Hope that didn't sound too much like an obituary. Ahem.
Well, here's a recap of what happened.
Training Schedule on Tuesday, 22 January 2008
- Briefing
- Grading on Saturday
- Today - Nicolas' club farewell party
- Reviewed important points of Saturday's training.
- No group haya suburi for the next few session, going to focus on other fitness exercises.
- Warm-up
- Normal
- Sensei's tip - the kendoka leading the warm-up should be confident and have the order of exercises memorised. Otherwise everyone else's concentration will be disrupted and the warm-up not as effective.
- Fitness
- Haya suburi
- Focusing on the points from Saturday
- Haya with motodachi - 30x each, 3 sets
- Motodachi should relax grip when partner is raising his/her shinai, and tighten when partner cuts
- 1st set - focus on differentiating speed between raising and cutting
- 2nd set - focus on speed and ten-no-uchi3rd set - focus on both previous points and footwork; also pay attention to eye contact and feeling natural bounce from ten-no-uchi assist in raising shinai.
- Note: from now on, less emphasis on quantity of haya suburi done and focusing more on unity
- i.e. everybody has the same frequency, speed, and movements - doing so will distinguish us from all other clubs.
- Discussion
- On effort
- as a beginner, one should always concentrate fully on kihon. Once basic kihon has been understood and somewhat mastered, the kendoka must then learn how to do it smart. Destroying body and mind through working too hard is counterproductive and should be avoided. However, this does not mean that the kendoka can be lax and lazy when training. Simply put, kendo is for survival. You still have to give it 100% effort but at the same don't kill yourself doing so. Balance.
- On reflexes
- If you see a cut coming your way, it's too late - you're getting hit. In the short time the reflex order is sent from the eyes to the brain, there's still a 'loading' time where you're vulnerable and unable to react quickly.Better to analyze your opponent to anticipate the next move.
- On bowing
- stop bowing directly after finishing a kihon (e.g. slightly bowing when still in kamae after kirikaeshi). This is considered as being disrespectful of your partner, so better to do it once at a safe distance.
- High-speed haya suburi, 20x each, 4 sets.
- looks insane
- don't focus on anything other than doing the fastest haya suburi you can manage (or more)
- Sensei's tip - pull down and cut immediately once you can see your left hand has cleared eye level. Also, don't worry about kamae, footwork, or even proper cutting for this exercise
- Bogu keiko
- Kirikaeshi - 3x
- Big men cuts, 3 each - 3x
- Don't hit before motodachi opens; also, keep in semei a bit longer before striking.
- Big kote-men - 3x
- Big kote-do - 3x
- The do strike should come before the zanshin, don't end up striking completely parallel to the do.- - note: always move from the right foot (?)
- Kakari-keiko - 15 each - 1 set per person
- remember that it always starts and ends with a big men cut.
- focus on:
- proper, correct, accurate, and fast cuts
- finding personal issoku-itto-no-maai
- Shiai keiko
- Nicolas' farewell party - 2 minutes each or 1 ippon.
- Results
- - 8 wins for Team Nicolas
- - 10 wins for Team Waikato (everyone else)
- Notes
- Sam-sensei: kendo is like drama; it's not only about waza but also about spirit and making a good show. "Pretending" may persuade the judges to pick one side over the other, even when all other things are considered equal.
- Saw (or I think I saw) a nuki waza happening in a shiai setting - wow.
Ah, sorry about some of the pictures not coming out quite well...messed up the settings on my camera :S And I should probably get the lenses cleaned up...
p.s. does anyone know whether it's better to link up the photos to another site, e.g. Flickr, compared to directly uploading them to blogger? Just wondering.
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