2010 Workout #2: Finally kumite!

Tonight was a great night at the dojo!  After a painfully slow warmup, we started in with standing punch and block combinations to work on core tension and body timing.  Shortly thereafter, we were told to get across from partners and we were going to do some kumite drills.  We started off with basic three time sparring, then moved on to one time sparring, then jyu-ippon (freestyle one-time) sparring, and then free sparring.

For each iteration of sparring we were given a set of attacks and targets, but when we got to the free sparring it was… well… free sparring – anything goes.  I had a few good rounds, and I think the guys from Pekin would be proud.  I was across from one of their guys named Kevin who recently placed at the national competition in kumite.  Initially, Tarrant was set to cycle me out so he could jump in line, but Kevin groaned (indicated that he wanted to spar with me for some reason) and Sensei Tarrant said “well, sounds like I’ll just rotate in next time!” and off we went.

We had some good exchanges, I refer to Kevin internally as Colorado Dirst-san since those two guys share a common sparring style.  I got him with my fake front kick reverse punch combination, and I tagged him unopposed with my side thrust kick (Sensei Brewer would’ve been proud).  We went for about a minute and a half and we traded some good exchanges, he’s got a great effortless foot sweep and almost got me with it but I was able to counter with a solid reverse punch that got him laughing about it.

We closed out the workout with kata, doing Heian Nidan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan (for the lower belts that were there) and then our individual katas.  My Sochin felt good tonight, and Sensei Tarrant didn’t have many suggestions for me at that time.  Hopefully I’ll continue to refine it as the year goes on.

In other news, its time to renew our annual dues here in the ISKF and while we were talking about doing that I asked about getting my red book that allows me to log participation points toward my next dan exam.  Sensei Tarrant said that would not be a problem and he’d be happy to help me get started toward that goal.  I’m not sure how the points system works, but I suspect it will take me almost the rest of my time out here in Colorado to get enough points up to even be eligible to test.  I hear Kangeiko goes a long way toward the year’s points, so we’ll see how it goes.

Fun times!