Saturday 20 August 2011

Training with my original Sensei

Today I had the opportunity to train with my original Sensei - Sensei Gareth Richards (and Sensei Phil Culley). I have trained with Sensei Gareth since white belt in 2003. Before today, I haven't trained with him for over a year.

What struck me most was that I was missing detail from my current training. For example, we went through 1 kata in the main class, Tekki Shodan. There was plentiful supply of detailed information about the kata and about the individual techniques. We also covered Bunkai. I found this much more interesting than just going over the Heian katas (over and over again). I also found it a stark reminder of how lazy I have become - to not know the bunkai for the lower grade katas.

Similarly in doing basics, there would be lots of reminders about the detail of different techniques.

However, one thing inspired me more than that. Watching Sensei demonstrating the bunkai, I could really see how it would work, effectively. This is different to my own implementation of karate, probably because I don't fully believe that my karate would be very effective in a real situation. I think I need to believe more in my own karate. I think that when I'm training, I should aim more for perfection of each technique and believe that it would be effective. I also think that I should do more tournaments in order to prove to myself that my karate can be effective.

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