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Old 01-22-2004, 08:45 AM   #15
MaryKaye
Dojo: Seattle Ki Society
Location: Seattle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 522
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At our last testing, a fairly tall student was testing for first kyu, and took as his uke a very short shodan. Near the end of the test they got to the defenses versus kicks, which we don't practice very often, but the low and middle kicks went okay. Then we had the following dialog:

Nage: Can you kick me high? (touches middle of upper arm)

Uke: Sure.

Nage: I mean, can you kick me *really* high? (touches top of shoulder)

Uke: Bows slightly, steps back slightly, kicks nage on the side of the head above the ear. (It had to be seen to be believed--I didn't think he could do it either.)

Sensei: Hey, aren't you supposed to block that or something?

Nage was so surprised, in fact he didn't block at all but just stood there goggling. (He passed his test anyway.)

The other memorable moment from that test came during the third-kyu tests. Nage was throwing his uke with a lot of speed, and our dojo is small. At one point he threw her into the testers' table. The two black belts behind the table leaped to their feet and with a single motion grabbed the two coffee cups as the table folded up. Not a drop was spilled, though everything else on the table went flying. It looked incredibly cinematic, and we teased them about their typically Seattleite coffee consciousness.

Mary Kaye
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