Monday night we had a rotating, double technique line. There were two lines of students facing each other with one line moving one direction and the other line moving the other way. We would do the same attack and technique 5 or 10 times with one person and then rotate to the next spot. This helps you get used to working "application" on different types of attitudes and bodies. I came to one guy who has a body of iron and a long pony tail. He's nice enough but it hurts to hit him just about anywhere. We were all doing a techniques that uses "frictional pull" to bring the attacker's head forward to meet elbow strikes. Well, my forearm rubbing on his bicep wasn't hardly moving him at all. So I had to get a bit more aggressive dragging down. The elbows were simply a touch to the jaw. If it were real, of course, it would knock the head back. Then the frictional pull would bring the head and shoulders back forward to be blasted again. Anyway, the next guy I worked on was my size and much more flexible. Having been conditioned by my previous partner, I rolled into the technique and heard him mutter "Geez! Oh man!" as his head jerked foward and then snapped back. "I apologize," I said to him, "I was just working with Troy and that guy is like a two ton statue." He was cool about it and just laughed.
Another highschool kid who is middle rank got poked in the eye on the same technique. There is an eye poke while you are retreating and sometimes the distance is hard to judge. He had to sit out for awhile because he couldn't see and his eye was watering. Mr. Steinman checked him out and said he was ok but probably not very comfortable. Then he told all of us, "That does make a point. We are being nice here. He barely got poked and he's pretty much out of the fight. Imagine if you were to really deliver with that!"
Last night we had a mix of highschoolers, yellow belts like me, and middle ranks. We did lung kicks (one knee nearly touches the floor before you push up off the other leg and kick) back and forth across the gymnasium sized dojo 5 or 6 times along with other kick combinations. My legs were burning and it's hard to walk normally this morning. I am REALLY bad at double kicks. I can pull off one kick (front, side, round) with control and power, but to keep the thigh up and execute a second extension is nearly impossible. Feels like I am fighting a bunch of thick rubberbands pulling my leg to the floor. My hips and legs are so inflexible that I spend all my energy fighting it instead of having the strength put into the kick itself.
Then Mr. Steinman did something he has not done before. He said he was going to give us "free time", and that he wanted to go around and work individually for few minutes with each of us to see what we needed and help us with whatever we were having trouble with. "I want you to use the time constructively. While I'm working with Aaron here, you guys work on something with each other. No sitting down and socializing. If you're talking Karate, that's fine. Pick a partner and work on some stuff." I turned around and saw a white belt behind me. "Hey Joe. You wanna work on something." He is very shy and shrugged. So I started quizzing him about what he had learned so far. I helped him sharpen up the footwork and transitions on Short Form 1 and worked on a couple techniques with him. He mentioned that he was thinking about checking out some martial art schools in Olympia and Lacey. I asked him if he lived there and he said he lives in Yelm. "Well, Kenpo is pretty complex and it may not be for everybody." I admitted to him, "But I'll tell you that I've trained in a few other styles, and I did check out several schools in Olympia because I live there, but nothing compares to Kenpo, and I haven't yet met an instructor is as good as Mr. Steinman. That's why I take an hour round trip down here twice a week." He nodded, but I know he'll have to check it out for himself. If he's smart, he'll be back when he finds out he has to pay more for less.
His ride came and he left. Then an orange belt girl (the rank above me) wandered over and said the guys she was working with were getting a little crazy for her taste. I glanced and saw one guy fighting off 3 others armed with sticks. Yep. Crazy. I worked on a couple techniques with her for a few minutes. The middle ranks and highschoolers left one by one until Mr. Steinman figured he better wrap things up before everybody was gone. After class he encouraged sparring, but only four of us stuck around. I put on my pads for the second time since 2003 in Jonesboro. I ended up getting paired with the orange belt girl. She always talks lazy, like she doesn't want to do anything or exhert an effort. But when I worked application with her she was precise and forceful, much tougher than I would have expected just looking at her. We stared sparring and I immediately noticed she was hitting me in places I thought I had covered. Either I didn't cover as well as I thought, or she was using my reactions to create openings. She was very quick, but she had uniform intensity, which suggested control to me. I don't have uniform intensity. I have to slow myself down because I get too "into it" and don't know how hard I am hitting. But at least I am aware of it.
Well, all the other places I've sparred had mats or carpet, not slippery hardwood floor, and the nylon/elastic strap that wraps under my pads across the balls of my feet slips easily if my whole foot is not planted. She would kick and follow with a strike combo and there were be a flurry between us before we backed off. I kept hitting her headgear and turning it so she would have to straighten it. She kept hitting me in the ribs and stomach while I was extended. Then she went for my ribs again and I tried to dodge. My strap slipped on the floor and I lost my balance. I threw my arms out to steady myself and my forearm hit her across the nose. She backed away and I asked her if I hit her. She nodded and was touching her nose. Then she started sparring me again, only to stop and check her nose again. It was bleeding. I felt really bad and apologized but she said she was fine. I was impressed she kept up her uniform intensity. Most people are either more cautious or more aggressive after getting hit hard. They either want to pay you back or make sure it doesn't happen again.
Then we switched partners. I was already drenched in sweat and my next sparring partner was a military officer who has taken Muay Tai and Aikido before. He hunkered down and looked like he was ready to eat me alive, so I played it safe and threw a few half-hearted kicks. Sure enough, as soon as my hand or foot reached out he would storm in with punch combos. He got me multiple times in the jaw and torso when my hands were busy and he had a great sense of timing. I would snap back from his strikes then jump back in range when he was retreating to pop the side of his head. About the 4th time I aimed for his head he lunged under my arm in a tackle. I simply let my arm circle around the back of his head into a reverse headlock. When he tried to off balance me by picking up my weight, I took my feet off the ground and wrapped them around his lower body. There was nothing he could do but try to shake me off and hit me in the sides, and I heard Mr Steinman laughing. When I put my feet back down he tried to pivot and throw me. But I did take Jujitsu and I guess I can still feel that intention. So I planted my weight and put my hand on his lower back to keep his hips forward so he couldn't pull me over. Fun stuff. But I think he was better at the boxing part because he got me quite a few times in the face and it was really hard to get to his head. The other guy who I did not spar that time, told me he thought the MP was pretty aggressive. He said when the MP came after him the first couple times, he kicked him in the cup (groin) and it slowed him down. I was never allowed to kick legs or groin in previous training, so the thought never occured to me. But I'll remember that. Of course, if I got mugged, that would be a primary target.
So this was the first time I've sparred with people (other than an instructor) that I thought were actually better or more skilled than me. They had better control and better timing. I could only get them by being very quick or very tricky. These people are my rank or barely above, which tells me I'd get eaten alive by a higher rank student. Maybe I am just getting old and slow.
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