A Beginner's Point of View 180-181

Day 180:

Another hot day. The heat index is over one hundred degrees again. Sensei cautioned us to keep hydrated and the class will take a short break in the middle of the day. Today’s theme was all about timing. We would work on drills to practice our timing and the reading of our partner’s timing. We did a lot of one-step men, one-step doh, and kote-suriage-men. All the time, the defender was expected to perform oji-waza.

During class, I rotated to have a partner that has been working his way back from an injured knee. I wanted to make sure I did not step on his toes and crash our knees together. So when it was time for kote-suriage-men, I tried to pass by around him. Unfortunately, if you are striking men and your partner is striking kote, you both pass on the same side. Very often, you will bump each other. We were both trying not to collide too hard when BAM! I knocked squarely into his doh with my doh and his face went slack. His jaw opened and he fell backwards like a statue. He lay on the floor for a minute until he slowly got back up. I helped him up and he walked off the floor. He said his back spasmed and hurt so much it overloaded his brain. It was a pure accident but I still felt guilty. Sensei stepped out of line to sit with him until the end of class while the rest of us finished class.

After a short break, we did kata. I love kata. We practiced the sixth kata this time. The shidachi moves into the gedon kamae. When both come out with three sliding steps, the shidachi swings up and if to cut the kote. The uchidachi steps back into left jodan to defend and then goes back into chudan. The uchidachi tries for a small kote, which the shidachi counters with suriage-kote. The shidachi moves forward into left jodan to threaten and then back into chudan. It’s a difficult one to master since there’s a lot going on, but I’ll have time to get it right.

Day 181:

My foot seems to be somewhat sore. I decided to rest it.