Monday and Wednesday nights I have karate. Thursdays: CrossFit. Saturdays: Wrestling and Sparring, followed by CrossFit. (I also do the bulk of my blogging on Saturdays.) Tuesdays, leading up to tournaments, I practice with Teri and we video tape what we’re working on. That leaves me only two days a week to practice totally on my own.
Right now, Teri and I are prepping for two tournaments. The Ken Knudson Memorial Tournament in Chicago on Feb. 20 and Rocky’s Tournament in Sugar Grove, Feb. 27. The Chicago tournament was kind of a last minute decision. We originally planned to go. Then, we changed our minds because there is another (closer) tournament in March that we learned about. Later, Teri developed a scheduling conflict with the March tournament and we changed our plans again. So, we were scrambling today to get ourselves together for the tourney this weekend.
Well, I’m scrambling. Teri has a more consistent training schedule, so she can pick up and go whenever she wants. I tend to obsess over a couple of kata for weeks at a time, ignoring the others, until I’m sick of the ones I’m working on. Then, I switch. As a result, sometimes when performing a kata in class, I’ll have to stop in the middle because I’ve totally forgotten what comes next. It’s something I need to think about in the future: how to work tournament kata heavily, while still reviewing and practicing the other stuff.
So, right now, I’m deciding between two kata for competition and my kata confidence is at an all time low. I had thought Sunsu was my best kata. It’s definitely my favorite. After reviewing vids of our practice sessions, I’m thinking I’ve been fooling myself as to how well I do it, however. Teri suggested I do Wansu, since I did it for tournaments last year, and certainly have had plenty of practice.
We went through Wansu a couple times in class last night and Sensei Burrell had much to say on our performance. Most of it was negative and centered around how he expects more of the senior ranks and “you fight as you practice; you practice as you fight.” (Or was it the other way around?) I’m not saying he didn’t have a point. I’m just saying it wasn’t exactly a confidence builder this close to tourney. Here are the choices:
For weapons, I’m laying down my bo for this season. Although, I still love Tokameni, I’ve been performing it for two years. To be honest, I’m just sick of it. I’ve tried playing with the timing and was rewarded with Sensei’s look of horror and gentle reminders to speed up the sections I slowed down (and slow down the portions I tried to speed up). So much for experimentation. I’ve been working on Chantan Yara for a couple months. It’s ugly as heck (at least the way I perform it), but I like it: strong movements, leg checks and I only have to kneel on one knee once.
It’s considered a black belt kata. So I have plenty of time to work on it. I’m thinking I’ll do this for the next couple years. Maybe mix it up with Tokameni, so I don’t get sick of it.
Oh, and here’s the new synchronized kata that BFF Teri and I are working on. The preview image is unfortunate. It really looks better than the image would lead you to believe.
