2025
2025-01-06
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
Last night’s class was the first of the new year. We went over kata and wrist-grab escapes from kata in the youth class. Then, in the adult class, we spent some time on basics and kata before starting to work on kumite drills (as usual), which is where I diverged onto a tangent about focus.
Several students were dropping their hands, becoming disconnected from their partners, fidgeting with uniforms, or scratching itches and fiddling with their hair during kumite drills.
Nope.
I explained that how you practice is how you perform. If you let yourself get distracted during practice, you’ll do the same if you ever have to use your skills “for real.” I explained that it’s a question of remembering what’s important. Your itchy nose isn’t the enemy … the enemy is the enemy. Keep your focus. Stay connected. Pay attention. Just like texting while driving, forgetting what’s important and not paying attention can get you seriously hurt, or worse.
2025-02-05
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
Thanks so much to Sensei Dave Bracklow of ISKF Tempe and Sensei Barry O’Brien for covering my classes while my wife and I were in Thailand for two weeks of teaching English and a week of vacation. All the students seemed happy to see me. Maybe they miss me, but maybe my subs were just working them extra hard while I was gone. I’m good either way. I had one student demonstrate a remarkable increase in speed since I left. I really don’t care how they improve, so long as they improve.
We have a rank exam coming up on February 19, so I went through everyone’s attendance cards and let them know who’s definitely eligible and who’s potentially eligible if they don’t miss class between now and then.
2025-02-10
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
We’re having a bit of trouble with distance, so I’ve come up with a new analogy that I’ll probably expand in a full blog post but here’s a bite-sized version: I tell the students to think about getting ketchup out of the fridge. Importantly, they can’t reach the ketchup if their hand never goes inside the fridge. Punching is the same way. If they stop their punch short of the target, they’ll never really hit the target. The target is the fridge, and the ketchup is inside, so you need to be at the right distance to reach inside the fridge if you ever want to get the ketchup. It sounds like a silly analogy, but everyone, young and old, understood. The analogy also works for foot position but that’s a story for another day.
2025-02-12
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
I threw some new kihon combinations at the students tonight, the most challenging of which were:
- Starting left foot forward with right hand out: Kizami-zuki, then gyaku-zuki, then stepping forward with rear-leg mae-geri keage, before landing with gyaku-zuki.
- Same as above, but with mawashi-geri instead of mae-geri.
In working on these combinations, there were two main issues:
- The final punch was happening after the kicking foot landed (instead of at the same time).
- Students were letting their hands “wander” during the kick instead of leaving them in position from the reverse punch.
The first was easy to identify and easy for most people to fix. Just punch earlier! The second was a bit harder because it’s very natural for people to move their hands when they kick. There’s a primal fear of falling, shared by all mammals, that’s very hard to overcome. So rather than overcome it, it’s best to avoid it. How? By improving your balance. If you don’t feel off balance while kicking, you won’t be afraid of falling. And if you’re not afraid of falling there’s no need to flail your arms for balance. So what’s the solution? I recommend slow kicking practice, emphasizing good balance and muscle
2025-02-17
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
I made a mistake. More specifically, I made an assumption. Not only did it make a you-know-what out of me, but it almost ended up getting me knocked on my you-know-what. Here’s the setup:
We were working on Heian Nidan. Students were running through it as I walked around the class making corrections. There was a student coming towards me, and he’d just completed the spear-hand thrust with a kiai (move #11).
I knew that this student’s next move was a 270° counterclockwise turn and a step forward, so I assumed I was perfectly safe standing right where I was. Unfortunately, the student coming at me got this kata confused with Heian Sandan, and followed the spear-hand thrust with a spinning horizontal hammer-fist strike in kiba dachi … right into me.
No harm; no foul, and we all had a good laugh.
Lesson learned: Do not assume students are going to perform kata correctly, or even perform the correct kata, even if that means looking right at you as they smash into you. 🤷
2025-02-19
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
I had a small kyu grading this evening, so I was compelled to give my spiel about testing. Karate testing isn’t like testing in school, where you’re somehow “behind” if you don’t take the same test on the same day as everyone else in your “grade.” Karate testing is more like testing for your driver’s license: You need to have a minimum number of hours “behind the wheel” to be eligible for the test, so:
- If you do not meet the minimum requirement, you cannot take the test. (I’m not saying I don’t make exceptions, but it’s up to students to advocate for themselves) and,
- Just because you meet the minimum requirement doesn’t mean you should take the test. You should wait until you’re ready.
Just the same, I think the test went well and was certainly a positive experience for everyone who participated. As usual, results will be announced on Monday.