Last night was one of those nights where certain things were just off. I hate leaving class frustrated but last night I did. Since the “tornado” plans to spar at the tournament and so does sabum that’s part of what we worked on again. His powers continue to grow and he’s becoming harder and harder to keep in check. This makes it doubly sad that we will pull the plug on the school. This is also why he will be strongly encouraged to continue in taekwondo or karate somewhere!
Anyhow, he’s starting to get rhythm, has stopped charging, and is now angle-stepping or pivoting off a straight-line attack. All of this came together last night when both sabum and I sparred him. She sparred him in a continuous match and mine was *supposed* to be stop-action point (sabum wants me undamaged for the BB test). Well my match degraded into continious.
Yes we got yelled at afterwards.
Boys will be boys!
Quote of the night: “Well you’re the idiot that taught him half of that!”
Said to me by sabum as we discussed how hard tornado was becoming to keep in check.
After all of that I decided to try my test breaks for the tournament. I must say I failed miserably. My inside crescent speed break lacks the velocity to pull off a legit speed break. I did break two solid with the same technique at my school black belt test but that was with two holders. It’s a totally different break when the board is just dangling in the air. All I did last night was give the people holding the blanket good practice in catching and ducking.
My board toss punch (version 2) is even worse than version 1. In version 1I toss the board with the same hand and snap out with a jab. The problem is my success rate is about 1 in 3. Well I couldn’t even break the damn board with version 2. In version 2 I toss with the left and attempt a reverse punch with the opposite hand. Again: Another speed break that lacks speed. And my fist is bruised to hell and is also very sore.
Sabum commented that my jab is like her hook kicks: Very fast. You can actually hear her foot swish the air when she gets close to your head with it. It is definitely her kick. Well the jab has always been my go-to punch. It’s pretty fast-even for an old fart like me!-which explains why I can break when I hit. I’ve also done it so many times that I’m totally relaxed and never even have to think about it. Two more reasons I can usually break stuff with it.
Anyhow, if I break at the tournament I have to rethink it all. I don’t want to repeat breaks I’ve done before and I also want to do some that will be somewhat impressive. Yet, I don’t want to injure myself this close to the cho dan test! Here’s what I cooked up last night on the drive home:
- Keeping the hammer fist break on four solid boards (no spacers)
- Round kick on two solid (two people holding) using flat of foot
- With one holder dangling the board maybe a non-chambered jab break
The last two would be new. I’m sure I can pull off the jab if a holder is dangling the board. The round kick is a question mark and semi-risky. I could break with the ball of my foot but that’s boring. If I can pull it off with the flat of my foot I’ll get points for difficulty. I’ve broken one with the flat just screwing around. We’ll see about two. I’m also trying to not have have to buy a lot of wood here. At a tournament you get two tries so you have to bring the double the wood in case your first break fails. Consequently things can get expense.
If all of these fail I can resurrect my axe kick–maybe a stack of at least five with spacers? The thing is I get two events for my entry fee. Besides competing in weapons I need to do one other thing.
Sparring I’m still staying away from. At my age and rank there will likely be nobody comparable to fight. So I’ll either end up having to fight guys half my age at 1st gup – black belt. Or, they’ll just put me in with the black belts which means if they are my age they probably will be masters.
Either way I’m screwed and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Pretty much every sparring class is me fighting people almost half my age. In fact, I prove weekly that I have “indomitable spirit” so I’ve got nothing to gain by taking yet another Bruce Willis-style beat-down in a tournament. Yeah I *might* win a few matches but at what cost?
Besides all this we are now devoting time to preparing me for the Cho Dan test. Last night we picked which one-steps and self-defense steps we’ll demonstrate. Other schools/accrediting bodies may do it differently. This is how we do it: School black belt test where you are tested on EVERYTHING. This is a very long test and took about two hours. If you pass that test you get the school black belt and move on to the cho dan test in front of the masters. Test two is about an hour and you are not re-tested on everything. You do have to demonstrate all forms and all fundamentals for the rank your testing on. You also showcase a few wood breaks and have to break one slab of concrete per your dan rank. (e.g. testing for 3rd dan means three slabs etc.) You also have to spar but it’s really just a demo. At the school test you spar two opponents and it’s not a demo. In fact, they are purposely hunting for you which made things very hard.
On the one-steps and self-defense steps you get to pick five of each. First, it saves time because the masters are judging a large group of black belts from multiple schools. Second, the goal here is to make the five very polished. So, rather than doing all adequately. You have to demonstrate five and make them look exceptional. Two very different animals for sure.
You also are required to do two “specialty kicks” where you kick a pencil out of your partner’s mouth. You also have to kick a cup off their head. We tried both last night without a problem so at least I have that stupid human trick down!
Anyhow, all I know is that once again I’m sore as hell so until next week: That’s a wrap!
~BCP
