Karate GOOOOD…

Karate last night was GREAT. I have no idea if my ribs are broken or seperated or whatever, but I do know this: EVERYTHING hurts like a bitch.

There were a couple of times DURING BASICS that I was about ready to wet myself, but the Dictum of the Rabid Chihuahua states that a little pain can’t keep you from sparring. Thankfully for me, we got to help correct during the first class. Each of the black belts were given a line of students to “take care of.” I got the new little white belt, a group of purple belts, and the younger middle ranked girls.

Everything went pretty well. I’ve gotta work with Dublair-san to make him relax his body and throw some more hips into his techniques. Technically, everything he does is VERY good, but he could use about a quarter-turn extra hip action in everything so he can open up a little bit and use some of the power he’s trying to generate.

The new little white belt, Grant, reminds me so much of me at his age that it’s not even funny. He tries very hard, but I can tell that he’s very insecure about knowing what’s going on. I was the same way in first grade… when I got overwhelmed at school I used to get very upset at myself for not knowing how to do something which usually manifested itself in a sobbing fit. Grant is the same way, a couple of times he started crying and he took a few minutes to get comforted by his mom (I think she’s his mom, dunno) and he was right back to it. I grew out of it in about a year when I realized with a little effort I could learn things and not be overwhelmed, so I think he’ll be just fine.

His mom thanked me for helping him out so much after class, and he looked up at his mom and said “that’s my friend, Sensei Josh.” There’s just something about things like this that make you feel a million feet tall and invincible. I think I can speak for all of the lesser-dan black belts when I say how strange and humbling it is to realize that you’re being considered by the new people how Senseis Brewer, Hartman, and Jennings were considered by you when you were starting out.

Anyway, the second class was chock-full of advanced goodness. We started out doing some sparring drill basics and moved on to the rest of the Heian katas and Tekki Shodan. After that, it was pads and mouthguards time. Sensei Hartman elected to be my partner because we wouldn’t break each other, and he was right. We did a few one-time sparring drills using lunge punch and jab. They felt pretty good, there were a few times they *really* locked in the way I wanted.

Sensei Brewer elected to tag in for awhile toward the end of the jab exercise, stating that I was “young and fast and it’ll be fun for an old man” or something to that effect. Sparring with both him and Sensei Hartman is always an education. There have been a scarce few times that Sensei Brewer has actually stopped and told me to try something specific and last night was one of those times. He told me to try stepping in like a jab, but pause slightly before I punch because “I think that will work for you.”

The last time he said that was when I was introduced to my side thrust kick combination. Just like with the side kick combination, it took me about four tries to get one that was good enough to get in on Sensei Brewer and that’s enough to sell me on that method. Just as before, when you get in on Sensei Brewer the Great Death descends upon you but I like it when that happens.

It was about this time that the waves of pain really started breaking in my side, so I elected to take the rest of the sparring (about five minutes) off to the side. I really didn’t want to, but it’s better to be able to train on Tuesday than wrack yourself out now. I would take the last twenty minutes of that class over 10 basic classes if I could choose.

I found out from Sensei Hartman and McCabe-san that they’re planning an impromptu gasshaku on Saturday at 4:00 pm in Mapleton, if I can stock up on my sleep enough the night before I’m going to try to make it. I have a code migration from 12:00 am – 8 am on Sunday so sleep is a premium, but gasshaku’s are always SUPER AWESOME.

Oh yeah, and Sensei Brewer had Tasha’s gi. She was pretty excited.