Kumite timing and super ippon – 7/26/08 – Saturday Karate class.

Today, Sensei Gatch had the class work on kumite timing drills.

Timing is everything…

We started out with a partner, shifting back and forth trying to time when our partner was going to attack before they attacked.  The idea was for each of us to keep pressure on each other and see the attack coming before our partner threw it.  We would shift together, keeping the same distance and when they would shift in, instead of us shifting out of the way, we would attack first.

Super ippon…

The second part drill that we worked on was called super ippon.  The idea here was for both of us to charge in and attack and score the point first.  Either way, one of us was going to get hit but the one who hit first won.  We ended up doing this drill with different partners until there was only two of us left.  I ended up coming in at second place since the young guy that beat me was blinding fast.  He was able to cover three times the ground that I did and his was about four inches better.

I do feel that my kumite skills are starting to improve but I have a long way to go.