It has been some time since we worked on one-step sparring and I was glad that Sensei Plocharczyk choose that for our class today.

We started class with a horse stance and punches and kicks while hold it.  He had each person count to 10 and we did punches and blocks until we went through the entire class of people.  There had to be at least 25 people in class so we ended up holding that stance for a long time.

Next, we paired up and  spent a good amount of time doing just one-step.  For the first attack, jodan, Sensei had us do a back stance, knife hand block with roundhouse kick and reverse punch counter attack.  For the second attack, chudan, we did a pivot on the back leg with an inward block with reverse punch.  Blocking the front snap kick, we did downward block with reverse punch counter.  For the side thrust kick, we did a back leg pivot with a low block and then followed it up with the reverse punch.  It was different than the normal one-step drills that I am used to but it felt easy for some reason.  I used to have a hard time shifting out of the way but today, I didn’t have any problems with timing or distance.  I hope it stays that way.

We then spent the rest of the class working on kata.  Sensei had us break up into to groups by rank.  He then assigned a Sensei to each group and had us do kata.  After the kata, that Sensei would give us something to work on.  After each kata, a different Sensei would watch us and give us something to work on.  After my first kata, I was told to watch my right arm draw hand since it was a little loose.  The next Sensei said to watch how my toes are pointing when doing the back stance with double block.  The next two Sensei’s said that my kata was good but I think they were just being kind.

It was a really good class.

We spent the entire class working on sparring drills.

Sensei Noia had us pair up and work on different techniques than we normally work on.  We started out trading kicks and punches where one partner would shift in and attack while the other would stay stationary.  The idea was to make sure that our moves were accurate before moving on to the more technical work.

We then worked on some combination moves but after each attack, we would shift to the side and attack a new partner while they tried to evade.  This was was preparing us for what came next.

We did the same type of drill but this time, we had to score two points on our partner before we could move to the next partner.  This meant attacks to the back of the head or back of the body.  This was an incredibly hard drill and because I was on the end, I never got to see a new partner.

It was a good class but it also tells me that I need to do a lot more work on my sparring.

This was an excellent class.

Sensei Noia split us up into groups and took the brown belts to work on kata.  He had each of us do our kata slowly and watched to see if we were making mistakes.  I was leaning forward again on my rising block with reverse punch combinations in Jion.  After a few more katas, Sensei had each of us do a kata alone while we watched and corrected us along the way.

To keep me from leaning forward, he took a stick and put it against my back to keep my posture upright.  I was also pushing my head backward when starting Jion instead of keeping my posture upright.  He also made me get into a front stance where I had to open, while blocking and close, while punching, my hips.  I was not getting enough hip rotation and when I was doing it, my front knee was moving too much.

The key things I need to work on is pushing forward when I punch and block to keep my posture upright, rotating my hips when punching and blocking and locking my muscles and holding at the end of my movements.

It was an excellent class and one that gave me a lot to work on.