Hi buddy You will never know how much it hurt me to "tap" such a handsome face!! Jealousy I suppose.:evil:
Oooooooh you are a one. Hi Bill feeling a lot better going to watch a practise tonight. I am hoping to get back to practise early January next year. Just waiting for the all clear from my consultant. Have you moved dojo ? All the best to the family Tommo
makotokai.co.uk is the site. Dojo in Cathkin rec centre. you will be an honoured guest if you appear. good to here you are getting back to normal..most difficult cos we were never there in the first place,
Hi Bill I see you have moved from Helen St. Thanks for the invite.Once I am back training I will travel to Glasgow and see you. Just love the "normal" quote:evil: Tommo
Post 22 Ouch Was that taken at Glasgow Uny. I remember getting a few "taps" on the face. Also sometimes my ribs hurt after practise, a few more "taps" from Koyo:evil: Tommo
One time I had thrown my attacker just as Saito shan had thrown his. There HAD to be a collision. Saito shihan simply turned his hip a little bit more and his attacker flew into the only space left on the mat. He made it even more of an aha moment by saying "It's a kind of magic." he knew I was a Scot (highlander)
Well, the hitting in the face thing came up because I have struck two white belts in the face, and two brown belts. I felt bad because I'm a white belt, but I have prior training in other arts, so when I strike, if you don't block, you will get hit - as everyone here does. My sensei said to not appologize, I have done them a favor and they should thank me for it. Don't try to hurt people, but be committed in your strikes. And if it happens to you, you can't get mad about it! It's your own fault! At training yesterday, a new Ah-ha for me was being told that nothing stands out in Aikido. You don't have an "arm movment" or foot work that starts a technique, it all moves together at once, so no action stands out. Legs, arms, movement, it all happens at once. It helped me be a little more coordinated.
Along the same lines. I was watching video of aikido shihan with Sekiya shihan and I commented that Chiba shihan looked martial Noro shihan gracefull saito shihan effective and Sekiya shihan said to look again and I could see all of those elements in each of them. Nothing should stand out..it must look natural. For your interest. Ki ken tai ichi is a principle that says there must be no division between ki (intention) ken (technique) and tai (complete body movement) ichi means as one.
All this talk of getting hit in the face reminds me of a moment on the mat about 17 years ago. I was training as a guest at a dojo in the town where I was working and my uke at the time was a fairly burly ikkyu who's almost first words out of his mouth were "...if it doesn't hurt, it doesn't work" explanation of the technique his instructor had just demonstrated. (yokomen uchi ura shiho nage) Now, having never trained with this guy before, I didn't know [exactly] how he'd take ukemi bearing in mind he was a "burly" chap so, I opted for a softer application just to test the water. As the yokomen came in I didn't atemi favouring to concentrate on kuzushi exploited from his effort, however, as I blended (expecting his strike to follow through) ... it didn't and stopped at the space where my head once occupied. I carried on having [collected] his attacking arm but as you'd suspect he began to apply resistance to the waza so, I chose to stop [rather than force the technique] The chap began to give me a lecture about distance and timing being important "principles", I agreed but pointed out that had I chosen to make atemi and his attack been somewhat more focused on actually being on target, the distance and timing issue wouldn't have been so prevalent. He disagreed. [Dilemma] I'm not a naturally aggressive person and faced with situations where people on the mat wish to challenge a point of view, I'd rather capitulate and move on to a better training partner, than develop the argument thereby wasting mat time. BUT... this chap was quite insistent that atemi wouldn't alter the fact that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time during my last attempt at technique, his insistence had also drawn the attention of a couple of people nearby because instead of training it appeared as if we were stood talking - I suppose we were - so I gestured for him to attack again - he did. I didn't do ura shiho nage, I just stepped in slightly, jabbed the guy in the face, and felt really guilty in the process. His attack and body movement stopped instantly (it wasn't committed anyway) and the look on his face was that of I can't believe you actually hit me in the face. I said sorry about that and walked to the edge of the mat, bowed off and left. I genuinely really don't like hitting people but sometimes needs must. If I'm honest, I wish I'd just thanked the guy for his time and found a new training partner, for me there were two valuable lessons in that short period of time.
At a club in the USA I went to a few times, there was a former BJJ guy, also big and burly, and he would likewise never commit, he would just settle and give you nothing in his attack. So I just did the same right back to him. Threw a strike without 100% commitment, and he coudln't throw me. "See. Anyone can play that game. It wasn't a real strike." Then he started to do it right.
My pet hate also. I hate when you are given nothing to work with but get a look from uke that you screwed up (I'm perfectly capable of screwing up on my own). Atemi is the only way with these types but you do feel bad, as they are also the types that never put a guard up and get a smash in the face.
For me personally, it's more like when you've been working a while on figuring something out and then finally, you got it right. For example, something we probably we all have experienced when we just started. We all had to learn how to do proper ukemi. After trying and trying, being thrown around a lot, something suddenly pops up in your mind: "Aha! I got if finally right!" Wonderful isn't it? (-:
Had a bit of an "aha moment" last night, with yokomenuchi shihonage. Wasn't doing it especially well, then Coach corrected me and told me to step bigger to take uke's balance more. It made a world of difference and felt wonderful!
Tell me about it... after 6 years of ju jutsu I've only just got kata guruma working on REALLY big guys....it's all in kuzushi and the correct load up. Feels good.
REally big guy 6' 5" get's his aha moment. Not quite kata guruma more koshi guruma. But it still feels good.
Hi Bill the photo in post No 35 is that at Glasgow Uny ? I remember being on the recieving end of a few like that Tommo
