Saturday – local tournament, five students from my kids class were entered. All did well, one got gold for kata and kumite which is a pretty hard to beat outcome. Spent time just observing, thinking about the opinions expressed in the forum recently about tournament kata. Saw a lot of seemingly average, everyday people being pushed far out of their comfort zones to compete, good for them and good for their karate. Saw some very fine kata (of a type). But… sigh… I got frustrated with the rigidity and clone-like repetition. No flow, no flow. I just don’t see things the way I used to. The kumite is actually worse. I’d like to see an event where no points could be awarded for reverse stomach-punches.
Afternoon – lagoon walk, very stormy, just wonderful.
Sunday – Grading day. Had five kids at the first grading and three adults in the second, all passed. One of my adult students has a mild intellectual disablity (no this is not a prerequisite:) ). He has been training for years, very dedicated, twice a week unless he runs out of money – and it was a huge milestone for him to get his 5th kyu.
Monday – Physio, more seat belt strap fun. He doesn’t want me training hard yet but I’m getting antsy. Ben and I set up the weight bench properly at last so I did some light lifting. Don’t quite know what I’m doing here yet so starting easy to get the muscles used to the whole idea, just 15kg, 30 reps. Then kata.
Good for your student and for you as the teacher!
Once yours eyes are opened they cannot be closed again — sorry.
Yes, I was pleased with how everyone did, especially as I haven’t worked on it much at all.
I know Rick, can’t go back to what I used to think/be, even though it was a simpler/safer/ more comfortable. I’m not sorry though!