I handed off class to Sal tonight as I had a schedule conflict.
Tag: wcos
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Class with Elijah, Dalton, Michael and Caleb. Stretch and requirements. I worked back and forth with Caleb and Michael. With Caleb, I instructed him on Cutting Pattern 1 and on the training pattern for performing requirements.
After the break, I went over Gad’s sword disarming move and then discussed hand to hand as an auxiliary weapon, using elbow and knee strikes to augment in lockups and wherever else the opportunity permits. We then did a few rounds of hand to hand refined strikes to practice thinking about targets and movement of this nature, followed by another round of Refined Strikes with our bokken. We then did some kneeling advance back and forth lengthwise followed by moving in stance, and finally finished with 100 full circle cuts. -
Special hand to hand session with Dalton, Michael and Caleb. I instructed on Shotokan Karate basics, covering front stance (zenkutsu-dachi), lunge punch (oi-zuki), reverse punch (gyaku-zuki), jab (mai te), front snap kick (mae-geri-keage), side thrust kick (yoko-geri-kekomi), stomping kick (fumikomi), down block (gedan-barai), inside block (uchi-uke), outside/hammerfist block (soto-ude-uke), and rising block (age-uke).
I also briefly touched on side/horse stance (kiba-dachi) and front thrust kick (mae-geri-kekomi). -
Class with Sal, Steven, Ferocitas, Elijah, Dalton, and Nick. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Nick, reviewing his basic cuts and blocks, adding the thrust block, and drilling him on the requirements pattern to get him ready for partner practice. I also had Sal continue with Nick while I worked in with the other four.
Before the break, I went over Akira for all of the students, reviewing the concepts of evasion and timing.
After the break, we had 26 two-on-one matches, rotating through for the solo fighter in each grouping of 3 fighters. -
Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah, Dalton, Michael, Caleb and Nick. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Nick and Caleb, going over leg blocks with Nick and thrust block with Caleb. Before the break, we did a focus session on Thorn (new move for Caleb and Nick). After the break, we started with a few rounds of Refined Strikes, then Dodging 1 (I asked Sal to bring his bean bags), followed by 100 full circle cuts (bokken only), and finished with Balance 1 and 2 (including light contact facing off with Sal, Steven and Elijah on the raised beam).
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Class with Sal, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Michael, Caleb and Nick. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Nick instructing on blocks for head, neck and decap, and with Caleb instructing on blocks for head, neck, decap and leg. After the break, we had 38 one on one sparring matches.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Michael, and Nick. Caleb observed due to injury. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Nick, reviewing his cutting and adding thrust. I also moved through the class checking in with a few other students.
After a break, we started with 100 full circle cuts (Sal and I with steel), then I reviewed some forearm and grip strengthening exercises (waggling the sword in various directions and positions), followed by a gauntlet (static bokken first, then slow attack speed bokken). We finished with a final 100 full circle cuts (Sal and I steel again) including the gauntlet guides as altered terrain. -
Class with Steven, Joshua, Dalton, Ryan, Michael and Nick. Stretch and requirements. I added decap and leg cuts for Nick, and The Mantis for Michael. I also reviewed Dalton a bit. After the break, we had one on one matches.
Temperatures had a high of 104, so it was likely still over 100 when we started sparring.
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Class with Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael, Caleb and Nick. Stretch and requirements. I instructed Nick on resting stance, defensive stance, head and neck cuts. I instructed Caleb on thrust, then started on head blocks. I also checked in with a few other students on a few things.
After the break, we did a focus session on stance and combat movement, starting with a clear dojo, then adding obstacles for altered terrain. We finished with Balance 1 and 2. -
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, and Dalton. Michael observed due to personal injury. Nick and Sarah also observed. Stretch and requirements in the first half. Initially Sal and I paired while the other four paired, and then I reviewed Dalton with an eye to his Green Braid.
After the break, we had one on one matches. It was still quite hot, so I set a max of 6 battles per fighter (i.e. two opponents). -
I traveled to Hayward to attend class led by Head Kaiden Gad. The Kaiden spoke on a few subjects, foremost on dedication and the amount of time needed to actually become skilled versus just subsisting with minor improvement. I was paired with Kaiden Kris for requirements, each of us going through our Silver Chain requirements. During this, Gad re-adjusted my “Akira” back to the standard two-handed finish and replaced “Gad’s Bane” with “The Raven”, a move similar to Akira but with a horizontal cut and the one handed release. He also made an order correction to my deflections, having the 5th deflection go from the left shoulder, the 6th from the right.
