I got in late by my standard (five minutes till) and no one was there. Which always leads me to think that I may have gone on the wrong day or they had a holiday and neglected to mention that to me. However, I had a text chat with Sensei and knew that everyone should be there.
Before we got started a very muscular man came in with his 6 or 7 year old son. I didn't get to chat because we started to line up pretty quick, but before Sensei rushed in I overheard him talking to his son. It was along the lines of "I know you don't want to come sometimes; I know it's fun when your brother is here; sometime we have to keep coming to build on things...". I was impressed because this was a very big man. The kind I associate with brash, over the top personalities that come with steroid laden work outs and gold chains. However, this guy was extremely mild and obviously a thoughtful and caring parent. So point to him for breaking my mental stereotype.
Although his son seemed hesitant and shy, he opened up nicely during the class and participated fully during the class. Sensei does work with the kids very well.
After bow-in Sensei grabbed me and we went through Chattan Yata (the staff kata) again. So much for my warm up! He fine tuned six areas that had fallen off in my practice and then I literally spend the next forty minutes practicing the kata and getting those pieces he mentioned back in alignment.
This got me to thinking. Of all the practice I do - over time I manage to lose components of kata and technique regularly. I remember all the forgotten stuff as soon as it's pointed out, but my memory apparently can hold so much if it's not constantly being reemphasized. To test this I was trying to do some of my old TSD katas this morning and for the most part they are only living as pieces. I'm sure I could relearn without too much effort, but I assume my focus should only be on the task at hand.
The last ten minutes of class was spent on wrist locks! Finally something I could do with some confidence. As I assumed - there are only so many variations on a theme, but always something done a little different. I definitely brought a bunch more then they were teaching and they were okay with that.
The way I was taught:
- grab same side wrist with thumb up
- grab same side wrist with thumb down
- grab opposite side with thumb up
- grab opposite side with thumb down (kinda dumb, but you need to know how to get out of stuff)
In each of those there should be an escape and or a lead in to capture and lock. Shudokan (or whoever donated these techniques) allows for rotation in a grip where TSD does not. Both are effective. So I feel like I expanded by personal canon and maybe got a little respect from the gang. Weeee.
The reason it was inauspicious was because I was sweating so profoundly I couldn't believe it. The work with the staff was so completely tiring that I had to periodically stop for a drink of water. My shoulders are screaming today and my neck feels two inches thicker than it should. Nevertheless, it's awesome to be moving again!
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