Fucken Chuck Norris
Used my suburi shinai against yesterday for the warmup. Starting to think that I’m not quite good enough to use one just yet. I was quite knackered by the end, and my technique was found wanting. I managed to get through it, but it all seemed so much tougher than last week, and we didn’t even do one handed cuts last night.
Menstuke, and I was up first again. Walked over to line up, when sensei approached me and said, so Son, you’re first this week… Huh??? I’ve been first for sooo long already!!! Felt a bit bad that sensei hadn’t noticed that I’ve been first for so long, but yeah, anyway. He commented that the men himo on my left side were slightly apart, and that the himo loops at the back weren’t exactly the same length as the loose bits. Damn. He said it was acceptable, but proceeded to make them perfect anyway. Might just slow down a bit from now on and make sure everything is regulation.
Did the usual kiri kaeshi, finishing with the dojo width kiri kaeshi. Seems like this has become a permanent fixture. I was really struggling on this one. Was feeling flat all day, and I couldn’t really lift for this one. Slowed down quite a bit at the end and my kiai was all over the place. Hope I’m not getting sick again. We then just did some kihon, with an emphasis on kikentai no ichi. Sensei then went talked about being a good motodachi, and how to receive cuts properly, with an emphasis on the kote and dou cuts, probably because he saw a few people doing it wrong. Anyway, for kote, the kensen of the shinai goes up and to the left to about the shoulder of the opponent, not higher than or wider than, and it should be enough for them to cut kote. For dou cuts, its just lifting your shinai up as if you were going for a men cut but stopping your hands out in front of you, in order to reproduce the opening as if you were doing jigeiko. And you stand without moving either forward or to the side, because the opponent will cut and move slightly to their right to avoid you. Anyway, I went up against ‘Chuck Norris’ after sensei had just said this and he still did it all wrong. His shinai went up and to an angle which didn’t properly expose his dou for me to cut, and he’d step to the side, before I’d even cut making it even harder for me. Anyway, I told him how to do it properly and to his credit, he ended up doing it right. It’ll be interesting to see how he goes next time.
We then did some mawari uchikomi geiko. I focussed on doing big cuts as sensei instructed. Had a momentary slip when I went for a kote-men where I used my right hand for the men, cursed myself then continued.
Once that was over, sensei called out all those who were going to the AUG. Only 5 of the team were present (all guys), then sensei picked out 5 other members to fight them, shiai style, and I was one of them… Woot! For the AUG team, they had Paul Wu, Viet Hoang, Kev Wu, Mike Dunn and Thomas Mendelovits. For our team, we had Masa, Myself, Avi, Kev Houng and Kev Chin.
We were given 10mins for jigeiko before the shiai. I fought Masa first up. I remember trying to be more critical of the points I acknowledged, and so only acknowledged the ones that I thought were really good cuts, not just ones that connected on me. We each scored a couple of cuts on each other. I then fought Hiro. It seemed easier to fight Hiro. He does what I call ‘proper’ kendo, where you don’t just blindly go in, but you try to set up your cuts. This gives me time to try and set up my cuts. I tried to seme for him to go for my men so that I can do some debana kote cuts. But it seemed that he didn’t really cut when I wanted him to cut. Hard to explain, but he’d end up cutting men when I wasn’t expecting, but I’d react fast enough to get ai-men.
Then the shiai. Our team shout was ‘Shinjuku!’ (since ‘Shinbashi’ has chosen for official UMKC teams, ie the AUG team). The first match was drawn 1-1, then it was my match with Viet. I tried to relax and treat it like jigeiko. For the most part it felt like jigeiko, only with people watching, so no Trung-do waza. I managed to cut men kinda early on. After that I tried to maintain the advantage and not give off easy opportunities for him, but I think I got a bit too defensive and he got a men cut on me back. Can’t remember too much after that, but there was a point where I noticed that he was trying to block a couple of my men cuts, so I thought I’d go for a dou cut, so I lifted my shinai as though I was going for men, and I saw the opening, but for some reason I didn’t cut! Dammit, I was kinda pissed off with myself. His dou was open because he went to block my men and all I had to do was pretty much connect. Need to practice more dou cuts during jigeiko. Anyway, our match ended in a draw. Then Avi fought KevW. That also was a draw 1-1. Then KevH vs Mike. First score was hansoku to Kev. Can’t remember what for but he must have stepped out. The shiai-jo was very small and hard to pick with all those lines on the floor. I remember I was very conscious of this during my fight and tried to always go back to the middle. Anyway, Mike and Kev then each scored, so it was all tied 1-1. Then Kev decided to step out again!.... Hansoku nikai… shobari Mike wins. Final fight was with Tom and KevC. Shit, can’t remember who won, I think it was a draw. Anyway, after the rei, sensei called all fighters in. He told us that in a team situation, you have to be aware of the score. Obviously with the first two fighters, its even at the start, but from then on, each player should be aware of the score and as such, play accordingly. If you team is up, you should try to maintain your advantage, if you are down and need to score, you should be more attacking. He stopped short of telling us how to fight under the different conditions, I guess that would just come with experience, but yeah, especially with the last fight, he said that KevC should have known that he needed to win 2-0 for the team to win and fought accordingly.
Then I overheard something interesting that I felt was applicable to me. KevW came over to thank Avi, and Avi said that he fought the right way because it’s the way that Avi doesn’t like, ie he doesn’t like people who are constantly attacking cos he likes to try and set up his cuts. Then I realised that this is how I like to fight, and I’m sure a lot of other people. I think this is how KevW did so well in the VKC, cos he fights in a way that people don’t like or are not accustomed to. I had been thinking about this and I reckon Jodan players have a similar advantage to this. Anyway, I should try to fight people like Kev more to learn how to fight them better.
