Fee Fi Fo Fan, I smell the kata of a Shotokan...

An exhausting but rewarding couple of weeks!

The Harrtlepool Wadokai Championships were a great success for Leicester Karate Association as we scooped 10 medals in total across 8 categories. Sadly the pairs senior kata didn't place but I did manage to scrape bronze in the mixed masters individual kata and am now working towards the Aiwakai Nationals in Sheffield in April.

I'm very aware that one of the reasons I managed to place at Hartlepool was that it was an open kata format and there were no stringent penalties for interpretation outside of the style standard. This allowed my shotokanisms to creep in and possibly enhance my performance rather than damage it.

In April the standard will be very much the Aiwakai Wado-kai way. Deviations from the kata taught by Sakagami Sensei  probably won't be tolerated and I'm having to really focus on the nuances as well as the big stuff. Fortunately I was able to attend the Wadokai England Squad training the following Saturday where Sensei Peter May worked through the technical step by step application of Bassai for two hours with us. I'm working on the following diferrences:

1. Don't cross legs on the first move, leave them parallel but bent forward
2. When transitioning from the last Uchiuke before stepping into Shuto - maintain the line by shuffling the rear foot first

3. Stepping back after the third Shuto the hands land as if to grab an arm and then twist into the second position, right arm forward, not left,

4. On the rise into musubidachi there is now no pause before the hands rise into morote jodan uke.

5. There is no tobi forward between the morote tetsuis and the migi junzuki, this is done on the spot.

This is the closest video I can find to what I was taught on Saturday:

Whilst all the senior senseis were hugely supportive, they all implied that basically I still reek of Shotokan!

I'm also very conscious that whilst I have passable Pinans, Wanshu and Bassai, my Niseishi, Naihanchi and Seishan need work and my Kushanku and Chinto are non-existant.

Too big a challenge? We'll have to see.

That sync..ing feeling!

Dedicated with respect to all those affected by the recent events in Japan; placing this post firmly in perspective; ame futte ji katamaru.

Just four days until the Hartlepool tournament and much has changed since my last post. We have now become two pairs as there is no category for team kata, meaning that Alex and I, and Andy and Josh are competing seperately. It's hard to know if pairs is easier than team; certainly syncing with one person is more
simple than with two, but the focus of the judges is also diffused, and differences are easier to spot.

I can honestly say that if you ever wanted to get your head around Wado stances and style and the differences between it and Shotokan, then continually running through two kata over and over again with a very competent Wado third dan and another III looking on... will certainly help.

This tournament requires that all pairs begin with a Pinan kata, so it's back to basics and onto Godan. My Neko Dachi is L shaped, but the back foot should face forward, my Shuto is too low and too far from my body, my Kiba Dachi is too wide and parallel. I move in circles slowly, but I need to move in straight lines quickly. In Wanshu, our timing is hot but my fists, which resolutely return to my hip after every technique, are slowing me down and highlighting our differences. I keep reminding myself, Wado is like the salute from my army cadet days, "the quickest way down".

It's been a hard couple of weeks but fascinating and exhilarating. At the same time I am rehearsing my individual katas, which include a faster Godan than the pairs version and a snappy Bassai and I am spending every spare moment practicing, my kitchen at home and the cloakroom at work becoming temporary dojos.

We have a good sized squad going up to Hartlepool on Sunday (at 6am!!!) including some juniors in both kata and kumite, including our winners from last time; Junaid and Patrick and, of course, my buddy Alex. Best of luck to everyone competing and as always, I'll let you know how it goes.

Sayonara.

There's no "I" in team...

Following the... erm... learning experience of the last tournament I have the added honour of competing in both the individual and team kata in Hartlepool on the 20th March.

I am genuinely looking forward to this one, as I feel slightly more comfortable being judged on kata than kumite and whilst some of my own kata interpretations may have a whiff of shotkan about them, they're no more varied than the range of Wado versions I saw at the last comp. When it comes to team kata though I am seriously re-learning every step.

Sensei Rick last night had us spend 20 minutes on the walk-in, and frankly, we needed it. Not only are we three different heights and three different grades, but we have three very different Martial Arts backgrounds; me from Shotokan with my long slow stances and eroneous kicks, Andy from LKA who studies budo with Sakagami and is therefore very precise, and Alex, a young Cypriot Sandan who performs snappy kata like a bullet. 

It amazes me how even individuals from the same clubs can vary kata according to their understanding and bunkai, or their own physiology, so I wasn't surprised that there were many many many differences in how each of us perform our kata. Having run through only two so far; a mandatory Pinan Godan and Wanshu we are stopping after every technique to correct and compare and assimiliate. The guys have loads of advice on how to "Wadoise" what I do and I'm delighted that they are happy to adopt some minor shotoisms regarding timing and posture. 

But what we really need is about 100 more hours of traning, a mirror and a video camera... and maybe some thumping bass tunes to keep us in time?

chinto. teflon kata. That is all.

