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1/18/2004
Went to Open Training
I had no idea what that meant. Sensei explained it to me after I was the first one there and standing on the mat alone for about 15 minutes, wondering why he was not dressed in his gi. I didn't ask, but soon he came over, and explained that it was not a class per say but time for us to work on techniques with each other. Sensei was not involved, most of the people who showed up about 5 minutes after my discussion with Sensei were practicing for the test this coming Saturday. I felt really ackward, worse than at class, I had no idea what I was doing until Rick came onto the mat, and we walked through the normal warm up session. I practiced with Rick at first, and when Rick went to practice with his Uke for his 1st Kyu test on Saturday, I practiced with Victor. Wow he is a powerhouse, also a Yudansha, didn't know that. Only found out at the end of the class when he took his Hakama off. He pointed out that I was holding the wrist too high on one of my techniques, and had me bring it down to my center, it was much more effective. During our practice it was apparent that he knew a lot more than me, and was really powerful. In demonstrating one of the techniques to me at one point I did a complete face plant on the mat. Victor was a little more gentle after that, neither of us said anything, but it went slower after what had to be an ungraceful power dive by me into the mat.
It was a good training session, I learned a lot, worked on all of my techniques, and Victor helped my with my front roll a lot. I might have just gotten to be able to do it at the end of the training session. No bets on the next time I try!
The subtleness in the techniques are amazing. Just the slightest difference here or there, makes all the difference in the power of the technique. Little things like having the wrist twist more into the body, opening up the space between you and the uke more, it was all amazing. Rolling went poorly. I have to work on that some more. It seemed easy the first time that I did it, now it just seems wrong every time…
I made an active decision not to go to the weapons class on Saturday as my body had declared that it needed a break after a full week of new motions, falling down, getting pinned and the like.
I probably would not have gone to the Dojo if I had understood that it was not a class. Even less so if I knew that others were going to be seriously practicing for a test. However it went very well, and I learned a lot from everyone there. Now that I know what to expect, I will keep attending them.
01-19-2004 09:16 PM 