April 19, 2006

Work on the worst

Karate class was great this week.  Big I and I were the only ones there so it was a somewhat private lesson.  We were able to focus on things that the two of us specifically need to learn.  We worked on Big I’s waza; and she did it by herself for the first time.  I couldn’t help myself; I broke out in applause.  I think my instructor wanted to as well. I feel like I got somewhere too.  I now know my new kata well enough to practice it at home.  And, my new weapons kata is finally starting to make sense to me.  I’m now able to see the patterns in it which should make mastering it a lot easier. 

While doing my regular blog reading this week, I read an entry by [Mat] that got me thinking.  "A class is an opportunity to learn,"  he said.  So, I took advantage of the private nature of our class to ask for help on my weakest area in karate. . . sparring.  I wasn’t able to spar the entire time I was pregnant with Lil C; and I can’t say that I was really bothered by it.  On previous sparring nights, I would gear up in my helmet, gloves and kickers and get prepared to be smacked around.  I also have a bad habit while sparring of hitting someone and then apologizing for it.  Stupid, I know.  Let me preface all of this by saying that when it’s the real deal, I know what to do.  I have unfortunately been in a situation before where I’ve been forced to defend myself and I did so with flying colors.  After it was all said and done, I didn’t apologize.  Trust me on that one.  But sparring happens in a dojo, and without all the adrenalin so it’s just not the same.

I think one of the reasons why is because I feel like I was sort of thrown into sparring.  One night, as a beginning white belt, our instructor had us gear up and spar with her.  I had absolutely no clue what I was doing.  We didn’t really receive any instructions.  I guess that instructor is of the belief that just having you go for it is the best way to learn.  I just don’t operate like that, so I feel it’s been my worst area by far.  I never directly learned what’s allowed and what’s not.  In the past I have usually just stood there pretending like I’m a warrior, most likely followed by being smacked in the head with a foot or a fist, and then I retaliate (poorly) and then say, "I’m sorry."  It’s silly and stupid, but that’s what I do.  Can you imagine being in a street fight, having someone hit you, and then you hit them back and say, "Oh, sorry about that."  It’s dumb and I know I wouldn’t do that in a street fight, but sparring in the dojo is a different experience altogether. 

The last time I sparred was right before I became pregnant, and instead of sparring with black belt instructors like usual, my instructor paired me up with a green belt teenager (I was white at the time.)  She was much more aggressive than I was used to with my instructor.  The two of us kicked each other at the same time, shin to shin, and over a year later. . . I still have a sore spot on my leg.  I seriously thought I would pass out from the pain when it first happened.  Having such a lousy experience last time, I was absolutely dreading sparring again and avoiding it however I could.  But, like I said, [Mat] got me thinking. 

I’ve only sparred with my current instructor one time in the past.  Once was enough.  As if it wasn’t bad enough to be bopped in the head with a fist by my other instructors, my current instructor has a style where he sort of watches you and picks you apart.  It usually culminates with a swift unsuspecting kick to the back of the head.  It sort of makes you want to spin around and go "Hey! Who did that?" even though he’s standing right there in front of you.  He seriously has "go go gadget" legs.  No one particularly likes to spar with him because he’s good, really good.  So you can imagine that it took some serious guts to request help with sparring from him. 

At the end of class, my instructor had my daughter and I gear up.  He sent Big I off with a brown belt to practice some basic techniques.  She needs the basics, since the last time she sparred she kept doing these dinky little punches and when I asked her why she wasn’t throwing some good ones she demurely said, "I don’t want to hurt anyone."  Now, picture my little princess (age 4 at the time) sparring with boys of at least age 6.  I think she was giving herself a bit too much credit.  So, Big I went off to learn how to punch; and I was going one on one with my head-kicking instructor.

First, he discussed two very important elements of sparring: distance and timing.  When sparring before, I kept thinking about how close I needed to be to hit, not how far I needed to be away so as not to get hit.  You’d think that line of thinking would come naturally, but apparently it doesn’t, at least not for me. The instruction on distance and timing was extremely helpful. 

We then moved on to some basic techniques.  My instructor had me get into a fighting stance and then he verbally picked me apart.  He showed me how to do the same to an opponent.  He also gave me some of his secrets which I will not be revealing.  Now, they’re mine (evil laugh).  He then told me he was going to throw some punches and watched what I did to block them.  He then showed me how to do the techniques better, so that I would open him up more so that I could land multiple kicks and/or punches.  He moved on to kicks and taught me how not to get nailed.  Honestly, before tonight I would just stand there and take it.  It was like I saw a leg coming and was like, "Oh well.  This is gonna hurt," and it would.  Not anymore. 

With just a short 20 minute lesson on sparring, I already feel a lot better.  I was able to land one of my first back fists to the head, and even managed to land a kick or two in good locations.  I also had one "instinctual" kick that went a bit too close to a very taboo area. (Any men reading this will probably flinch and cover.)  I did apologize for that one, and explained that for women, it’s just natural to go there.  Luckily I didn’t land that one.  Lucky for him because, well duh; and lucky for me because I think that would have been the end of my tutorial. 

Now that I’m back in the saddle, so to speak, I feel like I’ll be able to work on my sparring again without being so self conscious.  I realize that it’s going to take a lot of work to get where I want to be; but hopefully my instructor will have the patience to help me get there . . . (and possibly a jock strap just in case). 

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Posted by on April 19, 2006 in Tales from the dojo | 6 Comments

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