Down but not out

As promised the update on my first Wadokai competition reads pretty much as anticipated. Knocked out in the first round. 5:1!

However prepared I was to lose, no-one goes into a fight without a winning attitude so I was mightily pissed off to go out so soon, and having watch a video of  (the last 40 seconds) of the bout, I have to say that I've learnt a lot from this. Sadly, I absolutely deserved to lose. My opponent was faster, more relaxed and more composed that I, I was slow towards the end and my combinations were pretty weak. On the plus side, I lasted the length of the bout, did score 1 point (see my comments below regarding a perfectly good headshot that was disallowed for excessive contact #soreloser). And a few of the gyak points the other figher scored had hit my glove - but fair play to her for getting them scored.

Having watched a lot of fights on the day whilst waiting for mine, (and after my unceremonious exit!) these are my observations;


1. The rules regarding scoring and what actually seems to score do differ when you're on the mat.

Officially attacks to the face with light contact are allowed. However in every ladies match I watched, every successful tap to the face was disallowed or penalised. Both me and my opponent scored one of these each and had them discounted. Whether this is a form of mild sexism or that my idea of light contact and that of the referees is different I'm not sure. But all of the mens matches seemed to be fine with that level of contact to the face.

2. Just because you hit your opponent don't expect to score, as the referees may not see your attack land in the melee.


Both me and my opponent landed attacks that weren't scored and I must have seen a dozen in similar bouts. Better to have good technique and a convincing kiai and be close enough to cause reasonable doubt.


3. Just because your opponent isn't attacking don't stand still!


!


4. Don't get drawn into attacking because it's "all gone quiet over there".


Let them come to you and counter. Most points are scored this way.

I'm pretty sure the above is absolutely obvious to anyone who competes regularly, so apologies for what must be quite a bland blog post for you. For me though it was a brilliant learning experience. I now know I need to push out my guard more and concentrate on body shots if I want to actually score anything.

Whilst the disappointment stings a bit this is a day from which I take pride in the effort, if not the skill, I afforded it. The best part of the day? Watching the other members of my club do us proud. Junaid and Patrick respectivly winning Gold and Silver in their category, and Alex a bronze in the men's kata!

!Keizoku wa chikara nari!

The first rule of Fight Club...

It's just 5 days until the kumite competition and in the last couple of weeks I've tried to ramp up the training to two or three sessions a week. With a full time job and family, finding 6 hours of free time every week just isn't possible, but for a short period running up to a competition it's just about manageable.

Having focussed very heavily on sparring practice in almost every session, and having an average of 1:3 win to lose, I'm resigned to the possibility that luck rather than technique will get me through my bouts. I know I'm not really ready to compete, but at the same time if I don't do it now it'll be come something I avoid, so I am officially "in the squad" for the foreseeable. If there are any opponents reading this, here's a few pointers: I'm pretty slow and static, won't be throwing any three point kicks, and rely quite heavily on an ashi barai, gyak combo!

My total immersion in Wado and Leicester Karate Association is nearly complete; I'm really please that Sensei Chand has raised the profile of the association by affiliating with Aiwakai and the EKF which gives us greater access to training and competition opportunities, as well as attracting new blood. I've somehow managed to become the media officer for LK too and am now managing the social networking output (twitter and facebook) to try to keep everyone informed of upcoming events.

Last Sunday was our first Black Belt club and a chance to stop fighting for a couple of hours and practice kata - Wanshu and Niseishi - both of which I really like - unfortunately I still need to pin down the pinans and crack Kushanku before learning Chinto and improving my Seishan if I want to grade for 2nd Dan at the end of the year. 

All in all a very busy few weeks for me as lesson by lesson I unlearn Shotokan and become a Wadokai karateka. Watashi no kouun wo inotte kudasai.

That New Year Spirit

Happy New Year!

Whilst I wouldn't say I ended 2010 on a downer, there was a definite low-ebb in my pre-christmas post about my achievements versus my karate self-image. If you leave the Martial Arts in the first couple of years after getting your black belt - you leave on a high. Returning after several years,or even decades can be a tough choice - and re-learning the basics, or facing up to the truth that you can't do that jodan ushiro-mawash any more can be hard.

But after a short break I've come back fighting - literally! On the 30th of this month the Hon Yoso Kai Tournament takes place, an invitational competition for Wadokai practicioners from around the country, and I'm competing. In kumite.

I'm not under any pretentions that I could medal or even necesarily survive the opening round,but it's given me a purpose and something to focus on. Each class is focussed on kumite now until the big day so I can "forget" kata and kihon for a few weeks and really try to improve in one area, competition sparring.

I think, just like Lewis and his belts, I need some milestones to help me along the path. I may be bruised and battered, but I'm having fun again!

Updates (if I survive) after the competition.

Until then, Tanoshinde!