04.28.07 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Working with Donal

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Cardinal Kicking Drill
2. Purple Belt Kicking Drill
3. Mat Work

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Warm Ups
We started the day as usual with some warm ups. They were relatively light today but we did focus on stretching, particularly the legs. It wasn’t long and we went into some drills.

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Cardinal Directions Kicking Drill
I was having some trouble with my right knee this week and it was coming out pretty quickly as we went through the Cardinal Kicking drill. It was mostly good with the exception of the right front crossover before the left side kick. As I would transition my weight from the left foot to the right foot during that crossover, there was a question each time as to whether or not my knee was going to hold or if I was going to the mat. It was a little sore starting out today but I didn’t think too much of it. Immediately following this kicking drill though I went over and took some ibuprofen to get me through the class. Nothing makes you feel old faster than walking over to your bag in front of the whole class and reaching for pain reliever! Of course I found some solace in the fact that, as soon as the sound of clanging tablets resonated through the room, I was asked by another student if they might have some as well.

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Purple Belt Kicking Drill
The Purple Belt Kicking Drill followed next and although my knee was a little shaky for the previous drill, it seemed okay for this one. I find that it is easier to guard against any twisting at the knee with this particular drill which is a good thing for sore knees. We did several repetitions up and down the mat and I was feeling pretty good again by the time we finished up. Toward the end I found that I was starting to get a little tired and started standing up a bit – which clearly started affecting my balance. As soon as I noticed this, I got low again and all the stability came back. When in doubt, stick to the basics.

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Mat Work
We didn’t spend a ton of time with rolls today but we did enough to shake off any rust that may have accumulated. We pretty much stuck to the usual drills starting with forward rolls staying down before transitioning to forward rolls coming up into a neutral bow. For those that are able, Sifu had them do some air rolls as well. Although my attempts at air rolls are getting better overall, they still resemble an air “crash” when I hit the mat, or at least that is what it still feels like. For some reason the timing of when to uncoil or how tight to coil to begin with is still eluding me. It’s not something I’m willing to practice without a mat so I guess it will just click one of these times as I experiment with it in class. I also find that I’m closer to an accurate air roll on my right side than I am on my left.

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Working with Donal
For the last couple of months, we have been joined by a gentleman named Donal who is visiting from Ireland for training related to his career. He is a 2nd Dan Black belt from the AKKS system and it has been our good fortune to be able to work with him. He attended the Kenpo in the Carolinas 2007 seminar last weekend and fit right in with everyone else that was there. Today though, Sifu had Donal, Phyl, Elliott, and me work together in a sort of free-form discussion of techniques, specifically comparing items that were both similar and different in Donal’s system and our own.

We have never done this before and it was a great opportunity. As it turned out, I wound up dummying for both Phyl and Donal for most of the time which gave me a new level of exposure to different techniques in both systems. I’m not even going to try to remember the specific names of the techniques from Donal’s system, or even some of the ones that Phyl and Elliott were relating to higher up in our own system. I did recognize in every technique from both systems certain core principles and concepts.

We started off really easy with Thunder and Lightning, the very first technique I ever learned in Kenpo. Donal seemed to really like it and immediately recognized movements from a similar technique in his own system that he promptly executed for us. As soon as he was done with his technique, Phyl, Elliott, and I would comment on what we recognized and showed Donal another technique from the IKCA that was similar to what he showed us. And on it went like that for a good solid hour or so. We went back and forth sharing ideas and techniques, discussing what was the same and what made them different. It was eye opening to me to see that the two systems shared nearly identical movements when you view the systems as a whole. Some things are taught at different levels of training or combined with different movements but they are pretty much the same thing.

Another thing that I took note of, particularly since I was the primary dummy for the session, was that the extensions he shared with us on some of his techniques seemed to go on forever! I actually asked him about it at one point, inquiring as to how a person would possibly be on their feet (if they were being struck that way) for the duration of the counter attack as called for in the extension. Donal just got a smile on his face and, in sort of an ‘aw, shucks’ kind of voice said: “Well, that’s Kenpo.” We discussed this a bit further and he acknowledged that in many cases the would-be assailant would likely be down for the count at the end of the base technique. However, it isn’t uncommon, even in the IKCA, for the extensions to go on for several strikes beyond what might be necessary to subdue an attacker.

At the end of class, everyone joined in for a few minutes and we all sort of reviewed what we had been discussing. It was cool to learn about Kenpo in this way as it felt very exploratory and new. Thanks to Donal for being willing to share his art as he learned it with us. I hope we were able to share some new ideas with him as well.