2025-08-20

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

Last night’s class continued to work towards free sparring, using the drills explained above, and culminating in partners executing any two-technique combination they want while defenders avoided the attacks and made a counterattack of their own. Over the course of the evening, I had two little talks with students.

1. Mistakes Happen - Someone got zapped in the nose. It wasn’t hard - just enough to bend the tip of the nose a bit. The attacker didn’t mean to do it. The defender didn’t mean to get hit. It turned into more than it needed to be, so we talked about it a bit. Mistakes happen. You’re going to get hit in karate, but how you react to that (both as the “hitter” and the one being hit) is part of what karate teaches us. Mental and physical toughness are skills that need to be practiced like any other.

2. Go For the Doggie Treat - This will likely prompt a longer blog post, but the short version is this: As the defender, the counterattack you throw should be your “doggie treat.” You should look forward to it and execute it with the same enthusiasm a dog uses when devouring a treat. Yes, it’s important to block well, but the real “treat” is ending the confrontation by stopping the attacker cold.

Of course, those are somewhat opposed to each other, aren’t they? The more enthusiastic your counterattack, the more likely it is to accidentally hurt someone. But the opposite is also true: There’s a point at which too much concern for not hurting your partner leads to habitualizing weak and ineffective technique. As with all things, it’s a bit of a trade-off.