Menstuke, and I was up first again. Walked over to line up, when sensei approached me and said, so Son, you’re first this week… Huh??? I’ve been first for sooo long already!!! Felt a bit bad that sensei hadn’t noticed that I’ve been first for so long, but yeah, anyway. He commented that the men himo on my left side were slightly apart, and that the himo loops at the back weren’t exactly the same length as the loose bits. Damn. He said it was acceptable, but proceeded to make them perfect anyway. Might just slow down a bit from now on and make sure everything is regulation.
Did the usual kiri kaeshi, finishing with the dojo width kiri kaeshi. Seems like this has become a permanent fixture. I was really struggling on this one. Was feeling flat all day, and I couldn’t really lift for this one. Slowed down quite a bit at the end and my kiai was all over the place. Hope I’m not getting sick again. We then just did some kihon, with an emphasis on kikentai no ichi. Sensei then went talked about being a good motodachi, and how to receive cuts properly, with an emphasis on the kote and dou cuts, probably because he saw a few people doing it wrong. Anyway, for kote, the kensen of the shinai goes up and to the left to about the shoulder of the opponent, not higher than or wider than, and it should be enough for them to cut kote. For dou cuts, its just lifting your shinai up as if you were going for a men cut but stopping your hands out in front of you, in order to reproduce the opening as if you were doing jigeiko. And you stand without moving either forward or to the side, because the opponent will cut and move slightly to their right to avoid you. Anyway, I went up against ‘Chuck Norris’ after sensei had just said this and he still did it all wrong. His shinai went up and to an angle which didn’t properly expose his dou for me to cut, and he’d step to the side, before I’d even cut making it even harder for me. Anyway, I told him how to do it properly and to his credit, he ended up doing it right. It’ll be interesting to see how he goes next time.
We then did some mawari uchikomi geiko. I focussed on doing big cuts as sensei instructed. Had a momentary slip when I went for a kote-men where I used my right hand for the men, cursed myself then continued.
Once that was over, sensei called out all those who were going to the AUG. Only 5 of the team were present (all guys), then sensei picked out 5 other members to fight them, shiai style, and I was one of them… Woot! For the AUG team, they had Paul Wu, Viet Hoang, Kev Wu, Mike Dunn and Thomas Mendelovits. For our team, we had Masa, Myself, Avi, Kev Houng and Kev Chin.
We were given 10mins for jigeiko before the shiai. I fought Masa first up. I remember trying to be more critical of the points I acknowledged, and so only acknowledged the ones that I thought were really good cuts, not just ones that connected on me. We each scored a couple of cuts on each other. I then fought Hiro. It seemed easier to fight Hiro. He does what I call ‘proper’ kendo, where you don’t just blindly go in, but you try to set up your cuts. This gives me time to try and set up my cuts. I tried to seme for him to go for my men so that I can do some debana kote cuts. But it seemed that he didn’t really cut when I wanted him to cut. Hard to explain, but he’d end up cutting men when I wasn’t expecting, but I’d react fast enough to get ai-men.
Then the shiai. Our team shout was ‘Shinjuku!’ (since ‘Shinbashi’ has chosen for official UMKC teams, ie the AUG team). The first match was drawn 1-1, then it was my match with Viet. I tried to relax and treat it like jigeiko. For the most part it felt like jigeiko, only with people watching, so no Trung-do waza. I managed to cut men kinda early on. After that I tried to maintain the advantage and not give off easy opportunities for him, but I think I got a bit too defensive and he got a men cut on me back. Can’t remember too much after that, but there was a point where I noticed that he was trying to block a couple of my men cuts, so I thought I’d go for a dou cut, so I lifted my shinai as though I was going for men, and I saw the opening, but for some reason I didn’t cut! Dammit, I was kinda pissed off with myself. His dou was open because he went to block my men and all I had to do was pretty much connect. Need to practice more dou cuts during jigeiko. Anyway, our match ended in a draw. Then Avi fought KevW. That also was a draw 1-1. Then KevH vs Mike. First score was hansoku to Kev. Can’t remember what for but he must have stepped out. The shiai-jo was very small and hard to pick with all those lines on the floor. I remember I was very conscious of this during my fight and tried to always go back to the middle. Anyway, Mike and Kev then each scored, so it was all tied 1-1. Then Kev decided to step out again!.... Hansoku nikai… shobari Mike wins. Final fight was with Tom and KevC. Shit, can’t remember who won, I think it was a draw. Anyway, after the rei, sensei called all fighters in. He told us that in a team situation, you have to be aware of the score. Obviously with the first two fighters, its even at the start, but from then on, each player should be aware of the score and as such, play accordingly. If you team is up, you should try to maintain your advantage, if you are down and need to score, you should be more attacking. He stopped short of telling us how to fight under the different conditions, I guess that would just come with experience, but yeah, especially with the last fight, he said that KevC should have known that he needed to win 2-0 for the team to win and fought accordingly.
Then I overheard something interesting that I felt was applicable to me. KevW came over to thank Avi, and Avi said that he fought the right way because it’s the way that Avi doesn’t like, ie he doesn’t like people who are constantly attacking cos he likes to try and set up his cuts. Then I realised that this is how I like to fight, and I’m sure a lot of other people. I think this is how KevW did so well in the VKC, cos he fights in a way that people don’t like or are not accustomed to. I had been thinking about this and I reckon Jodan players have a similar advantage to this. Anyway, I should try to fight people like Kev more to learn how to fight them better.
posted by Son at 4:06 pm
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