Tonight started with a bang, despite the fact that I was feeling a little under the weather. Mike-san and I sparred for a few minutes before class, he said that my tactical change had him scratching his head. I didn’t feel like it was working that well with him, but he was sufficiently confused that it wasn’t the high velocity pound-fest that it usually is with him.
Class started, we had some new faces in there. The first class was largely basics, split up into groups so the new people didn’t get overwhelmed. We did more leg strengthening which is always a welcome addition. I could tell from the tone of things that more sparring was inevitable for the second class.
I was right! The second class revolved around mobility and using timing to determine what your opponent would be doing. I was having trouble at first, but with a little practice and some prodding from Sensei I started to get it. It seemed that my body did not want to switch stances fast enough to make this effective.
We did partner drills with this shifting around in mind, and we did some 3-5 time attack where we were charged with using these tactics at least once during our counterattack. It was hard to do, mostly because I had Erbe as a partner. Class rounded out pretty well, I think this is going to go into my bag of tricks to enhance my new approach to sparring.
Sensei also gave me a few pointers after class on how to maximize the “get out of there” time and find new escape routes without getting myself annihilated. I think we’ll probably be working on some of this tonight, but you never know.
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