2022-11-29

Subbing for ISKF Tempe at the Tempe Family YMCA.

I worked the class hard on kihon tonight, but spent a bit of extra time when it came to moving in kokutsu dachi. Whether to pivot on the heel or the ball of the foot tends to be a subject of much debate, but I tend to pivot on my heel in most circumstances. When moving forward in kokutsu dachi, pivoting on the heel makes it easier to avoid over-rotating the foot that ends up in back, making sure that its angle with the front foot is no greater than 90°. When moving backward, many students were having difficulty knowing when to pivot their back foot so it would end up pointing forward at the end of the step. To fix this, we went back to basics and broke the step down into two counts. At the halfway point, the feet come together (essentially heisoku dachi), so I suggested that students just continue to do what they already know. Rotate the rear foot so that both feet point forward at the halfway point … problem solved.

Moving on to kumite, we began with yakusoku sanbon kumite, then ippon kumite, and finally jiyu ippon kumite, with oi-zuki (jodan and chudan), mae-geri keage, and yoko-geri kekomi. Everyone did pretty well, but I noticed that everyone was looking at me when they made a mistake, so we talked about that a bit. Why look at me? I’m watching, and I already know you made a mistake. More importantly, you already know you made a mistake, so there’s no sense looking at me … just fix it. I describe bowing before and after kata or kumite like flipping a switch. Once that switch is turned on, and until you turn it off again, there are no distractions and no mistakes. Even if you make a mistake … no you didn’t … that’s exactly what you meant to do. If you want to beat yourself up about it, wait until after you bow out. Even then, why beat yourself up? The dojo is where you’re supposed to make your mistakes.