Friday, August 15, 2008

Still Sticking On That Kata...

...I am really having a tough time with this one, although I do find incremental improvement.

I've had about three sparring sessions since the last post, the first and second of which I really learned some lessons.

The earliest, I was sparring with one of the guys my age, and we kept jamming each others' kicks shin-to-shin, neither wearing shin guards. I think both of us were pretty bruised up.

The second to last, I was sparring with a gal about half my weight, another yellow belt who started a day after I did, so my peer in class rank. We jammed kicks, and her other foot slipped out from under her, and she fell really hard. I stopped right away and went to help her up, but she hit the floor hard enough that she was just lying there crying. (Later we found out she slammed her elbow / funny bone on the floor) I was scared she'd hit her head even with the padded helmet. That fall was hard and very fast.

I felt like crap, but it really wasn't my fault or hers, she slipped on the under-strap of her foot guard. All I could do was apologize, but even she said it wasn't my fault. I was just glad she was ok in the end. She's a good sport. We were both leery of sparring each other last night, but thankfully no more mis-haps.

Last night during sparring, I had to spar Sensei - I actually scored a couple of points, a first for me. I also sparred just about everyone in class, including two young yellow-green belts a third my size/weight and one rank higher than me. Those kids did a great job, at that size they are lightning-quick. I saw one of them walking out with his Mom at the end of the evening, and I told her she should be proud of her son, because he almost kicked my butt in class. LOL - in Karate that can be very literal...

We are now going on a three-week break due to construction projects and floor-refinishing at the YMCA.

I'll have to practice on my own at home. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sayonara,

Dan