Solo practice, went through all of my Silver Chain requirements (using steel).
Tag: wcos
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I visited with Sal today and he gave me a tour of his dojo space, then we worked through our full requirements. Unfortunately, I forgot my steel, so I had to borrow a boken. During our session, he made note of a few upates that have come up in his working with Head Kaiden Gad.
* The I Move – the technique is explicitly a full chop now in order to be applied against any target (I pointed out that it is still important to tip the blade first during the pull back to make it faster).
* Kata Ich – the forward moving blocks are right neck, left neck, right leg (made simply sweeping down from the left neck block).
* Kata Ni – the final techniques are dragons tail followed by the illusion, where the illusion's head feignt is made as we turn the 180 about face.Additional notes:
* Tradition – he noted that the (relatively) new clearing technique at the end is as we create distance and should not actually target the uke where they stand.
* I would like to discuss the vertical draw cut with the head kaiden further.It was a good session, and good to see his training space for the Redding dojo.
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One on one review of requirements with Brennan (99% steel) this morning. We each had notes and thoughts for the other. His notes directly related to my techniques were:
- On battle stance, make certain to keep the hind elbow up.
- The draw cuts should be performed without bending the torso, particularly the vertical ones, instead using the legs, shoulders and arms.
- Expert blocks (instead of Advanced) include the vertical head blocks as well as two new augmented lower leg blocks (performed by putting the blade tip to the ground – I have some reservations about these and will have to inquire further).
- In the deflections, the 7th and 8th are a jodan flat slap (rather than edge on sweep I had been doing). pointed out a few things for me.
- I need to work on my cutting pattern 4 to cement the pattern and be able to teach it to others.
- The Tradition is now taught with an included clearing sweep/cut when rotating to face opponent at the end (which I had been aware of, and he recommended modifying my older technique to add it).
- I need to improve Kata Ni to be more crisp and concise.
- The opening Akira for Kata San uses two cross steps rather than a shuffle-and-cross-step, and then is followed by simply rotating on the lead (right) foot instead of having to do the stance shift I've been doing.
It was a good session and there were many more things that we discussed in general. I also got a chance to meet his student Patrick last night.
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Second day of the Ravenswood event. For the morning session we started with 15 steel melees and then held 10 bokken melees. For the afternoon, we were down some steel fighters so we began with round-robinned best-of-three steel duals and then held a number of bokken melees, most of them being team scenarios.
Afterward we packed everything back up, including Steven, Elijah and John (from Nevada dojo) helping to load and return the straw bales. -
First day of my Ravenswood Coliseum event. Yesterday Elijah and Michael helped me pick up straw bales from a local rancher and setup our arena, and Sal brought his new structure for our enclosure. We didn’t have enough steel fighters for melees in the morning, so Kaiden David, Ryan E.B. and I round-robinned some steel best-of-three duals and then we moved to bokken melees to include the rest of the present fighters. The afternoon melees included the additional fighters from the bay area, so we started with 10 steel melees, then followed with 10 bokken melees. In the evening, I hosted a feast at my mother’s house.
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I attended the Best of the Best 2014 tournament today, taking 3rd out of the eight competitors present (Steel Wind, Brennan, myself, Kris, David, Sal, Patrick, and Blight, plus Gad fought but was not competing).
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I attended and participated in the 30 minute non-stop battles for both Steel Wind and Patrick today.
I also demonstrated my Cutting Pattern 4 for Kaiden Gad:
* Attacker – Right stance, Thrust (with shuffle), Jumping Tiger 2, Whispering Wind (with short chop to mid torso, rather than short circle), return to defensive stance.
* Defender – Right stance, Right thrust deflection, Left neck block, Cross step back and block right leg, Right decap/torso block, Left neck block, return to defensive stance.
The intent of this cutting pattern is to work on the minimalist thrust block provided by the deflection, and to reinforce good lateral movement around opponents. -
Sal and I journeyed to the Hayward Dojo for their 2014 closing class, held by Head Kaiden Gad. Over the course of the class, I went through my silver chain requirements with PJ, and later with Gad.
Gad had the following notes for me:
– The I Move should be applied against targets other than just the arm in combat,
– I should move further laterally on Musashi for greater safety,
– The thrust when demonstrating Dragons Tail solo should be angled up to catch the falling opponent squarely,
– The Raven should always be demonstrated as a temple/eye cut (though it may be applied against any available target),
– The Shadow should be a double temple attack (not neck),
– Start applying Spike more often, aiming for the middle of the forehead, even if it means asking students to wear additional safety glasses if they’re face guards are inadequate.He also finished instructing me on Kata San:
* Akira, look left, bring right foot forward and then rotate 90 left stepping back with the left and making advanced thrust block, cross-step forward with FC to opponents right torso, 180 left rotate on left foot, bring sword to jodan with an in-place foot change to right stance, spring forward cross stepping with head chop, right right and step out with right performing Crescent Cut, follow through rotating 180 to left stance with FC to opponents right leg, cross step forward with The Illusion.By the Best of the Best (Jan 10) I must craft my Cutting Pattern 4, and I need to remember to invite him to a game of chess at that time, both as part of my silver chain requirements.
