Shotokanplanet.org

This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

Hold that leg up – 10/14/08 – Tuesday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

Sensei Noia gave us an interesting class today.  We warmed up by doing 10 suicides across the gym.  I was ready to go home right after those but there was more to come.

Keep that leg up…

Sensei had us get a partner and pair up in the middle of the dojo.  He then had one of us do a side thrust kick while the other partner ran to the other side of the gym and did their own kata up to the first ki-ai.  The part that made it harder is that Sensei made everyone holding their leg up wait until the highest rank finished their section of kata.  We did this with side thrust kick and some stances.

Kata parts…

For the next part of class, Sensei had us do parts of kata.  For example, we did the punch followed by the block from Bassai Dai.  We then added the second punch and block, then the four back stances with knife hand blocks and finally the low side kick with ki-ai and then the back stance with knife hand block.  He had us work up from one or two moves all the way to the entire group of moves over and over again.

We finished class with one, full power and full speed kata for our belt rank.  It was a pretty tough class but I am sure that it is going to help prepare all us for our upcoming rank test.

Kihon, kata and more – 10/13/08 – Monday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

This was an excellent class.  Sensei Beth Noia ran class tonight and gave a us workout that was one of the harder classes that I have had.

We started with some simple kihon.  We did a couple of movements such as rising block moving forward and back along with some other basic movements.

Partner kihon but harder…

Sensei Noia had us get a partner and told one of us to take off our belt.  Our partner put our belt around our waist hand held it behind us.  As we moved forward or backward in one drill, they pull against us to make it harder for us to move.  I have done this drill in the past but for some reason, it felt different tonight.  I was able to get my hips under when moving like they should be.  Even though my partner was pulling the belt fairly hard, I was able to move somewhat easily.

  • Moving forward with front punch.
  • Moving forward with sanbon zuki.
  • Moving forward and backward with rising block and reverse punch.
  • Moving forward with front snap kick.
  • Moving forward with front snap kick and front punch.
  • Moving forward and backward shifting.

Kata…

Sensei had us do start with Heian Shodan.  She counted out each move making sure that we were turning on our heels when doing our blocks and other turning movements.  She counted for two or three kata and then she had us do the kata with no hands.  Next we did it again with with one hand behind our back and then once more with the other hand behind our back.

After that, Sensei told us to do our belt kata with one hand behind our back up to the first Ki ai.  Doing Bassai Dai with one hand was really hard.  We did it again with the other hand behind our back for a total of three times with each hand behind our back.

Next, Sensei Noia had us do Jion on her count.  We spent a good amount of time working Jion and parts of it.  One part in particular was the three moves near the end of the kata where we do the arm smash into the horse stance.  Sensei had us start by bringing our front knee up into the front snap kick position, reach with one hand and put the other, same side as the raised leg, up like a rising block.  We then had to twist and step down into a horse stance and finish the movement.  Doing this drill really made the move make sense.

Next, we worked on Bassai Dai.  Sensei Noia counted the moves for us again and after a while, we worked on the section where where we reach, crescent kick our hand and do the head smash with the elbow.  We did this movement going in both directions.  It was hard doing it with the right hand out instead of the left hand but after a few tries, it got a little bit easier.

We finished up with one more Bassai Dai and class ended.  It was an excellent class that moved at just the right pace but still fast enough to push us really hard.

A busy weekend and a Karate tournament – 10/12/08

by Leave a Comment

We didn’t have Karate class on Thursday since it was a scheduled day off but I didn’t take class on Friday or Saturday since I was a kumite referee seminar with Sensei Alex Miladi, on Friday and early Saturday and a kata judging seminar later on Saturday with Sensei Jesse Canedo.  I learned a great deal and enough to referee and judge at our club tournament on Sunday.

I cannot say enough about how good it was to work with those visiting Sensei’s.  Not only did they give great seminars, we had hands on, practical application.

The tournament took place on Sunday and I was working as an official throughout the day until around 4:00 when my son competed.  My son did all three events this time and ended up with a second place medal in kihon.  He needs some more work on his kata and kumite skills but he and I are going to be working on that in the near future.

I competed too and entered the kata and kihon events.  I walked away with the forth place medal in kihon.

It was a busy but great weekend and I walked away with a lot of experience both as an official and competitor.