Class with Sal, Chris, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Medical call out for Charlie. Seiza and stretch, requirements twice through for the lower ranks while Sal and I went through our full requirements together. During the break, Sal and i did cutting pattern 3 with steel. After the break, I marshaled one-on-one matches between the students.
Tag: wcos
-
Day two of my second weekend at Arata’s Farm. Today, we had two rounds of steel melees as well as one round of boken melees. I used one handed for the second set of steel.
-
I returned for my second weekend at Arata’s Farm. Today, we had three rounds of steel melees as well as a round of boken melees. I used one handed for the second set of steel.
-
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Chris and Charlie called out. Stretch and requirements twice. After mine in solo, I worked with Jesse and Joshua to review their cuts and blocks. I discussed with the class the physics and geometry of sword fighting, talking about how the rotation of the sword and where the impact is made affects the direction of the force, and how that affects how and where we block. After a break, we did some evasion training with me wielding a boffer and them taking turns evading until I struck them, then a round robin of refined strikes and finished with balance 1 & 2 including a medium leap.
-
This was my second day at Arata’s this year. We had a total of 50 steel melees (15/15/20). I had intended to use one handed sword today to continue working on my Complete Blade requirements. Gad insisted that I also use a shield to be better prepared to instruct on it for my students. Generally, I did fairly well for my first time using a shield. I used a very low stance to provide better target coverage. I need to work on my timing so that a block and counter strike are simultaneous, not a one-two. I did successfully use an adaptation of the original Phantom to bind my opponents blade with the shield, roll (cw spin) around them, and make an effective cut and draw to their exposed torso. In post analysis, having a barrier at their back was likely significant in preventing them from escaping too easily with an extended retreat.
-
Today marked the 2011 Best of the Best tournament, held this year at the Arata’s Farm coliseum. There were nine steel ranked and battle capable fighters present (including Gad) and two boken fighters. Kaiden’s Kris and Craig assisted with marshaling. I tied for fourth place with a 55% victory in 19 matches, Vea won the tournament with an 80%. Notably my students Sal (red rope) and Steven (trainee) participated, too. After the tournament, we finished with five melees as a finale.
-
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Charlie observed due to personal injury, Chris called out. Stretch and requirements once through, then I went over Jumping Tiger 1 (a new move for Joshua and Jesse). After a break, we had one on one sparring in the rain and mud (altered terrain, all weather).
-
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Chris and Charlie called out. Stretch and requirements twice. After a break, Sal and I worked cutting patterns in steel, then the class rotated through partners for refined strikes several times and with finished with machine gun drill, first for head or neck, then for neck or leg.
-
Class with Chris, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Stretch and requirements. I instructed Joshua and Jesse on Thorn. After a break, we had a total of 42 one on one matches.
-
Class with Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Sal, Charlie and Chris all called out. Stretch and requirements three times through, rotating each of the students through a session with me. After a break, we did Balance 1 and 2 for a while, then moved to rotating stations of full circle cuts, Refined Strikes, and thrust ring practice, completing two circuits (total of 150 full circle cuts for me).
-
I worked with Gad and Vea today on requirements. Gad reviewed both Vea and myself for our upcoming intended Crimson Chain test. It was also an opportunity for me to check a few things with Gad regarding left-handed vs right-handed students, and some technique questions. In total, we reviewed my Steel Red Rope requirements, Boken (one-handed) White Rope requirements (for the Complete Blade), and Boken (two-handed) Crimson Chain requirements.
-
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. After the stretch, I instructed on the updated Dragon’s Tail, then paired people off for requirements. I initially worked with Sal, instructing him on Cutting Pattern 3, then with Charlie instructing him on Cutting Pattern 2, after which I paired them together for requirements while I walked the class. After a break, we got into armor and had one on one sparring for all students. Steven, Joshua and Jesse each had three matches with me, followed by three with Sal. Sal, Chris and I filled in matches between while the loaner armor was exchanged.
-
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Stretch and requirements a couple times through. I worked with Charlie, instructing him on his first two chop cuts and the advanced thrust, and I worked with Steven, instructing him on Double Thrust.
After the break, we did light armored parry. I started with Sal, going over what I wanted from him, then split us to take pair once with each of the other students, with me taking the three newer students prior to passing them over to Sal. We finished with some machinegun drill using any head, neck, or decap cut.
After the main class, Sal and I took up our steel and reviewed five of his practiced moves and then went through cutting pattern 1 a couple times. -
Class with Sal, Charlie, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Steven going through all his requirements, then did unarmored parry with Steven, Joshua and Jesse, each. After a break, Sal and I did armored steel parry, then Sal, Charlie and I had 24 one on one matches and a final last man standing match for the three of us.
-
Class with Sal, Chris, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Stretch and requirements. I went through Sal’s requirements first, then Joshua, then Jesse, and then instructed Steven, Joshua and Jesse on The Tradition. After a break, I started with dagger and knife training, talking about the differences between them as well as how weapons are everywhere, they don’t have to have a blade, and moving on to targets and how to approach them. We completed the section with dagger refined strikes, then moved back to boken for refined strikes and finished class with machine gun drill with any head, neck or decap attack. Everyone cycled through as defender, and then Sal and I had one further stint making counter attacks after the defense.
