Class led by Merv. Stretch and then test prep class (because test next week). Kihon, ippon kumite, sanbon kumite, taikyoko shodan, favorite kata (heian godan), rank kata (basai). Finished with personal study on our kata (heian godan and basai for me).

Class led by John. Stretch and kihon. A little bit of focus on chaining maegeri/mwashigeri, maegeri/yokogeri kokome, and gyakuzuki/gyakuzuki/maegeri. Several times through Heian Yodan with some discusion of possible practicle applications of the techniques. A few times or so through Enpi.

Class led by Fred. I forgot that Wednesday class still starts at 6:30 (not 7 like Mondays) so I was late. Joined in at tail end of kihon (yokogeri kokome, mikazukigeri, and fumikomi). We then worked on uraken, first solo, then with partners with shields, then ippon kumite. Next was some light jiyu kumite, and we finished with 10 Heian Yodan.

Class led by Merv. Stretch followed by 100 yoko geri kokome (side thrust kicks), then 100 uraken yoko geri kokome combos. We then roated through several partners of slow, controlled jiyu kumite, and we finished with 10 or so Enpi.

Class led by Merv (I led stretch warm up). We went through nidan kihon to start with and then spent most the rest of the class on jiyu kumite at roughly 75% speed, give or take. We finished with looking at a few of the self defense applications or bunkai for heian sandan techniques.

Class led by Merv. He asked me to lead warm up, first, and then we moved into kihon, once down and back for each technique (i.e. 20 reps). We then went once through all the heian kata, teki, basai, and kanku (which I need to review and practice). Next was a few rounds of ippon kumite, sanbon kumite, and jiyu kumite. We then returned to another 20 times through heian sandon to finish off class.

Class led by Merv (at his invitation, I led stretch). The focus was on some of the technique needed for the shodan test. We started with an extended look at jyu ippon kumite. As the attacker, we worked on a good oitsuki attack including a leaping and shuffle-to-leaping distance closer emphasising a strong forward knee lift. As defender, we worked on slipping the attack with mai te counter or block the attack and gyaku tsuki counter. We next looked at jyu kumite technique, working on Merv's favorite "fence post" guard and driving in with mai te, gyaku tsuki (with the lead hand back in fence post position), and later added a round punch as a third technique.

Class led by Blaine. Stretch followed by two times of each Heian kata, then a focus session on Heian Nidan ending with 10 more times on it. We then worked on some attack combos and finished with a small mock jiyu kumite tournament (in prep for nisei week, I think).

Class led by Merv. I led the stretch. We then worked on oizuki, followed by a focus on kokutsodachi (back stance) and making a minimal shift offline when defending and countering.

Class led by Blaine. Stretch, followed by focus on oi tsuki and heian shodan (a couple of this month's focus items).

Class led by Merv. Stretch. Basic kihon with counter attacks. Sanpon and Ippon kumite. More, but I forgot to log it right away and don't recall any longer.

Class led by Merv. Stretch followed by focus session on yoko geri kokome, first practicing slow, then doing 100 regular from kibidachi. We then worked through the nidan combinations, repeating each 50 times (mai geri / yoko geri kokome, mai geri / mawashi geri, mai geri / mai te, oi tsuki / mai geri, mai geri / fumakomi). Next we studied the standing mai te / uchi uki in Basai and worked with partners to apply the short twisting block. We finished with four times through Basai.

Class led by Merv. Stretch and 100 each of kihon block with reverse punch counter. Ippon kumite with a focus on sliding just off the line of attack and countering with gyaku zuki. Also worked knife hand block with gyaku nukite or nipon/gyaku-nukite or nipon/maegerri/nukite counter.

First part of class led by Blaine, stretch and Basai. John took over and we went through some kihone, block/attack combos, and multi-attack combos, then Heian Godan and Tekki Shodan.

Class led by Carolyn (warmup by ?). We went over how to fall well, led by ?, doing straight back falls, falls to the side, and forward rolls. I was then I was asked to lead a couple other students in reviewing Heian Godan, which was the remainder of the time.

Class led by John, though I was asked to lead warm-up. We went through practice tests twice, going through kihon, kata, ippon kumite and sanpon kumite.

Class led by Stewart Sensei. Kihon oizuki and maegeri keage. Kata Heian Sandan approx 15 times, Kata Enpi approx 10 times. Machinegun drill (also referred to as being “in the pit”) with attacker moving in with jodan oizuki and defender making chudan gyaku zuki with jodan deflection permitted.

I attended the Saturday session led by special guest Godan James Uyeda Sensei. The entire session had a focus on irimi, the concept of moving directly into an attack with your own attack. It is similar to sen sen no sen (preemptive attack that may include evasive movement and additional “counter attacks”), but more direct in that it, in some way, ignores the opponents attack and moves directly in as if into the eye of a storm. There was also some tangential discussion of sen no sen (block and counter at the same time), including a thought that we should be teaching that from the start and not even bothering with the more basic go no sen (block, then counter) which just builds bad habits and ineffective timing.