Here they are, father and son, well, actually it's more like son then father, but you get my drift... :) Enjoy!
Comments are welcome. As I said, I stumbled early in the kata and it stayed on my mind for the rest of it. Had I started off solidly, it would have showed for the rest of it. Still not a bad kata, I think. Will need to work on my hands position and strieks. For reference, check when I make side to side strikes. The elbow of my forward hand is a tiny bit bent. That shouldn't happen...
Andrew's performance was very good, from my perspective. Lacks a bit of explosiveness, but he's fairly clean in his strikes and spins the bo better than I do. Give him one more year of work and he could be doing some crazy forms. Go Andrew!!!
Finally here's a bonus for you. Remember when I talked about young Emilie Paquet going to the World Championship at the ripe age of 12? Well, I was able to film her in between one of our kata. There it is:
She is only 12, remember that. Her sense of focus never ceases to amaze me. A great performer. She'll be in Spain from November 6 to 11. Good luck in Spain Emilie!
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6 comments:
Woah Emilie. I had missed the first part of her kata. Incredible!
One thing I do notice in your kata, frogman, is that you tend to lean forward. It happens in your traditional kata too. I don't know if it's supposed to be that way though. That part, I know nothing of. :)
It does create the impression that you're not in balance. You start straight and somewhere in there, you lean forward. I did notice that Andrew is straight, so I wonder which is right.
In this video here:
http://taming-the-horse-stance.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html
I believe it's the same kata. or close enough. When you do little turns, (look at time 00:20), you're straight, your back is straight. In the recent one, in time 01:10 you lean forward and it stays until the end of the kata. It also happens in the traditionnal one.
But otherwise, I'll say it again, I have -0- knowledge of bo kata...
I still think it's impressive! as I have no knowledge at all...
I was looking at my sai kata yesterday in pain as I knew I was gonna give a copy to Sensei... What a poor performance I gave.
Bah, a learning opportunity, I guess.
Have a good day!
Mat
Hey Mat, thanks for your comments. Me leaning forward is also something I have seen and it is *not* supposed to be that way. It's one big thing I will have to work on and you are right, it's creeping in my traditional form too.
In that, Andrew, even though sometimes he lacks a bit in his stance (too high on his forward stance), is much better than I am, as he really doesn't lean forward and he keeps his back straight.
They're all learning opportunities. After all, we don't compete simply to bring back a trophy or a plaque or a medal, but to push ourselves under pressure...
And Emilie is indeed impressive. :)
Take care, Steve.
Nice forms!
I also noticed that you tend to lean forward and that your head is a bit towards the ground (I tend to do the same thing).
I don't know if it's the size of the video on my screen but I think that your face expression changed radically when you stumbled in you Bo form. 75% percent of the time, errors are not noticed in the movement itself but the facial expression (Was that what he was suppose to do? By the look on his face, no...). But hey! I would've probably froze right there...
You were saying to wait and see in a year your son's futur performance. Hey bud, what about your performance in a year? You will surely kick ass!!
Your son's form is very nice. Has a pause that doesn't seem to be intentional but he is very good with that thing! You must be very proud of him. Good kiais too!
I've seen Emilie in the Cobra International 2006 DVD. Thought she was older than 12. She has such focus. You can feel that she really sees the opponents. Her movements are well defined with changes in speed in all the right places.
I will definitly show my son your son's performance. Tell him he has fans in Rosemere! Thanks fo sharing!
Thanks for your comments MrX.
As I said, yeah, I do lean forward and even more, good eye from you, I still look down during my bo kata. I don't think this is happening all that much in my traditional forms. Will need to work on that.
And again, good eye, I know I cringed very hard when that stumble happened, simple because I knew it looked bad. Since it's an open type kata, if I misplace a strike, do something not exactly the way it should be, I know it might not be noticed, but that one was just too obvious and I hated myself for doing it. And you know what, it happened so early in the kata, it really stayed with me for the whole duration of the form. I knew I had to keep on going and still had a chance to win it if I didn't drop my bo, but I also knew I had cost myself some valuable points right there.
You're right, I will probably be better in a year. Heck, only a year ago, I had never really played with a bo. Took me a solid two or three weeks to master the spin and turn around trick, now I could do it in my sleep, well almost... :) What I meant about my son is that he's been training with this super heavy bo of his for a year now, and look how he's doing. That and kids are such fast learners. I'm simply more looking forward to him growing than myself growing. The magic of being a dad, I'm sure you can relate... ;)
Just so I know, when do you think there's a pause that doesn't seem intentional? I thought he did it with about the rythm we intended it to be so if something is misunderstood by others, it could help us make the kata better. One of the niceties of having an open kata is that you can modify it when you feel like it, which is about what we will start doing now that the competition is over and our next planned competition is only in December. Feel free to visit my youtube page and show Andrew's other videos to your son. You will see how much he's improved since his first bo kata in competition only last February. There might even be something there for you personnally, as there a presentation of Circle of the Tiger by him on there. :)
I've said it a few times already but Emilie's focus is really what sells me on her kata performances. They really are like a real bo fight...
Take care, Steve.
I've run out of my computer time to send my comment on your kata, Steve. I did watch them though. I'll be back with more detail.
One of my problems in commenting is that I'm not really that advanced in Bo staff work at all, and all the spinning you are doing distracts me from seeing where the power is supposed to be going in each intended move. I'll have an easier time commenting on the held strikes.
O.K... here are my simple efforts to help you through my eyes:
Your son, Andrew, has quite a confident, sharp and quick attitude to his kata the majority of the time, this means that when he paused.. it appeared to me that he had forgotten what to do, or that he was being careful not to lose his grip on the staff. Perhaps he'd like to place more concentrated slow movements that would show that these pauses are on purpose.
I'm not too sure if your art has higher stances than what I am used to, but the solidity of his movements aren't always there. You can see his toes pop off the ground once in awhile. Is that supposed to happen? I could see popping onto your heels so that you can spin more easilly so maybe he didn't want to have solidity in those movements.
His kiai is improving, and getting more "attitude". He might want to try to lower the tone of it a little.. so instead of a "Hey.." that sounds like it's coming from the top of his lungs.. perhaps he could try a lower sound like "Haa.." and push in with the diaphragm. You can hear that his kiai was getting pretty raspy near the end.. that means that his throat will start hurting. You really want the sound of the kiai to come from the depths of you.
In all counts I have to say Well done, Andrew, Keep it up..
Now for your kata:
Your performance is wonderful. There are moments where you seem transported to an actual fight, especially when you did the "swirly hold onto the end of the Bo staff and swipe away all the hundreds of attacks" move. Fantastic! That was a catch my breath moment.
I would suggest that you put yourself into this frame of mind before you enter the ring. If you look at the very start of your kata you are focusing on straightening your gi. Your mind is more on your nervousness, and "how do I look" at that point. I recommend that you place your mind into the kata zone before you even stand in that spot.
Those movements with your empty hand.. are they just "set" movements, or are they strikes/blocks? Right now I do not see any emphasis being placed on them.. they seem to be just placed there.
I noticed something different about how your arms move when you strike. The back hand on the Bo.. It's elbow rises above your head when you move the Bo. I looked at Emilie, and her elbow doesn't fly up high like that. Is that because you are doing a different kata than her? All I know is that: according to the various basic techniques of karate, lifting your elbow above shoulder level weakens the strike/block. I am guessing that this body mechanic "issue" could be applied to weapon work also.
I really enjoyed this "capture" of your kata. You did a superb performance. I can't wait to see more.
Encore..
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