It's over and we did it!!! We successfully completed our Nidan grading on Wednesday night. It was definitely the most stressful grading that we ever did. Everything that we had studied was covered in the grading and our intense preparations definitely paid off.
We started with kata, which we both managed to make minor mistakes in. Not a very good start for me seeing as how kata is normally the one thing I can do reasonably well. My nerves definitely got the better of me. As Sensei Brousseau told me later, I did my first kata so fast he almost thought he could see smoke coming from my heels. Oops.
Everything else seemed to fall into place after that and our kobohs, self defense, pressure points and sparring went well. The bunkai portion, which we had been the most nervous about when we first started preparing for this grading, went really well. We only needed to demonstrate six bunkai from the forty-two that we had learned. Board breaking went really well, too! I was extremely happy that all of my boards broke on the first try. This is the only part of a grading that I don't practice for at home first! Mark's double break with a shuto strike was awesome!
All in all, we were happy with the way the grading went. That nervous feeling is gone and we are super excited to be back in class. Now it is our turn to help others prepare for their next belts.
Although as Mark said to me yesterday, "Better ask Sensei Brousseau for the requirements for Sandan. We've only got three years and it wouldn't hurt to get a start on it." Never ending journey indeed!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Night Before
Well, we've almost made it. It is the night before. Seeing as how it is 9:40pm we can only hope that by this time tomorrow night the grading will long be over. We both have this constant nervous feeling that won't go away and I woke up this morning with a pounding headache. Mark has one right now. I know we should be in bed early but we are going to go over the bunkai just one more time tonight.
We've had lots of people wish us luck which was really nice. Everyone says they know that we are going to do well, I only wish we knew that, too. It's just too easy to get up in front of everyone and totally forget what you had planned on doing. We know everything inside out and backwards at this point, I only hope that we are able to demonstrate that. I think my biggest fear is that after all of the preparation we have done for this (and it has been A LOT) that we will still do a terrible job and all of the work will have been for nothing. That would be the worst.
We've had lots of people wish us luck which was really nice. Everyone says they know that we are going to do well, I only wish we knew that, too. It's just too easy to get up in front of everyone and totally forget what you had planned on doing. We know everything inside out and backwards at this point, I only hope that we are able to demonstrate that. I think my biggest fear is that after all of the preparation we have done for this (and it has been A LOT) that we will still do a terrible job and all of the work will have been for nothing. That would be the worst.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Almost There
It's Sunday night and we are just taking a break from going over everything we need for our grading again. We've worked on all of the bunkai again (all 42!), each of our self defense (10), each of our pressure points (10) and all of the terminology. Today I went and bought the wood we need for our board breaking. I imagine it's not too often that the people at Home Building Centre hear a customer say "Give me the crappiest wood you've got, you know, the stuff that will break in two if you look at it sideways."
We taught Saturday morning at 9am and had a great class. It is a refreshing break to focus on what other people need to learn. It gives us a chance to forget about ourselves and the grading. We have such eager students, we love sharing all of the things we've learned over the years.
After class we went over all of our katas. Over and over again. Fast and slow. There are fourteen kata that we need to know. We both had sore legs for the rest of the weekend.
We have one more chance to work with our ukes Monday night. Tuesday night is a rest night for me, Mark is working (by choice - he needs the distraction). Everything has to be a little slower and with less force now, we can't take the chance that we, or our ukes, might get hurt.
And now back to studying...
We taught Saturday morning at 9am and had a great class. It is a refreshing break to focus on what other people need to learn. It gives us a chance to forget about ourselves and the grading. We have such eager students, we love sharing all of the things we've learned over the years.
After class we went over all of our katas. Over and over again. Fast and slow. There are fourteen kata that we need to know. We both had sore legs for the rest of the weekend.
We have one more chance to work with our ukes Monday night. Tuesday night is a rest night for me, Mark is working (by choice - he needs the distraction). Everything has to be a little slower and with less force now, we can't take the chance that we, or our ukes, might get hurt.
And now back to studying...
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Pressure is On
It's Friday. I can't make it in to the club tonight although Mark can. Which leaves Saturday and Monday to work on our stuff in the dojo, the rest will have to be done at home. Five more days. Just a sec while I take a deep breath......okay, I feel a little bit better now. (not really though)
We worked on techniques over the phone today on Mark's way to work, that was a little tricky. Should your hand be like this, or like this? Hmmm. No, definitely the first way. ?!?
I need to study my pressure points a little bit more today, we'll work on bunkai after supper tonight and we plan on going through all of our kata tomorrow morning. It's really nice being able to do this together. Although I've noticed that if one of us isn't stressing enough about the grading the other one will usually point out reasons why we should just sit down and cry. I'm not sure that's what "being there for each other" means but we're going to go with that.
I'm working on another article for our club's website and I came across this thought 'Karate-do is the method of developing the mind and body together as one unit'. Let's hope they work together next Wednesday night!
We worked on techniques over the phone today on Mark's way to work, that was a little tricky. Should your hand be like this, or like this? Hmmm. No, definitely the first way. ?!?
I need to study my pressure points a little bit more today, we'll work on bunkai after supper tonight and we plan on going through all of our kata tomorrow morning. It's really nice being able to do this together. Although I've noticed that if one of us isn't stressing enough about the grading the other one will usually point out reasons why we should just sit down and cry. I'm not sure that's what "being there for each other" means but we're going to go with that.
I'm working on another article for our club's website and I came across this thought 'Karate-do is the method of developing the mind and body together as one unit'. Let's hope they work together next Wednesday night!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
On our way to Nidan
In less than one week my husband and I will both be grading for our Nidan (second degree) black belt. This has been a long time coming (four years in fact!). Many things have changed since then but we are very excited to be preparing for such an important grading together.
Much of our time now is spent in preparation. Time in the dojo and time at home. Ever done kata while waiting for your coffee in the morning? This is quite typical in our home. Or worked on bunkai at 10pm? Our children don't even look surprised anymore when they come down the stairs to find one of us on the floor in a breakfall position and the other executing a wrist lock. They simply say hi and walk around us to get to the fridge. Except the little one who usually has a hug for whoever is still upright.
The closer the grading gets, the worse our nerves get. And we know that no matter how hard we study and practice, the second the grading starts we will forget almost everything (usually just until the grading ends). :)
Oh, well. As one of the five guiding principles of the Dojo Kun states "Each person must endeavor" and endeavor we will!
Much of our time now is spent in preparation. Time in the dojo and time at home. Ever done kata while waiting for your coffee in the morning? This is quite typical in our home. Or worked on bunkai at 10pm? Our children don't even look surprised anymore when they come down the stairs to find one of us on the floor in a breakfall position and the other executing a wrist lock. They simply say hi and walk around us to get to the fridge. Except the little one who usually has a hug for whoever is still upright.
The closer the grading gets, the worse our nerves get. And we know that no matter how hard we study and practice, the second the grading starts we will forget almost everything (usually just until the grading ends). :)
Oh, well. As one of the five guiding principles of the Dojo Kun states "Each person must endeavor" and endeavor we will!
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