Sempai Kris had a class full during beginners with only one beginner. So Sempai Scott took the new student to the back and taught her blocks. New students get a one on one with a Sempai to learn basic techniques. Sometimes it takes more than one class period to get it all in. So Sempai Kris had two orange belts, two blue belts and a black belt in her class. She asked us what we wanted to work on, I said Bo Kata, and all she heard was kata. Oh well , since I was the only one who said anything, I won.
First was Kihon, same as every class. This time we did it with out eyes closed! I think I did alright with punches and blocks but my kicking was less than graceful. Sempai said that being blind while doing Kihon would help with balance and keeping our backs straight. She also went on to say that kyokushin was about pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone. We are all comfortable in the dojo, doing Kihon, watching ourselves and the upper belts in the mirror, but being blind would get us out of the comfort zone, forcing us to adapt. Being able to adapt will make us better fighters.
After we did katas , Taikioko ichi, taikioko san and then sigogi ichi. Sigogi Ichi had a twist. I love twists. For every kick, you must hold your leg out for three seconds. Try to keep your spine lined up with your standing leg. Try to forget about the leg that is kicking. For the Mae Geri Keage Jodan (front snap kick to the head), the kicks had to be as high as you could hold it. For example, you can't hold a kick to the head at head level for three seconds with out your foot coming down, so instead kick chudan (middle) where you can keep your leg.
At first I was falling over a bit with the side kick. I was concentrating on my kicking leg. I would lean away from leg. But when I lined up my back and forgot the leg, I was steady, even when I was kicking from a turn.
We took an hour break (jujitsu was cancelled) and then it was sabaki class. We started practicing our spining back kicks, then crescent kicks and the we practiced our spinning hook kicks . Then it was a combination of spinning back kick, round house to the head and a cross over step hook kick. Shihan looked at me during a cross step hook kick and said that I did it perfectly. Sometimes a girl needs those pats on the backs, those are really hard to do.
Then we learned tornado kicks. You start in a fighting stance. The back leg does a crescent kick that spins you around 180. Then you pick up your lead leg knee, while still spinning, and jump up, and doing another crescent kick with the back leg. Awesome. I might have gotten a few right but defiantly need to work on it.
Last Wednesday we had a "traditional class' where it was two hours long and we covered everything, including sparring and kata during that one class. The class had lots of women and children and only two men. These men happen to be very strong fighters. I am also a pretty strong fighter, I may not be the best woman fighter (Sempai Kris O'Conner) but I think I am the strongest woman fighter. So the night was pretty easy. I sparred gently, focusing on technique rather than power. I only had two tough rounds that night and liked it that way.
Tonight was somewhat different. It was a ususual class, people of all abilities. There was an odd number, so shihan had me sit out the first round. I went in the second round with Sensei Dillion who could have hit me in the head had he wanted to. He threw a good fake that turned into a round kick right to my head. He should have kicked me but pulled it instead of contact. Then I did 5 more rounds, all with the strongest fighters in the place. I know it is good for me, but dang couldn't I have gotton a junior in the middle?
When I got to Ryan, my Ryan who doesn't like to hit girls, so we spar easy, he forgot I was a girl. The first time I ever sparred him I did like I did all the men. But he never hit me hard so I stopped hitting him hard. I do have to say it was the best fight in the night though. We had some back and forth that was really nice. I have to work on my round house kicks. I keep throwing them to the side and I am going to get an elbow to my ankle one of these days. I need to practice high and low and stop the in between. I asked Ryan why he started hitting me, he told me it was because I was gonna hurt him and he might as well hurt me back. Love ya Ryan!
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