Day two of the Winter clinic

Sanaz and I are both worried that we are going to end up with one super leg and one super lame leg! You see for Kushanku*, which is a Kata) we have to do for the grading, you do a series of rather difficult movies but all the strain is mostly on one leg. And by the end of repeating the Kata a bunch of times super slow and then fast your muscles are burning and crying for you to stop, but you can’t stop because you’re in class and there is a zero tolerance rule. So you do it over and over again and with each repetition you feel your leg muscles getting bigger and bigger.. Ew. Yeah.

Day two was just as interesting. Sensei is really concentrating on the Dan grading syllabus. I believe it’s because this is the first time that 10 people are doing their Dan grading all together from our club. The most it’s ever been has been 7 people and that was the last time I graded, over 5 years ago. So he’s going over all the partner works and combinations and basics. Which is great, except I’m the bastard child, with no designated partner.. anymore. Well, I have a designated partner but her real partner is someone else, so she’s been working with him.. and well I have to work with the random brown belts. errr. And my own Sensei isn’t even sure that she’ll be my partner. On Sunday they’ll let me know who it’ll be. gee, thanks! A dan grading is stressful enough, I really really don’t need the added stress of not knowing who my partner is until just before grading begins!

We practiced Pinan Shodan* a bit today, so I think that will be the surprise Kata for the Dan grading. I think the last few gradings have been Pinan Yondan*. I don’t have a preference for either one, and both have similar transitions to Kushanku in them that can be easily mistaken so the chances of messing up are looking pretty good.

I think everyone is feeling the pressure to perform. I’m making myself sick thinking about grading.. oh boy.. Imagine writing an exam you’re not completely prepared for and multiply that by a 100 and you’ll know how I’m feeling right now. For those of you who don’t get worried or nervous, than lucky you.

*the link to the Katas are the ones I could find for now, but we do our Katas a little bit differently, and by different I mean we do a lot like how Sensei Shiomitsu does it. But for now you get the idea.

I wrote this on 9 February 07 when I was feeling .

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