Saturday's traditional class was a bit uneventful. We worked mostly on Sushi No Kon Sho again, this I was almost leading the class with it. My rendition of it is far from perfect, but I at least know the sequence of strikes and blocks from start to finish. I'm sure it helped that I was able to practice it midweek last week.
We ended the class with a little exercise our instructor sometimes has us do. It involves one person staying at one end, and a lineup of people on the other end, maybe 10 feet away. First person on the lineup goes forward, does a forward roll and when he/she goes up, the people that was alone attacks him/her for a predetermined self defense technique. It can be a bit disorienting to do the forward roll then get up and be attacked, but it also helps with working our self defense techniques.
We also did some work on our latest kata, Cat 2 in my case. I got a bit of my groove back on that one, but that was not where I felt I needed the most work.
After our little dinner, our bo class came. Our instructor watched me do my kata first and immediately saw that I was having trouble with my transitions between strikes, hence the groove thing. He said that he thought my strikes were strong and quick and made with a purpose, but I had to make the kata move more fluidly. Even though I'm not a big fan of pure baton twirling, I see that some spinning is not entirely wasted and makes for some good transition between section of strikes. As a reminder of what my bo kata looks here's a repost of it. The angle is not very good as my father filmed it from up in the stands, but at least you have an idea about what I mean.
See, even the first spin, right after the start, is giving me fits right now. So this Saturday, I worked mostly on spins and figure 8. One way, then the other way. I was already feeling much better with it by the end of class.
Andrew worked on trying to bring the kata into sections, meaning you have a few strikes, then a big kiai and a mini pause. The way he does his kata right now, he's more like just on one rythm with little explosion. He is also trying to get back in the groove and this might have something to do with it. Again as a reminder, here's a rendition of his kata in one of his last competition.
I should get to put the Quebec Open competition to DVD at some point soon and I will post his two kata in here. Unfortunately there were nobody to film me at that competition, so I only have my trophy to remind me of my performance. ;)
FM
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7 comments:
Impressive!
thanks Mat. Kinda sad I can't show you all the Quebec Open version of my kata. It was a full month after the one on that video and I felt so good about it...
take care, Steve.
Really nice !
WICKED!
You have to find the Qebec Open version!
I have to get a bo...
thanks akarien and MrX, commetns very much appreciated :)
The only Quebec Open version I'll be able to find is Andrew's two kata. We're usually in two rings very much separated from one another and usually, my dad filmed one and my wife filmed the other. That day, my dad and mom didn't feel very good so they couldn't be at the Quebec Open. Worst of all, the setup made it so that the view to my ring from Andrew's ring was completely blocked by some huge stands put there for the Saturday night show. Because of that, my wife could not even try and run to my ring as she had no clue when I'd be on as she stayed with Andrew...
Now, I need to transfer Andrew's kata from my sister's videocam to a DVD and then rip it to my computer. When I'll get that done, I'll certainly post them here...
take care, Steve.
I really appreciated your Bo kata video. That was smoothly executed.. sure, I can see where you noticed the transition "issues", but all in all you sailed past that and performed well.
I would like to suggest that you work on keeping your eyes up. I've noticed that you are tending towards looking down as you go through your kata. In any kata, one wants to keep their eyes up, and onto their opponent. You might find that you will move more smoothly if you control your eyes.
Thanks for the kind comment Mireille. Regarding the transition issues, I was more speaking about now versus the end of last season, i.e. at about the Quebec Open time which took place in late April. The rendition of the kata shown here was in mid March and was only my second competition and I'd dropped my bo in my first competition, so I was super conscious of not making mistakes in that one.
You have a very good point about my eyes going to the floor. I had never realized that in that kata. It's usually one of my strong point to try and visualize opponents in all my forms, with my bo of with open hands. Again, I think this might have to do with me being super nervous in that competition. I'll keep an eye (pun semi intended) for that when I next perform my bo kata full speed in the dojo...
take care, Steve.
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