2008 Workout #28: Kumite a-go go!

Tonight’s class was a lightly attended one. We ended up with Oedewaldt-san, myself, , Erbe-san, Snook-san, , Dobbleaire-san, Jane-san, and a gaggle of yellow and white belts.

Oedewaldt took the lower ranks and left the higher ranks to us. I took the opportunity to work on slow sparring, focused on relaxation, timing, and distance. I watched for several rotations and then couldn’t stand it anymore and jumped in with the rest of the crew. Among the highlights was getting to spar with and having a good ol’ time!

The second class left us with Jane-san, brown belts, and the black belts. Oedewaldt and split up the lower ranks which left Erbe and I to our own devices, which meant we did the basic seven black belt katas and then sparred for 20 more minutes.

We traded a bunch of shots, he caught me once in the chin pretty well. Also, I was staying in too close and he drove his knee into my thigh in the same place twice in pretty short succession… that made me take a few minutes as my thigh muscles spasmed around. I know I’m going to end up with a pretty good sized bruise there.

Oh lordy, how I love sparring!!