Secret Sunday Class

No, we did not practise the mystique art of disappearing in a puff of smoke. I just gathered students who are familiar with first and second part of sansho one and I passed on the third part. So now we have quite strong group of people who are familiar with whole sansho one. All we need to do now is practice, practice, practice...

There were some minor accidents, some blood was spilled, someone was hit on the head... Tony - you need to control your stick! That - of course - on top of some fingers hit by jo, which actually is a part of this whole package called sansho one ;-)

Afterwards we had traditional beer and snacks. Generally it was a very nice afternoon...

At Goan Gym

To be brief, we covered shomen uchi irimi nage and kote gaeshi;omote versions. For jo, we reviewed the 2 parts of sansho1.

At Embassy

A summary of Friday’s class is as follows; we carried on with the basics of a shomen uchi attack and systematically went through ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo and yonkyo. At some point we tried shomen uchi ikkyo suwari waza, but most of us did this rather unwillingly due to the discomfort induced on the knees. On a side note, I wonder how many understood the mechanism of yonkyo.

This week's classes

Hi guys!
It's been quite a while since i last posted something here. Usually I just read. Anyway, from Wednesday we have been learning the basics from a shomen uchi attack. But since shomen uchi is a very quick and precise attack, we have been taking baby steps so that we first get used to the idea of shomen uchi. This means we have been doing the techniques starting from a position where uke and tori have their arms raised. Furthermore instead of uke attacking, tori takes the initiative(kinda boring actually, but good for beginners). Of course the ideal situation would be if we had like separate classes for each level, such that everyone can practise and grow with people of equivalent experience. Understandably we are a very young group and it is my hope that in time conditions will improve. So far we have focused on ikkyo,nikyo and sankyo, in each case doing both omote and ura versions. The jo session on Wednesday was a review of the basics from a kesa attack. My head has totally refused to wrap itself around the names of these jo techniques and it looks like i have to show who's the boss.

Seminar photo

This is group photo for May 1st Birankai Kenya seminar.

Friday's Class

We covered several techniques of which some were combinations, from AiHanmi TachiWaza (I remember the following),

• Kaiten Sankyo Omote
• Tenkan Kaiten Sankyo Omote
• Ikkyo (ShomenUchi)
  
• Nikyo-to-Sankyo variant
  
• Tenkan KoteGaeshi
• KokyoHo (from SuwariWaza RyoteDori)

Not much to say today... Until next session!

Wednesday's Class

Piotr Sensei was with us again - thank you again. (He noticed all my bruises - well actually where there were no bruises as the bandages were in abundance - I'm still smiling :) )

We covered techniques that included,

• Tenkan KoteGaeshi
• Tenkan JiuJitsu KoteGaeshi - I finally got to try this one hands on. Cool - though trying it on a hard floor is another story
• Tenkan ShihoNage
• many other Tenkan variants

Weapons was Jo defenses against a Jo Tsuki - variety, variety, variety. What's left is trying to apply, and that's another story.

Well, take care!

(Thanks Sensei for organizing the seminar)

Exams

On Sunday (and a bit on Saturday) there was exam session. Liz, Sarah, Reza and Nick passed 5th kyu Birankai exam. Jason and Ben passed 4th Kyu. Unfortunately Dominic did not meet the requirements. And then Daniel passed 3rd kyu, which I think came as no surprise to all who knew he was an uchi-deshi in Poland for two months.

Congratulations!

Sunday's Class - Seminar Day 3

Firstly, I'd like to thank Piotr Sensei, Mateusz Sensei, and Robert Sensei for taking their time to teach us, point out the finer details, have the patience, and make it fun. Thank you.

I'd also like to thank fellow students for their time, and the opportunity to train - can't do it alone. Congratulations to everyone!

Key points to remember, of which I think I'm the most guilt of :) ,

• less talking
• don't bend forward, feet firmly on ground
  

Regarding the day's techniques - no comment.

Regarding the weapons session - Jo Sansho 1 (parts 1 & 2). We reviewed blocks from Kesa and Shomen; basically components of Sansho. We also had a free sparing with Jo. It's interesting how most of the techniques end up being from Sansho 1, and how they disappear when under pressure! Well, all with time!

Thanks again to everyone - Reza, great meal, Nick, great host!

Saturday's Class - Seminar Day 2

We covered the following techniques, from TachiWaza KatateDori:

• Tenchi Nage (from RyoteDori)
• AiHanmi Nikyo
• AiHanmi Sankyo
• Kaiten Nage

From SuwariWaza

• Shiho Nage (from RyoteDori)

Oh, yes - the fitness exercises. Now these are no joke - simple, fun, but exhausting!

Key points to remember:

• keep foot firmly on ground
• don't bend; keep the back straight

Weapons class at Nick's place was Jo - a review of Sansho 1 and it's concepts such as the gripping, distance, and striking

For those taking the grading on Sunday - all the best!

Friday's Class - Seminar Day 1

I never considered that Ukemis can be done in interesting combinations, and more importantly resemble real life scenarios. Take for example falling down. Normally, induced friction is how one tries to stop oneself from continuing the sliding motion - not a good idea. Now, how about doing a Mae Ukemi and then rolling oneself sideways? Or forward roll then backward roll?

For abdominal exercises, there was the dragging forward and pushing backward. Interesting addition to situps.

We went through several techniques, from TachiWaza KatateDori:

• Ikkyo (continuation from Wednesday's class)
• Kaiten Nage
• Sankyo
• Sankyo from Eri Dori (collar grab)

We learnt about a choke - don't go for the windpipe! From SuwariWaza, a bit of JuJitsu.

Great class!