On Saturday, Sensei Hassell visited Mapleton to hold a clinic focused largely on sparring concepts. The first two classes were much more physical than most other seminars that Sensei Hassell holds, which is a very good thing. I think everyone involved had a good time, it was very good to see Sensei Desartes and his group from the Chicago area.
We did manage to get 10 Sochin in before class, and including the one that Sensei Hassell looked over for us after the seminar that brought the grand total up to 11 for the day. I got some good pointers on the opening movement of Sochin, as well as some good recommendations on the timing for the last half of the kata. Input like his is very valuable,
The rest of the clinic was great… we did some drills relating to using the floor to stabilize our techniques. This is a relatively new concept to focus on for me, and I’m feeling it in my hips today for some reason. I have considerably more power when doing things in this fashion, but it will take some work to make it a natural feeling. I think that and the Sochin tips were my biggest takeaway from the sessions yesterday. I really wish we could have Sensei Hassell visit more often.
To round out a great day, I ate a ton of Chinese food at Fast Dragon afterward. I got to laugh a little when I was paying my ticket… the lady behind the counter said “Oh! You are a teacher?” Slightly confused, I said, “yes, I’m an assistant instructor” and she said “I see that! Your sleeve says sensei, or teacher!” Looks like the kanji is correct. 🙂
Sochin Counter
Accomplished / Goal == Percent Complete
1371 / 2000 == 68.55%
Average Kata per Workout: 15.23
Estimated Workouts Remaining: 42
Workouts that gained more than 1%: 31
Workouts that gained more then 5%: 1
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