watching his subsequent tournament wins, I saw someone else discover his own capabilities.  During the tournament I hit upon a way to teach myself a little bit about judging.  The last few days of the month, I observed myself turning my back on bad habits and going on to improve my skills.  What a month!