After a break, we reviewed dagger targeting and a few techniques. The focus was on opposite hand/foot stance (e.g. left stance, right hand). We practiced using the leading empty hand to block an income thrust to the outside of our body while countering, then grabbing the opponents empty lead hand to control them while moving behind with an attack. Gad also briefly covered moving inside an attack and countering up the center line and a hand/wrist torte for unarmed vs. armed to remove the opponents weapon.
After another break, we finished class with a round robin set of dagger sparring matches, facing each opponent three times. -
Class with Sal, Steven, Elijah, Ryan, Michael and Caleb. Stretch and requirements. I reviewed Ryan as he’s been out for a while, then instructed Caleb on decap and leg full circle cuts. After the break, we did a few rounds of refined strikes, then did full circle cutting focus work circling the dojo. We finished with balance 1 & 2.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Michael and Caleb. Stretch and requirements. I covered defensive stance and head and neck full circle cuts with Caleb. After the break, we had one on one sparring.
I discussed class times with the students and will be moving to a 7:30 start time for the remainder of the summer, at least.
Conditions: Temperature was reported as 102 as class was starting.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah and Dalton. Caleb and Nick observed. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Elijah, reviewing where he is at. After the break, during which we armored up, I went over knife and dagger fighting, including types and styles of weapons, targets, etc. We then did a couple rounds of Dagger Refined Strikes, then finshed with dagger sparring duels, a few team melees, and a final round of free for all melee.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Michael. Stretch and requirements. After the break, we did 360 machinegun at half speed, any target and cut for white ropes and up, only fully circles against Michael (the only present lower rank). Finished with Balance 1 and 2 including a bit of a leap.
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Class. Stretch, requirements, break. Various drills.
Sal will be taking over for the next four weeks while I am out of town. -
Second day of the coliseum event, hosted by me, held at the Ravenswood Faire in Weaverville. First bout with 7 steel melee and 7 wood melee. Steven got to join as a choreographed fighter in the steel. Second bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee. Third bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee.
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First day of the coliseum event, hosted by me, held at the Ravenswood Faire in Weaverville. First bout with 5 steel melee, 5 wood melee, and 5 more steel melee. Steven got to join as a choreographed fighter in the steel. Second bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee. Ferocitas got to join as a choreographed fighter in the steel. Third bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Ferocitas, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael, and Jessi. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Jessi, going over all basic cuts and blocks. Also worked briefly with a few other students on various pointers.
In the second half, with started with a progressional stance, combat movement, continuous full circle cutting drill, then split into two groups by upper vs lower rank. The upper ranks I put with Sal while I took the lower ranks. We first played add-on, where each students repeats everything the previous student did and then adds one more technique, then, in the same groups, we moved to 360 degree machinegun drill, with the upper ranks doing head or neck for the first set, and then any full circle cut for the second set, and the lower ranks starting with just head, and then doing head or neck. -
Class with Sal, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael, and Jessi. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Jessi, covering all full circle cuts and basic thrust plus head, neck and decap blocks. After the break, we had light contact 1 on 1 matches.
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Class with Sal, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan and Michael. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, including adding Jumping Tiger 2. After the break, we did multi-opponent refined strikes, then a student-challenge Balance 1 & 2.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael and Jessi. Seannah observed again. Stretch and then I went over The I Move, followed by requirements. I reviewed Michael’s progress and worked with Jessi, reviewing her head and neck cuts, adding decap and leg cuts. After the break, we had a special sparring night, holding a 5 minute non-stop battle for each fighter (myself, Dalton, Steven, Joshua and Sal, in that sequence). Everyone completed their five minutes, averaging 25 – 30 opponents each.
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Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael, and Jessi. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, reviewing his requirements and adding Cutting Pattern 1, and I worked with Jessi going over Defensive Stance and Full Circle head and neck cuts. I also checked in with Joshua and went over Jodan stance, and I had Sal instruct Ryan on Jumping Tiger 1.
After the break, we had Balance 1 plus some altered terrain (significant mud) and the gamut target area, followed by a full round of Blind Man’s Boffer in the mud. -
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Ferocitas, Dalton, Ryan and Michael. Jessi and Seannah both observed their second consecutive class. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, covering the rest of his blocks and how to go through his full set of requirements. I also touched bases with Sal and Ryan on one handed decap blocks. I finished the first half with a review of Thorn (a new move for Michael). After the break, we had one on one matches and a single melee. I had Steven marshal for the night. Conditions were quite muddy, but no rain during class.