2022-04-18
2022-04-18, Monday
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
The first class is coming along nicely. Three students showed up - two youths and a father. I still think the 75-minute class may be a bit too long for this group, but part of karate training is mental discipline and focus, so we’ll continue playing the cards we’re dealt for now. Regadless, everyone is making good progress. The father has been having a lot of trouble coordinating his hands for gedan-barai, but he nailed it today, so there were high-fives all around. Everyone worked through oi-zuki, age-uke, and gedan barai before we moved on to spend a significant amount of time on front snap kick. I teach mae-geri keage in three counts: 1) Pull the knee up and point it towards the target. 2) Snap the foot out and back. And 3) Put the foot down. I’m certainly not unique in teaching it this way, but I probably spend more time than most explaining why each count is important and why all three steps have to happen in order. In my experience, moving from three counts to one count prematurely results in a mish-mash of low kicks and goose steps - habits that just need to be unlearned later.
The advanced class was excellent. One black belt showed up, so the time was focused entirely on his needs. We started with reviewing some footwork and limb control before moving on to a review of kata Empi. As I mentioned in my 4/11 update, there’s no consistency with the way different Shotokan organizations perform the footwork on the first four moves, so we spent our time elsewhere. The “signature” sequence in Empi (starting with the age-zuki and ending with the 180° turn and gedan-barai) is repeated three times, so we figured it was worth some study. Current JKA practice after the rising punch is to open the hand and hold it flat before plunging into the downward punch in kosa-dachi, but many organizations still rotate the wrist, as if grasping something. The problem I have is that holding the hand still seems stylized and “flat” while grabbing and pulling leaves the opponent at the wrong distance for the subsequent attack. Therefore, I take the best of both worlds. I move the hand but, rather than grasping, I drive the opponent backward (typically with an eye gouge) so the distance is correct for the dropping punch. I’m always curious to hear how others approach this sequence.
