February 2016 – Progress in Kumite

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 🙂

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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!