A Beginnner's Point of View 4

Day 4:
Today was much better. I tired using my new fix to footwork and I was at least standing better. Movement still needs work. Today started off with a quiz on shinai parts. I knew a few words, but not all of them.

We did stretches again and the standard foot drills to start. Good, I needed them. We also started the work of class with performing the bowing to joseki and sensei. Our instructor also explained the term sempai, meaning senior student. Class was a little more formal this time. I could tell the others just wanted to get back to swinging the shinai, but I liked the formal part. It set the tone. This time, over half the class showed up late, but I suppose their lives demanded them elsewhere and they did show up. Eventually, we did more strikes against the sensei, who was in full bogu. This time, we added something new.

Normally, the advanced students always made some kind of sound as they set up for the striking drill. I normally don’t male any sound since I’m a quiet kind of guy. I don’t like to make too much noise or draw attention to myself. It seemed that everyone would say what sounded like actual Japanese words (or something that has a meaning). I had nothing, so I just decided to tap into a little anger to give me an idea. I was supposed to be scary and aggressive, so I growled. Apparently, sensei liked it. Growling got my energy flowing, so I kept using it.

I still need to work on my footwork, but I can feel it getting a little bit better. At the end of class, the sempai and sensei gave us a pep talk about not being discouraged by how hard something is and to just stick to it. That was reassuring since I didn’t make as much progress with the footwork as I’d hoped. Next class should also be fun.