Saturday, May 30, 2015

A Beginner's Point of View 680-683

Day 680:

No class today as I am injured.

Day 681:

No class today as I am injured.

Day 682:

No class today because of the holiday.

Day 683:

No class today as I am injured.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

A Beginner's Point of View 678-679

Day 678:

In Iaido class, our Sensei was ill, so our shodan ran the class. I completed three sets of kata on my own.

In Kendo class, Sensei showed up but was not well. So, he asked me to run the class. This was the perfect opportunity to try the class I designed in my spare time.

I led the stretches, suburi, and kihon. For the waza drills, I was trying to progressively teach to move to the proper maai and then strike. We then did kote-men, kote-kiri-kaeshi-with-tsuki, kote-suriage-men, step-kote, uchi-komi-geiko, men-debana-kote, ippon-shobu, and multiple ji-geiko.

After class, Sensei said he had no advice to give for the day’s lesson, which I interpret to be a good thing.

Day 679:

In Iaido class, I completed 2 sets and 8 kata before the end of class. I had a question about the tsuka-ate of the eighth kata. He said not to adjust the tsuka’s angle, just thrust directly. I guess the point is not necessarily to knock the opponent unconscious; it’s to disrupt their attack.

In Kendo class, it was one of our sensei’s last practice. He was moving away. Today’s class was all about lots of ji-geiko. We had lots of people come to practice with us to see him off.

After we did kihon, we moved right into ji-geiko. We lined up two lines and all went at the same time. That was really tight to try. Two more people stood in with us and we had to shift to having a rotating motodachi line.

I fought against our departing sensei and did very well. I scored a lot of points and felt great. I then had a fight against a visiting sensei and only did okay. I scored a couple of points because he had better center. I did pull a trick of coming to tsuba-zeriai, slowly stepping back while rolling his arms to my right. That opened up his center and I scored a hiki-men. He smiled and was pleased. Then I was asked to step into the motodachi line and I fought a lot of ji-geiko. Against people ranked shodan or lower, I seemed to have a lot of trouble finding the target. I also have trouble trying for debana-kote without dropping my sword and leaving men open.

After class, I complimented Sensei for making us better at Kendo. He complimented me by saying that I made a lot of improvement since he showed up.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

A Beginner's Point of View 676-677

Day 676:

No class today as I am ill.

Day 677:

In Iaido class today we had no sensei. He was out sick, so our shodan ran the class. There was no group lesson. She spent her time training our lowest ranking Iaidoka. So, I completed three sets of kata and then a couple of stretching exercises to fill the time.

In Kendo class, our other sensei taught the class. Surprisingly, one of our former students showed up today to visit. Our class consisted of the lesson about taking center and then striking when you are at the proper maai. Lots of stepping in and then striking. Taking center by staying on tsuki, ai-men, step-in-men, seme-men, push aside the shinai to strike men, kote-kiri-kaeshi with tsuki, doh kiri-kaeshi-with-tsuki, and then ji-geiko.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

A Beginner's Point of View 674-675

Day 674:

In Iaido class, we got to practice about 9 kata before Sensei called for a group exercise. As a class we crossed the floor using a vertical cut eight times. Then we did a drill when we did the turn in the sixth kata with the cut. Afterwards, I was so dizzy I almost fell over. Sensei said to lead with the head more to avoid being dizzy. We spent the rest of the class doing kata. I finished my set and half of the next.

In Kendo, our other Sensei did not show up so our other nidan taught the class. He definitely gave this some thought. He wanted a class to teach no hesitation and take center by pushing forward rather than to the side. It was more advanced than the class I would have taught.

We did kihon and lots of low-energy waza to take center. Seme drills, take-center-and-strike, making openings, kote-men, and then ji-geiko.

Day 675:

No class today as I am ill.