Redding Shotokan Karate

8/6/07 (Monday)

There are nights you feel great (!) after practice and many other nights you feel discouraged or frustrated with your progress. Well, last night was a good one, maybe one of the best dojo practices for me in years. That means there was great enthusiasm and lots of karate fun.

There were ten of us with a few beginners. I lead the class.
We started out the practice with Taikyoku Shodan as kihon and kata practice. They did it a few times by the numbers for the beginners, senior members with their eyes closed. We may sometimes have to fight in the dark. Senior members tried to feel what was happening around them and tried not to bump each other. Then I counted irregularly - my count was the attack to them. Don't be late. No mental lapse any moment. We then did Taikyoku Nidan and Sandan the same way.

When we all warmed up both physically and mentally, we did ippon kumite with a front kick as defense. Next we did jiyu-kumite, the attacker can make kicks only - any kind of kicks. We had a white belt who had injured his finger in a previous practice. So everyone had to defend with no hands, no blocks, and finish the attacker with enpi only. That was NOT easy, because you need to GET IN to make an effective enpi. I was aware that enpi was not the most realistic counter attack against kicks, but I thought it would be a good hip practice. After a while, we did regular jiyu-kumite with any techniques we liked. It was surprisingly easier after the no-hand, no-block and enpi-only practice! Each of us faced over 10 opponents. We all tried different things, effective or ineffective, and learned many things. I was the only woman and the oldest there, and it was great. Boy, they love kumite!