Disclaimer: This was supposed to go online on
Saturday, hence everything in present tense. Things got a little messy, and apparently it didn't quite get posted before the wifi died over the weekend. Enjoy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Training Session Saturday 15 September 2007
Before I even start anything...
Gomen nasai *bows profusely* to anyone who’s actually waiting for me to post something up. I know I promised back issues...which still haven’t come up, unfortunately. To be completely honest, it’s a rather busy time for me at the moment, both in study and personal life, so I haven’t quite managed to put something on the blog. Yet. But that changes today! Well, probably only today, since next week’s going to be just as hectic. Ahem. I digress. On to today’s session...
Training Session, Saturday 15 September 2007
Footwork Review
- Kamae
- Footwork (single and continuous steps)
- Fumikomi (one-at-a-time and with zanshin)-
Suburi Review
- Jogeburi
- Men cuts
- Kote cuts
- Do cuts
Today’s session was a little...mixed, hence the less-than-routine layout. I’m not sure whether the beginner and senior classes were separate, since the seniors started joining in as they came. Also, I had to leave midway, so I didn’t get to see if we had a senior’s session (and thus I shall surely lament tonight as to why I didn’t finish my assignment weeks ago). Before I left, I think Marleen-sensei mentioned something about Terry-senpai going for a competition. [update - Benji informed me that Terry-senpai will be competing in the Rembuden Taikai, so here's a hearty ganbatte to cheer him on!] Because of that, there would be a team shiai practice after the review sessions were over. Not sure if that’s what happened, so would someone help me clear up what that was all about? Regardless, I’ve definitely missed some valuable training time. If it were a real life-and-death situation, the guys in my grade (“senior’s-junior-juniors”?) are half a lesson more prepared to snuff the life out of me. Yar. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up by Tuesday...but that’s two days away...
On the lighter side, my cuts are getting slightly better. I’m trying to focus more on keeping the left hand strong and close to the forehead when lifting, as well as landing the cuts with ki-ken-tai-no-ichi. Thanks to Jeffrey-senpai for helping me focus on those points. Thanks also to Benji, who’s been reminding me about how I don’t focus on those points for about three months now. Hahah. It still feels a little unnatural at the moment, as my less accurate way has become something of a habit. And it’s making me rely a bit too much on my right hand, so that needs to be remedied before it goes out of control. Still, I’m confident that if I keep focusing on these points for the next few months or so, I might be able to pull off better cuts at a faster speed.
Other news...there’s a Waikato sports award nomination going on. I’m personally not sure what that’s about, but Marleen-sensei and Robin-senpai (Parrington) told me they want to nominate Ruby-senpai for it. I’ll post up what’s going on as soon as I get more information on the matter. Or perhaps by the time this post comes out, the club’s blog will have it. Either way, expect more to come.
Finally, last term’s beginner class (‘junior-senior-juniors’?) have all started wearing their bogu. Here’s to our new keiko partners! Kanpai!
As an added bonus to this post, I’m adding up last Tuesday’s to make up for some lost entries. So, here goes...
Training Session, 11 September 2007
First off, a moment of mokuso to commemorate this now-infamous date and those affected...
Right, on to the training. Today’s session was relatively quick, in retrospect. A lot less keiko than the last session, a lot more suburi.
Beginner’s Class
- Footwork review
- Suburi review (jogeburi, men, kote, do)
- Fumikomi review
- Stamping basics
- Stamping with zanshin
- Stamping with men strikes
Senior’s Class
- Warmup
- Suburi review
- Jogeburi
- Men cuts
- Kote cuts
- Do cuts
- Jumping suburi
- Fumikomi review
- With men cuts – increasing difficulty (1 cut, 2 cuts, and so forth)
- Keiko (20 minutes)
- Kirikaeshi
- Continuous men
- 3 men cuts each, repeat
Marleen-sensei was sick and had to tend to Joyce, who was also sick, so she was unable to give us instructions today. Jeffrey-senpai was also sick today, but showed up to lead both the beginner and senior classes. Otherwise, everything went smoothly. And with less keiko, it’s starting to feel just like back in the beginner days, when Jeffrey-senpai would drill us with suburi every so often.
Note to self: focus more keeping left hand close to head when raising shinai. Also, focus on synchronizing each cut so that the left hand doesn’t stop before the right one. So far, it feels weird. Very weird.
Oh, and thank you for considering this knave as a wordsmith, Robin-senpai. I’ll do my best to update more...regularly. *bows*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------