Friday, November 19, 2010

A Beginner's Point of View 218-219

Day 218:

My arm is mostly healed and I can move it without injury. It is still stiff, but it’s the kind of stiffness that can be worked out. Like my usual routine, I recover from injuries by going to beginner class. Sensei was glad to see me and asked me to lead the class in warm-ups. It’s been forever since I led the class, but I was not nervous. I just did what I was supposed to do and was glad for it. During the rei-hou for opening I made a mistake. I called out for ‘rei’ when I should have called out for ‘seiza’. I quickly corrected myself and Sensei made a comment that was familiar. He reminded people that in the future they would be taking turns to lead the class so they should be learning the rei-hou.

He separated the class into two lines and we began. I led the class in stretches. Even though I stretched before class, I did it again. I just made sure not to hurt myself. I made sure to call out the counting loudly, to show the class should also. They did not disappoint. Sensei asked that we do a lot of suburi. I decided that we would do three full counts of eight repetitions, with people taking turns counting out loud. We did okii-suburi, shomen-suburi, squat cuts, shomen-suburi again, haya-suburi, and breathing-suburi.

Afterwards, Sensei asked a few of us, including myself, to put on men and receive strike from students. I spent the rest of class receiving one-step men, one-step kote, and one-step kote-men. Each time a new student would present themselves, I would watch their waza and comment on how to improve. At the beginning of class, I was giving out a lot of changes, such as louder kiai and raising the shinai higher. Similar mistakes to what I made at their level. By the end of class, I was shouting more comments like ‘good’ and ‘do it again’, showing that they were improving. It was very heartening.

At the end of class, Sensei had a surprise. I sat next to him on the Dan side for the ending rei-hou. Normally,I would expect to be on the Kyu side, leading the closing rei-hou, but Sensei said that whoever opens the class sits next to him. I wonder if that’s an actual rule or if it was just a one-time reward.

Day 219:

Here I am at beginner class again. My arm is a little stiff and sore, but not a problem. Sensei didn’t show up today, but the senior students took right over to teach the class. We did a lot of stretches before suburi. The stretches where you cross your arm over your chest and behind the back hurt a little. I guess my arm isn’t quite recovered.

We did lots of suburi over and over with very little breaks in between. We did okii-suburi, shomen-suburi, kote-suburi, and doh-suburi. I was aware of those cuts but never did them before in warm-ups. Then we did a new one. It is like doh-suburi, but instead of stopping at the waist level, we finish the cut much lower, almost to the ankles. We also would not cut directly in front of us. We would cut right while turning left, then cut left while turning right. Since we were standing very close to each other, it was tricky not to bump into each other. We did squat cuts and then haya-suburi.

We put on men and then a few of us were drafted into receiving for the class. At first I was part of the receivers, but then the senior student decided to only need four receivers. I went over to the student side. We started off by doing one-step men, one-step kote, and one-step doh. The doh strikes made my arm hurt.

It seems I’m not as healed as I thought. It didn’t feel reinjured, so I think maybe it’ll be wise to stay with the beginner class until it doesn’t hurt anymore. We then did what we were leading up to. It was a combination drill of two times men, then two times kote, and then two times doh. It was fun, but the doh strikes would tug on my arm and make it feel not right.

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