Mr. Dennis Nelson, V Dan from
Casper was Black Belt Instructor for April. He had the Black Belts
and a couple of red belts working on everything from sparring to flying
kicks to breaking and patterns. What a great day!
Mrs. McDill gave an update on
Mr. Sisco's recovery from hip replacement surgery last Friday. Sounds
like he's doing great! He was up and walking with assistance on Saturday,
and on Sunday morning was getting around on crutches. He should be
home on Tuesday. All the best, Mr. Sisco!
A few exercises to loosen up the
joints, and then on with the sparring gear. In two lines facing each
other, bow to your training partner, fighting stance. The drill started
with one-minute rounds, hands only to attack - it was okay to use
feet/legs for blocking. A minute went quickly! Then one line moved
down to the next sparring partner and we were right back at it again.
After a few rounds of 'hands only', the next instructions were 'feet
only' for several rounds. Next came 30 second rounds, hands and feet
both, with instructions to get in at least three jumping or flying
techniques during the 30 seconds. Then pick up the pace...15 second
rounds. No time to dance! Everyone had to get to it immediately, no
waiting, just get in the air and get busy.
After everyone had fought each
person in the other line (plus one or two rounds), we broke up into
groups by rank and worked on jump kicks with target pads, concentrating
on current testing kicks. Suggestions: breath control, relax the upper
body, knees up, load the kick, position the body properly for the
kicks being performed. Multiple kicks - don't wait until you're at
the top of the jump to start kicking. Position the pads so that your
first kick is on the way up. Kick the target, not just at it, extend
the kicking leg, tuck, see the target.
Continuing in our groups, we rotated
into breaking the rebreakables, and working on patterns.
Patterns by count, working on
correct technique, i.e. proper level, proper line, good stances, correct
facing. When jumping into an X-stance, strike on the first foot landing.
Know the name of each technique you are executing.
Breaking: instructions were to
set up the break (number/color of boards), set the height, step back
into a stance, ki-yap, and break. Finish in a stance with a ki-yap.
No measure, we should know our distance and know where to stand. No
long pause to think. Just stance, break, fininsh. Mr. Nelson stressed
that today we weren't looking for massive breaks, just one colored
board was fine. But he was looking for us to set up and make each
break quickly without any wasted time or fussing around. Hand breaks,
foot breaks, flying, midair, both sides. What a great time!
We closed class with Mr. Fay's
birthday gauntlet...it must have been his lucky day because he got
to run twice!
Testing in Rock Springs on the
19th...see you there!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wyoming Black Belt Class, April 6,
2008
|
Click here to
see BB Class Archives