-
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie, Joshua and Jesse. While in seiza, briefly spoke about how you generally do not get to choose when or where to fight, so the best you can do is prepare for any circumstance. I went over The Mantis (new for Steven, Joshua, and Jesse) and we went through requirements a couple times.
After the break, Sal and I did armored steel parry, then Sal, Chris, Charlie and I had one on one boken matches. -
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie, Steven, Joshua and Jesse. Seiza and stretch. Paired Chris and Joshua, Charlie and Jesse, myself with Steven and Sal on his own initially, then put Steven with Sal and swapped Joshua and Jesse while I did my own requirements.
Near the end of the break, Sal and I did some steel cutting patterns 1 and 2, then the class did 200 full circle cuts (myself and sal with our iron swords), followed by a few rounds of Refined Strikes, and we finished with machine gun drill with just head cuts/blocks. -
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie, Joshua and Jesse. Stretch and requirements. Initially Chris and Charlie with Sal supervising while I worked with Joshua and Jesse. I then moved Joshua over to Charlie, Chris with Sal, and I continued with Jesse. After a break, Sal and I did some steel requirements (cuts, blocks, cutting patterns), then we had one-on-one boken matches for the remainder of class.
-
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie, Joshua and Jesse. Stretch and requirements, Sal supervising Chris and Charlie while I worked with Joshua and Jesse reviewing what they have learned and discussing the six traditions. At the end of the break, I reviewed Sal in steel, going through cuts, blocks and cutting patterns. In the second half, we did five sets of continuous full circle cuts, passing the iron sword to each student for one of the sets while Sal and I traded his back and forth. 300 boken and 100 iron sword for myself and Sal, 400 boken and 30 – 50 iron sword for the others. We finished with a round of Blind Man’s Boffer.
-
Sal, Sabrina and I traveled to the Half Moon Bay dojo today and I had my 20 minutes non-stop battle with six opponents (Sabrina, Beth, Sal, Vea, Blight, and Gad). Risa logged and a friend of Blight recorded the video. By initial tally, there were just short of 250 opponents, with my win ratio about 20%. It was exhausting, but I stuck to my preferred two handed sword. Truly the worst part was simply being unable to hold my arms out or make an effective and timely swing, the rest of my body was more or less able to continue.
-
Class with Sal, Chris, Steven, and Joshua. Jesse observed his second consecutive. Stretch and requirements. I paired Chris and Steven, Sal on his own but assisting them if needed, and I instructed Joshua on stance and head and neck cuts and blocks. I also instructed Steven on Thorn after reviewing his progress. After a break, we had 25 matches of one on ones (Sal, Chris and I) as well as Sal’s final 5 blind matches (with shinai).
-
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie and Steven. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Steven, reviewing his basic cuts and blocks, cutting pattern 1, and instructed him on his first practiced move, Jumping Tiger 1. I also reviewed Sal’s Kata Ni. After a break, we cycled twice through a three station drill loop: refined strikes, cutting pattern 1 on a beam, thrust rings. Since the first two were partner drills, we effectively did each of them twice per cycle.
I closed the class and then Sal and I had 25 one on one matches, 10 of which were blind matches for Sal (with shinai). -
Class with Sal, Chris and Steven. Joshua observed a second consecutive class. Stretch and requirements. I paired Sal and Chris while I worked with Steven, instructing on Cutting Pattern 1, basic thrust, and thrust block. I also spoke with him on the six traditions, explaining them, and I worked briefly with Sal regarding some notes he had from training with Kaiden Gad. There were some minor differences in the practiced moves that he wanted to discuss. The Casper we practice has a shift off-line, where as Gad’s simply moves in relying more on speed and the opponents reaction. The original Tradition focused on getting close and making a good torso draw, but as practiced by Gad, the new one changes the draw cut into more of a chop cut with follow-through draw and is followed by a leg cut for more assured victory.
After a break, we had a total of 60 matches, 50 of which were with Sal as one of the opponents in order to assist him with reaching his training goals. Of those, 10 of the pairs came from 5 multi-opponent matches with Chris and I against Sal (each one Sal would take out Chris, and I would take out Sal).Conditions: Hot evening, still around 86 at 9:30pm when we finished.
-
Class with Sal, Chris, and Charlie. Steven observed a second time. I spoke with him at the end and he stated his intention to begin class next week. We had a brief stretch and then went through requirements once (I reviewed Sal), then switched and I review Charlie with the other two did their practiced moves. After a break, we had one on one matches using a best-of-five approach.
The weather was intermittent heavy rain with some hail at one point, and the dojo was fairly muddy despite the straw hay layer.
-
Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie. Joe called out, Steven observed. Stretch and requirements twice through. After the break, both to provide a extra breadth in experience, and to prep for the upcoming special session on Monday, I gave an introduction to the basic cuts and blocks in Myo Sim Kendo, and instructed on Kneeling Iai 1 and Standing Iai 1.