Night of reviews

I was expecting E to come but as we started he was not around and unreachable so we started. Damn good he wasn't there, because half the group wasn't there !! I was not happy... Specially after I had told them to make sure to show up on time! Well he eventually showed up 30 minutes into class (bad traffic), to a full group so we didn't look like the bunch of tourists that I sometimes think we are.

Had to repeat proper seiza methodology for the nth time; still some falling on their knees, using their hands to support themselves, throwing their bokken on the floor...

We reviewed kata quickly since there was no chance to do it properly last week. Quick run through the first three and good results. This time we focused on timing and solid/straight body. I always like to focus on only one or two aspects every time we practice a technique or kata. More on this later...

So overall good kata, people are learning properly and good bokken kihon as well. Not sure if all are following though; sometimes I wonder if some of them are awake... They seem to forget everything from one class to another.

Mr. E arrives !!
From that point on we switch to more intense keiko with shinai. I use E as motodachi. As it has been the case in the past few weeks the intensity & spirit are very good. On the other hand the tenouchi, maai and kikentai are pretty bad... Need to work on that. But overall I'm very satisfied that the level of intensity has dramatically risen in the past few weeks due to my nagging them constantly :-) It's working !

Did a lot of sutemi and a very nice and gradual buildup to kakarikeiko, that included a lot of suriashi and fumikomi/kikentai.

We kept 15 minutes for the three of us and I had a fun, but always too short fight with E. Prior to that K had seemed intimidated by E. Well, he can be intimidating I suppose... Then with me he seemed very weak mentally. He got a beating...

Finished the class, commented a bit on it and introduced E to all (most hadn't met him). Told them about our view of "no thought kendo", ie we push them to tire them, we hope they start doing (not thinking of doing) asap so we can have more fun and be more challenged. In a nutshell ;-)

Then for some reason I decided we'd have a grading this coming friday. I had been thinking of it recently and thought, what the heck, let's do it. Details in a later post...

Coconuts and beer after class. Good times but beer damn hard to find. Another fun night with E and the boys. We decided that next time (every Friday?) I'll bring a full cooler so that we can relax at the park ... Couple of coconut waters, couple of beers... The air is fresh and the area comfortable.