It's the day after kyu promotion at Honbu and I'm feeling pretty good minus the stiff neck from the fender bender that Max and I were involved in last night while on the way home (nothing serious, we're fine, I just got a bit of whip lash but luckily we were wearing seat belts and the driver wasn't going too fast).
Yesterday's promotions kicked off with the white belt promotion at 11:30 and at 12:30, blue through advanced yellow--the group I was part of--began their promotion. Firstly, I couldn't help but notice the size of this group compared to prior promotions. There had to be 45-50 of us at least and we were packed along the sides of the first floor of the Honbu dojo like sardines when I came in around noon. The Saturday kata class instructed by Nidaime was going on so there wasn't much room for stretching until we were called upstairs. Yet, we were quite the ball of energy--blue belts, advanced blue belts, yellow belts, advanced yellow belts--attempting to stretch, doing short, modified versions of our katas, and speaking in nervous and excited voices of what was to come in just 15 minutes. I myself was off to the side stretching my legs when Nidaime authoritatively cut short the discussion of the boisterous group. The group, now very quite and some a bit surprised because they had no idea that they had had gotten so loud was called upstairs a few short minutes later. Upon going upstairs to the second floor of the Honbu dojo, we began the written portion of the test. For me, the written test for yellow belt was fair enough--I was lucky to recently start visualizing all of my material mentally from start to finish with all of tournament practice as this test was in my opinion more descriptive. But enough about the test, those of you who have yet to take the yellow belt test will just have to find out when the time comes ;) and those of you who have taken it however long ago may be able to see where I'm coming from in my assessment :)
Next was the hour long physical portion of the test (The promotion is roughly 2 hours). For me, I found this promotion for me to be challenging enough and I really pushed myself in this one--as I try to push harder with each one. There is sometimes this tendency when engaging in any periodic event to relax too much after enduring a couple of them and develop a fatigue about the activity but I can honestly say that I was very focused and stayed on my toes regardless and many of us testing that day can definitely say the same. Because once you allow yourself to develop a nonchalant fatigue about your training and promoting, it will affect your motivation, your physical skill/progress and mental growth from the activity. As a person I respect very much once said with many things in this world, "If you pay for it, you'll get it"--so really, it's up to you to make the most of it, give your best and give it some type of meaning. Some martial arts schools (whether it's karate, mma or tae kwon do) have fell into the pitfall of becoming highly commercialized and consumed with keeping students at all costs and generating a high profit even if it means compromising the integrity of the style or way. Now, I won't bury my head in the sand when it comes to Economics 101 as I went to b-school but there is a point where people must understand that this is karate, that it is something that is beautiful and strong and has been around for hundreds of years and that they owe it to the style itself (and ultimately to themselves) to learn and do their very best and grow from it. And I feel that Kaicho, other senior instructors and Seido karate in general is reinforcing this principle.
After the physical test for promotion ended, we all gathered around Kaicho, Jun Shihan Walter, and other very senior members of Seido and had a brief but intimate group discussion that was very much a mirror of the spirit at Seido Honbu and Seido dojos everywhere. Before I knew it, it was all over! A flurry of yellow and blue belts heading downstairs while the physical portion of the green through brown belt promotion started (Max tested today for brown belt :))
Well, promotion results go up Friday, October 31st for all kyu belts so I will know the official results of my test to promote to advanced yellow belt. It was an eventful day and it was over way too soon. Stayed tuned for future entries that include pieces on the dynamic Seido YAI program and notes from Seido instructors and Seido students all over the world this coming November!
Osu Everyone,
Danielle
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Seido Karate 32nd Anniversary & Benefit Tournament
The Seido Karate 32nd Anniversary & Benefit Tournament held yesterday at Hunter College proved to be an unforgettable experience for so many of us in the Seido family and I can definitely say that I am one of them :)
Yesterday morning, I woke up at 6:50 am and my first thought was, it's morning already?!, as my sleep the night before was short and shallow because of all the jitters and mental rehearsals of my Pinan II. And my second thought was, I have a 8 am meeting at Hunter College for tournament volunteers! So after getting ready in record speed, I quickly threw together two fried egg whites with onion and tomatoes on an everything bagel and Max and I hoped in the car and somehow made it to Hunter College just past 8 am. By the time I got there, the gym was buzzing with life and it was safe to say that nobody in their right mind would have tried to rob Hunter College that morning with the place so densely packed with karateka. I checked in and headed to the gym to attend the meeting that Senpai Barbara was holding for volunteers in her group, got a quick tutorial in scorekeeping and timekeeping and headed to the locker room and proceeded to get lost in the miles and miles of locker rows before settling a locker and getting changed. Kyu kata started at 9:30 am and so that was less than an hour away.
