Footwork...

Footwork...

Apparently Trinidad Kendo has great footwork... Constant praise all weekend in VZ about how great our footwork is and how straight our posture is. It baffles me why people practicing kendo for so many years under the guidance of great senseis can say such things. For years their teachers have repeatedly taught them simple concepts that they apparently can't apply? What is so great that we do that others can't do? Why can't the lower ranked senseis and sempais just reinforce what their own senseis taught them?

We don't have a secret formula in Trinidad. I teach what I was taught. My students work hard, they follow instructions and they see positive results in the efforts they put in. They don't skip levels; before they learn how to hit someone, they need to know where their body should be and how to move it there. If it takes 6 months to get there then so be it. No one wears the bogu until they know how to move around.

Someone I really enjoy once said to me this weekend "your feet are like your horse. I don't care how good you are with a weapon, if your horse can't bring you to battle, you are useless.". Cheers to that!