Friday Karate class – 1/11/08 – Sparring drills and some self defense.

Sensei Noia had us spend almost the entire class working on sparring drills.

We partnered up and did shifting drills back and forth across the gym. After that, we worked on double shifts with attacks. We then did the same thing but were able to counter. These drills are really helping with my timing and distance.

After that, we did some angle drills. Our partner would stand in front of us, we would attack and then shift on an angle to the right. We did this in a movement like hands on a clock. I need more work on this drill. Moving in angles is hard for me at this time.

Next, we moved on to a drill where we slap our partners hand out of the way and attack to the outside. For example, I would slap my partners hand out of the way and hit them with a reverse punch to the back or open area near the ribs. We also did the same drill with kicks.

After that, we finished up with some self defense movements. We would do a knife hand block, knocking our partners hand out of the way, grabbing their arm with the other hand and then hitting them in the neck area with the edge of our hand. These drills require some pretty good coordination. We then worked on the same type of movement but added a knee strike after the knife hand to the neck.

I am finally starting to enjoy the sparring drills since we have been having classes like these.