We began by working with the specific context of controlled contact in mind. The controlled environment of a competition, or sparring in the dojo for that matter, demands the ability to fire authentic shots and to arrest them on contact. To fail to do so obviously causes injury and would lead to disqualification for the offending party in a competition. So using a partner’s hand as a target we drilled sharp, but controlled, punches. The target was then moved forwards or backwards to simulate a change in the distance causing the punch to miss, or alternatively, to be too close to score in a competition. When this happened the target was immediately returned to the perfect range whereupon the puncher was expected to fire a second ‘scoring’ technique.
We then changed the context. We stayed with target practise but worked on connecting more solidly; not full power, you need pads for that, but what I like to call, “positive contact”! We worked on singles and doubles, then we added a foot sweep. We then took this mix into kumite and attempted to apply only these moves against a non-compliant opponent.
The session concluded with kata: grading syllabus for kyu grades; Enpi kata for dan grades.
13 members trained in the session: Izzy Ponsonby; Frank Dennis; Paul Osborne; Bob Dainty; Alex Heather; Harry Heather; Oliver Wood; Audrius Mikalauskas; Caroline Todd; Gobe Hobona; Kerry Lee; Arthur Hall; Rosemary Hall.
SOUTH NOTTS KARATE 