2023-02-13
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
We spent the whole class introducing the new students to yakusoku gohon kumite tonight. Granted, after warm-ups and stretching, that’s only about 45 minutes, but it still took a while to “herd the cats” and get all the way through the exercise with both jodan and chudan attacks. It wasn’t that they weren’t “getting it”, per se, but rather that it just takes a while to talk through all the little steps while making sure nobody gets whacked in the head by mistake. Here’s how I broke it down:
- Start by having everyone step forward doing jodan and chudan oi-zuki. That takes care of the attacker’s part.
- Next, have everyone face the mirror in shizen tai and practice stepping backward into zenkutsu-dachi with age-uke. Then repeat with gedan-barai.
- Repeat step 2, but add gyaku-zuki after the block. (At this point, you’re basically doing the defender’s part of yakusoku ippon kumite. I do this to help them later when they learn that sanbon and ippon kumite are really the same drill.
- Now have them step back and block five times before adding the reverse punch.
- Finally, put them in front of a partner and review the “etiquette” of the drill: Setting the correct distance, announcing the attack, etc.
In other news, I’m planning to give my senior student her 8th-kyu exam on Wednesday night.
