Down to two

Well, it’s now down to two of us.  Little D was a little too young to keep focus during karate classes.  We’ve decided to forgo karate for him until he is a little older.  I think it was a combination of his age and the behavior of those in the little kids karate program.  Little D is at the age where he is immediately influenced by the behavior of others.  Unfortunately the other little boys in his class misbehave an awful lot during class and Little D can’t seem to resist the temptation.  Funny how when those boys aren’t in class, he behaves perfectly.  Oh well, at least when we decide the time is right he’ll be old enough to enter the youth program his brother attends.  DH also said he might be ready to join in the fun, so that would be a benefit.  For now me and Big D will continue towards our goal.

 Looking forward to this week.  Grappling day is Tuesday.  So far grappling is one of my favorite activities.  We’ll see how I do as I tweaked my shoulder a bit putting up some blinds this week.  Kata is Thursday, and I think I have pinan 1 down.  Hopefully we’ll take it through again as we have two new people in the class, and I need to get some more practice.

I did get a new gi last week.  My old one has threadbare knees.  The new one is a standard gi instead of a pullover.  I think I prefer this one.  I had to sew on the school patch, which is a bit of a challenge for me as I have no talent for sewing… anything!  I decided to use Patch Attach and it worked well.  We’ll see how it holds up to washing.

You should see the other guy…

I’m looking (and feeling) a little bruised and battered today.  Yesterday was my first experience with grappling.  I guess the point really is to get the other person on the ground and incapacitated before it happens to you.  My uke was a black belt assistant instructor.  At first I was a bit worried as I haven’t done any sort of wrestling, unless of course you count getting away from my brother when he had me pinned on the ground.  We were given a brief overview and it was ready, set, go.  Lucky for me, my uke could clearly see I’m a white belt and helped me through the first few tries.  Then I began to get the hang of it.  I realized that I’m at least as strong as she is, and have to use what little I know to get her down and pinned.  Guess what – it worked!  Now I do understand that she was going easy on me, the poor dumb white belt, but she did say that I was doing really well.  Once I was able to take her to the mat, I put all of my 150 lbs. down on her chest and used my forearm to pin her head down along the jaw line.  The next time I did the same takedown, only once I had her pinned I locked my arms around hers so she couldn’t move or get up.  Sweet!  Not perfect, but pretty good for the first day!  I do need to work on my leaning forward.  I’m sure if my uke weren’t so nice, she’s have taken me down in two seconds flat because I tended to lean forward and lose my center.  It appears that involuntarily grappling with my big brother did help me in my first attempt at grappling in the dojo.  Oh, and I got another orange tip

 The aftermath of grappling day is becoming quite clear – or black and blue.  I got a nice quarter-sized bruise on my left pinkie knuckle, a decent-size bruise on my right forearm, and have no skin left on the top of my middle toes on both feet.  That’s just what is visible, the underlying pain is in all my muscles and joints.  This assures me that I did indeed get a good workout.  Even with the minor injuries and residual soreness, it was totally worth it and I’m looking forward to the next grappling session on July 10th!

P.S.  My curved body shield arrived today.  It looks like Big D, Little D, and mom can now practice our kicks at home.  Of course they were kicking it before I even got it out of the box.  You gotta’ love their enthusiasm!

Sparring

Today was sparring day.  It was nice for us newbies because none of the black or brown belts got geared up so we all got to learn some offensive sparring techniques.  I have to say, I really love putting the combinations together.  We focused mostly on kicking with a follow-up strike.  I got in a really good roundhouse kick that made the pad thwack!  Everyone stopped at that one.  I didn’t think I’d like sparring in the beginning because I’d undoubtedly be going up against someone with more experience and end up defending myself most of the time.  Now that I’m learning some solid techniques, I’m thinking sparring might actually be my favorite part.  It will give me the opportunity to apply those techniques.  We don’t do competition sparring where each time a point is earned, the fight stops.  We continue sparring as this is how it would be in a real self-defense situation.  I guess I better get my sparring gear so I can start sparring for real!

