2024-02-19

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

It was President’s Day today, and none of my youth students came to class. Many of them asked if there would be class, and I gave them the standard answer:

“If the building is open, karate is available to you. Whether or not you choose to take advantage of it is up to you.”

People have different priorities - that’s cool - but it was a bit surprising that nobody came. 🤷

On the other hand, the adult class was surprisingly well attended, so I rewarded them with something a bit different. After our “compulsory” round of warm-up and kihon exercises, we spent the balance of the night going through additional applications from Taikyoku Shodan, Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, and Heian Sandan.

• In Taikyoku Shodan, we went over the standard cross-side wrist escape and punch we normally do for moves #1 and #2. For move #3 we practiced a neck-cranking takedown where, after punching to the head on #2, you grab the chin with the right hand, turn around and use the “downward block” to throw the attacker to the floor.

• In Heian Shodan, we worked the same combinations, followed by the hammerfist strike after the takedown. But we also worked on the application of the hammerfist, itself, against both same-side and cross-side wrist grabs. Then we worked on using the turn after the first kiai as a bit of a hip toss, throwing the attacker counter-clockwise with the “rising block” hooked under the attacker’s left arm.

• In Heian Nidan, we worked the first three techniques as a defense against a right-handed “haymaker” to the head followed by a left-handed jab. Our left hand blocks both the haymaker and the jab while the right hand strikes the face and then the ribs. Finally, we use the bottom-fist strike to pitch the attacker over our left leg, conveniently located to trip the attacker by virtue of being in kokutsu-dachi. Then we worked on using the “cup-and-saucer” into side kick/backfist to escape a lapel grab.

• In Heian Sandan, we only had time to pracice the furi-empi uke and backfist strike against a lunge punch. Next time we’ll go into how to transition into the spinning elbow/close punch combinations at the end of the kata.