Friday, July 30, 2010

A Beginner's Point of View 186-187

Day 186:

Today was a fun day. Sensei wanted us to get some more practice in for shiai. We started off doing kiri-kaeshi only a few times, and then a one-step men drill. Once that was done, we separated into two teams, one with white ribbons and the other with red ribbons.

We went full-tilt with each other for three full team matches. It was a lot of fun! I’m also happy to say that I worked hard without losing my breath. I lost my first match 2-0 against a ni-dan. I nearly scored a kote, but the judges must have thought that I didn’t demonstrate enough forward momentum. I really need to learn to stop charging into people. You get more points if you angle around them and present zanshin after the hit. After that was over, our team lost by a win and appoint, very close.

The second round of team matches began and I fought against someone closer to my rank, an ikkyu. I won 2-0 in that match. Still, our team lost by 2 wins and 3 points. The final set of matches happened after Sensei declared that the first two people from each team switch teams.

Then we fought again. I lost my last match 2-1. I didn’t think I scored the men, but the judges seemed to think so. During the fight, I tried to strike kote, but my opponent charged faster than I thought he would. The result was that I accidentally speared him in the side of the neck. He gasped and fell down in pain. I felt so guilty even though it was an accident. After class he showed me where my saki ripped a patch of skin off his neck. After apologizing profusely we waved it off like a trooper.

Before I left for home, Sensei came to me and told me that he felt I was ready to test for ikkyu. We discussing the trip to another state hours away as a carpool. I think I’d like to do that. Sensei is really a good guy. He doesn’t just collect money and lecture. He looks after his student like he feels responsible for them. I’m told by most kendoka that this is the normal way of things. I think that’s great.

Day 187:

Today was different than a normal day. It was almost like we did things backwards. Sensei really wanted our lower-ranking students to get a lot of practice being in shiai. We went immediately into shiai, breaking up into teams. I lost my first match 2-1. It was really close, I scored a men and nearly a kote. My opponent and I were really battling with our minds against each other. He got me with a quick kote and the match was over. Our team lost 3-2 matches, but we were in good spirits.

We swapped order so that instead of in the middle, I was later. This time, I won my match 2-0. Men-ari and men-ari quickly. My opponent was playing a hiki game. He would come in close to tsuba-zeriai and stay there for a moment. He could chase me in tsuba-zeriai until I either tried to break away or stop in place. If I stopped, he would fire off a hiki-men. If I tried to back away, he would strike men. I defeated this by standing still and raising uke to block and let him go backwards. Then I would line up and go after him. I felt really good about it. Still, our team lost 3-2.

At this time, Sensei saw us all constantly crashing into each other. He didn’t like that so he ordered us all into 2 lines. We did waza drills then. A couple of kiri-kaeshi and some men strikes. During the men strike waza, we concentrated nearly exclusively on passing by our opponent without hitting them.

We went back to the team matches and mixed up the order. I went first this time. I was flying and striking well. I thought I had a good men strike, but apparently, the shinpan trainees disagreed. When the match was over, I lost 2-1. My opponent stepped up his game and snuck in a couple of good men strikes on me.

Then I volunteered to practice being a shinpan. It’s a lot harder than it looks. I would try to balance the sound of the strike with the accuracy of it visually and throw in whether or not the kendoka would pass by with zanshin. I thought I did well. I’m sure I must have made a lot of mistakes.

1 comment:

  1. I saw the hit to the neck from the sidelines. It was obviously an accident from my perspective. It was a scary moment, but he recovered quickly to fight another day.

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