Kaiden Gad provided a list of four goals as “my end of year homework” (though with no time stipulation):
– Win the Best of the Best,
– Earn the rank of Black Belt in the WCoS,
– Earn the rank of Silver Chain,
– Grow my new class (to-be) in Portland while continuing to support and lend guidance from afar to Sal and the Redding Dojo.Lastly, I am honored that my student Sal has been granted Honorary Kaidenship to continue the Redding Dojo.
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Final Redding Dojo class of the year, attended by Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Michael and Caleb. I took the class out to an unlit, undeveloped space of land where we did some night training. After a quick stretch, we did requirements, paired by rank and working on light altered terrain. After a break, we did refined strikes, followed by 200 full circle cuts (bokken only), and finished with unarmored parry.
By final tally, Dalton had the highest attendance percentage, followed by Sal and then Steven.
The weather was cool, lower 40’s perhaps, the only light was ambient city light from the sky and periphery (no moon).
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Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah, Dalton, Michael and Caleb. Tonight was a special sparring field trip. We gathered at the Redding Dojo and then traveled to a near by open space that I had identified. We hiked in a short distance with our gear, armored up, and had a total of 60 one on one matches in altered terrain by the light of just three small torches.
Due to the location, Sal and I used bokken tonight. -
Final class at the current Redding Dojo location, attended by Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, and Dalton. Stretch and requirements, myself with Sal. After a break, we started with three circuits through the gamut and doing kneeling advance down the dojo and back, then 200 full circle cuts (Sal and I did 100 iron sword, 100 steel, and I had Steven do 100 steel, the other 100 bokken). While catching our breath, we did a couple lengths of forward cross-steps in stance and a couple lengths backward cross-steps in stance, then a few minutes of moving around the dojo in stance. Next I setup balance 1 and 2, and we finished with a full round of Blind Man’s Boffer.
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I journeyed to the Hayward Dojo with Sal tonight for class led by Gad. I went through all of my requirements with Gad, receiving a few tips and adjustments. Key items were:
– Draw cuts incorporate more rotation/movement of the feet, particularly for the rising/femoral draws to allow the body to open more.
– the Whispering Wind for target is conducted as a disarming technique, applying a short chop/push to the opponents weapon.
– He instructed me on the first 80% of Kata San.Akira, 90 L with Adv thrust block, Lightning, 180 L in jodan, return to defensive stance, deep cross-step with head chop… (only two-ish more moves)
During the second half, Gad went through a variety of tests and competitions to highlight different traits we train for and must be aware of.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah, Dalton, Caleb, and Michael. Stretch and requirements. I instructed Caleb and Michael on The Tradition, and then after requirements did a review of the Tradition with the whole class. After the break, we had one on one sparring and a single melee.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah and Dalton. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Elijah, reviewing all of his requirements and then adding Defense Cut to his practiced moves (for a total of 12).
After the break, we did refined strikes, followed by 360 machinegun drills (head, neck or decap), and finished with balance 1 and 2. -
Class with Steven, Elijah, Dalton, Michael and Caleb. Stretch and requirements. I worked through all of my requirements with Steven while the other four were paired and switched around. After the break, I spoke briefly about fight choreography and how to make “safe-r” full contact attacks in a choreographed fight by using distance/range. We then spent a while in pairs going through an add-on drill, taking turns making an attack, then blocking or evading the responding attack, going through the whole sequence and adding one block and counter per pass. We finished off with one hundred full circle cuts still wearing our mitts and leg armor.
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Class with Sal, Dalton and Caleb. Steven and Michael both observed due to injury. Stretch and requirements. Sal and I went through our full requirements together while Dalton and Caleb went through theirs three times together. After the break, we did 360 machinegun drill for just head and neck attacks, followed by unarmored parry (Sal and I traded Dalton and Caleb back and forth a couple times), and finished with 100 full circle cuts (boken).
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Class with Sal, Steven, Dalton, and Caleb. Michael observed due to injury. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Caleb, reviewing everything he knows and adding the I move. Before the break, I did a review/focus session with the whole class on I move.
During the break, I did unarmored parry with Caleb before we all got into armor.
After the break, we had one on one matches, and I also did armored parry with Caleb. -
Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah, Dalton, Michael and Caleb. Stretch and requirements. I again supervised Caleb and Michael, and instructed Caleb on Jumping Tiger 2.
After the break, I spoke about using lateral/oblique movement for both initiating an attack as well as to evade and counter in the same motion, and we practiced the movements. Next were a few rounds of Refined Strikes, and we finished with Balance 1 & 2. -
Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah, Dalton, Michael and Caleb. Stretch and requirements. I supervised Michael and Caleb as they went through requirements.
After the break, we had 46 one on one matches. -
Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah and Dalton. Stretch and then I started with instructing them on Kodiak, adding it as one of their moves. We then went through requirements for the remainder of the first half.
After the break, I spoke about chaining attacks and not giving our opponent a chance to recover. To cement the point, I had us work at our own pace, picking three of our practiced moves and chaining them together, shadowboxing.
I then talked about taking the initiative, not giving it to our opponent. The primary concept was to engage and immediately break the mah with our opening attack while our opponent is still plotting and thinking about simply sizing us up, instead of pausing where the the respective mah are grazing each other. To practice this, we rotated through several partners practicing advancing from range and immediately attacking without settling into stance.
Last we went through a full circuit of two-attack machinegun drill, making any upper level attack.