Really getting into this

When the three of us (Big D, Little D, and me) started karate I thought they might get bored after a few classes and quit.  On the contrary, they love it and get excited when it’s time to put on the gi and head to class.  Both are doing so well and I’m even seeing behavior improvements at home.  I must admit it is also a useful tool when they don’t do what they’re supposed to – “clean up your room, or no more karate!”

I too am really getting into this karate thing.  It’s a good physical and mental workout.  Now if I could just get DH (Dear Husband) to join, I’d have someone to try out my new skills on!

Self Defense Day

Today was self defense day in karate class.  I’m getting the movements down pretty good from watching the DVD they give you for each belt and of course practicing.  I do pretty well with the blocking and following up with a strike or two.  Today they wanted us to do a parry drill, which is where you stand face to face with your partner and they punch, you block, you punch, they block.  It looks kind of like a complicated patty cake, patty cake.  Remember I said not to long ago, I can’t have someone stand in front of me and then mimic what they do?  Yeah, that’s still true.  I felt like an idiot!  Luckily they figured out that I suck at that and we soon moved on to something else.  We worked on getting out of wrist, forearm, and shoulder holds, and also breaking a bear hug and taking the person down.  It was the first time I actually got to throw someone (although gently) to the floor.  Fun!  I thought today was combinations day, but self defense day included combinations too.  I got another orange tip today – that makes two!  Big D also has two.  We also got another new person, so I’m not the lowest ranking student anymore.  That is going to be nice for a change.  Little D goes to tiny tigers tonight, so that should be fun.  Hopefully that family from hell those nice folks from last night will find somewhere else to go  

WARNING: I’m going to vent now!

Okay, I know this blog is supposed to be about karate, but this is somewhat karate related.  I took Big D (my older son) to karate last night and watched from the back of the dojo like a good karate mommy.  All of a suddent the back door flies open and a heard of people trail in behind a little girl in her gi and orange belt.  There were six adults and four kids.  Now the back of the dojo is small anyway, but with this clan, and all the toys the kids brought with them, it was overcrowded.  I figured once the class started, they’d quiet down and watch like everyone else.  I was wrong!  They wouldn’t shut up the whole damn time!  The kids were running around, screaming, bumping into people, while the parents ignored them and talked loudly.  It was so loud I couldn’t hear what was happening on the mat.  Sensei even had to tell them mutliple times to be quiet.  My question is what the hell is wrong with people!!??  They supposedly came to watch their little karate family member be tested for her orange belt, but couldn’t shut up long enough to pay attention.  No only that, but they annoyed everyone else around them in the process.  What ever happened to common courtesy?  They could clearly see there was a class going on and others trying to watch their own children.  If that wasn’t enough, why did Sensei (the owner, teacher, 3rd degree black belt) have to tell them more than once to shut up.  I wanted to say something, but didn’t want to cause any more commotion, so I didn’t.  I hope this was just a one-time visit by the “loudmouths”  – next time I won’t be so nice!  (done venting now)

Kata

Today’s class was focusing on the first kata, Pinan Shodan.  So far this is my least favorite part of karate.   It is difficult for me to watch someone facing me do the kata, and mimick what they’re doing.  I’m one of those spatially challenged people who doesn’t do well with floor plans – Give me pictures!  I think it would be best to have someone beside or at least facing the same direction as me.  It would also be good to break each move of the kata down to its smallest denominator.  There is footwork, hand position, stance, and speed.  It’s hard for this newbie to get it all together let alone do each part correctly.  Just let me get the footwork down before you complain about my blocks and strikes.  I know I’m just starting, but I have these expectations of myself that I’ll get these things down quickly.  It ain’t happenin’.  I’m not complaining, it is still great – just not my favorite part.  My favorite part so far is combinations.  More about that on Thursday…

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog.  This blog is not meant to teach karate or give advice, it is more of a tool for me to track my progress and maybe inspire others out there to give their interests and dreams a chance.  If you feel like posting a comment, please be courteous and supportive to others.  Foul or abusive language will not be tolerated. 

My current status is a white belt in Okinawan Kenpo Karate.  I’ve been to four classes and have one orange tip.  I’m expecting another tip this week.  After all, I’ve got to keep up with my kids, who both have a tip too!  Wish me luck as I begin my journey to Destination Black Belt!