When I pulled into the car park at The National Water Sports Centre it looked like a ghost town. None of the usual activities seemed to be going on. In fact I started to wonder whether WW III had broken out and nobody had thought to tell me! Then the penny dropped: European football. The reds of Manchester versus the blues of Chelsea live on TV.
Once I got into the dojo it was obvious that this footballing feast had had a slight impact on numbers but 12 stalwarts were present nonetheless and two of them had made the effort to come using pedal power! Separate bicycles I might add; not tandem!
In circumstances of relatively low numbers a particular motto usually springs to mind: “I’m not interested in those who aren’t present; I’m only interested in those who are“. This was actually something my teacher once said to me years ago and I have remembered it ever since.
Anyway we started the session with some slow reps of gyakutsuki, kizame (front leg) maewashi geri, holding the kick in the extended position. “Core strength” is something of a ‘new’ dimension in contemporary health & fitness: we in karate have been practicing it for years!
This basic combination was then developed during static partnerwork. First the punch was isolated; then the kick; then both were drilled in an alternating routine involving three exchanges. We then took the combination into jiyu kumite and attempted to apply it in circumstances where the opponent wasn’t facilitating its delivery; he or she was actually trying to prevent it happening and was endeavouring to land blows as well!
Applying any combination or technique in this way allows critical assessment. Is the combination/technique inherently sound or flawed? Has it been developed to an effective level? Does it need refining or modifying at all? What is its success rate? etc
In any event we had about six rounds of kumite where the objective of one combatant was to use the combination successfully. Not at all costs; not by compromising the sparring; but by weaving the move in to the fabric of the exchanges if and when practicable.
The result? Overall improvement. It didn’t work for all of the people, all of the time; but (you guessed it) it worked for some of the people some of the time! The challenge now of course is to develop it further through rational practise.
The session concluded with kata: Heian Godan. The final sequence in this kata is notoriously difficult to perform well. I was pleased to see that real progress has been made by purple belts Bob Dainty and Becky Cassapi who will be assessed on this kata at their next grading.
The kata was then performed by the whole class with the type of commitment and vigour that would put the professional sportsmen of Man United and Chelsea to shame. Perhaps they should be watching us!
Now there’s an idea….
12 members trained in the session: Bob Dainty; Becky Cassapi; Steve Cassapi; Alex Heather; Chris Webb; Audrius Mikalauskas; Kerry Lee; Steve Hull; Charlotte Bonardi; Caroline Todd; Arthur Hall; Rosemary Hall.
SOUTH NOTTS KARATE 