I did some stretching and reviewed some parts of the kata mostly the side thrust kick out of crane stance which I was afraid I would lose my balance on and the basics such as returning to stance correctly at the end of my kata. Other than that, I made some rounds and spoke with others I saw from class (see below). Despite being mortified of making a fool of myself, I was in good spirits with all of the festivities to come (see below). Even Max was in good spirits despite having to practically park in Canada--not really but it was far! (see below).
The announcement for kyu kata came all too soon and myself and a half dozen other women participating in the yellow belt division were called over to ring 2. I was a bit afraid that I'd go first I must admit but I was ready either way as there was no turning back. I thanked all the luck stars in the entire milky way galaxy when I was told I would be going 3rd. In addition, the judges told us that the first three participants would not receive scores until after the three of us completed our kata and that lessened some of my anxieties. I believe this call was made--and I'm not privy to the reasoning exactly--because the judges wanted to create a solid foundation and an appropriate rubric for scoring all 8 of us participating in this division and the seeing the first 3 without scoring yet would help to foster this. Many of us who have went early in the kata division of a tournament (I was 2nd to go in May) know that being one of the first three up isn't always the best spot to be in because a) it's nerve-wrecking, b) you haven't really seen anyone else do their kata yet so you perspective of how it looks in the ring from a spectator view isn't available and c) the judges haven't seen anybody else do their kata yet either.
Well, I was ready by the time they had called me. I approached the judges, bowed, gave my name, my dojo and, my kata. And in no time at all, I heard Yoi! (meaning "get ready") and Hajime! (meaning "begin"). I started a bit off mostly because the floor was slippery (ask anyone doing kumite in the tournament) but quickly gained my bearing and was able to do a half way decent kata afterall. I nailed the first kai (yell that is designed to release energy and break down your opponent's nervous system) which I was happy about because my kai is pretty weak mostly, I kept my balance on my kick and on the last move, an upper block, I almost forgot to kai but remembered a split second later and added it (better late than never). After I finished, the judges spoke for a little bit and called each of us to receive our scores. When I was called up I received mostly 8's and after dropping the lowest and highest score, I received a 40.5. Overall, I finished 5th out of 8 women in my division but I was pretty happy because I had a great time, had worked pretty hard on learning one of the more difficult Pinan kata, and had overcome my fear of getting back up there after coming last (7th out of 7 women) in the May tournament. With my kata over, I was free to get some more pictures and some movies of Max in the kumite portion where he came in first place in the advanced green belt division :)
I finally got a chance to get in on some kumite action later in the day when I was timekeeper for team kumite. It was my first time volunteering and I had a blast. After a quick bite to eat I was back to watch the children's tournament. I must admit that seeing 4 and 5 year olds doing kata is the cutest thing that I've ever seen in my life. Following the children's tournament, there was a children's demonstration including a portion by the Seido junior black belts. These kids were great as they broke boards and wowed the audience with jumping side kicks over 4 of their peers, breaking a boards. One moment stuck out to me though. A little girl who was part of the junior black belt demonstration attempted to break a board with her elbow and as all of her peers broke their boards, hers was only one that didn't. After another attempt, it did not break and the little girl began crying. I was way high up in the bleachers watching and I could hear her and it really bothered me to see her so upset because even at 22 years old I could relate to that feeling all too well. But with help and encouragement from Nidame and the audience she was able to break the board after a few tries. The audience erupted in a thunderous applause and I was cheering her along with them because it was very brave to continue to try when it would have been so easy to give up. That is what makes Seido Karate such an amazing thing to be a part of. Other inspiring moments included the special demonstration where students from the Blind program (for visually impaired students) and the Young Adult Institute program (for students who have various disabilities). Also, Nidame Kyoshi Akira received a ceremonial belt from Kaicho who gave a brief speech expressing how proud he was of Nidame and how hard has worked.
Later that day, we saw more amazing feats in the breaking competition where black belts not only broke wooden boards but baseball bats and concrete slabs. One participant broke two concrete slaps with his forehead as well as two concrete slaps with his hand which scored him a 49.5 out of 50 and another participant broke a wooden board with one finger as well as another board via a spinning heel kick. Kyoshi Paul, who scored an amazing 49.9 and finished in first place broke one baseball bat with his hand and two baseball bats with a single kick. The black belt action didn't end there but culminated in the final fights which crowned two new grand champions (one man and one woman black belt) and the presentation of the SOGO awards for men and women black belts who competed in kata, kumite, and breaking.
At around 7 pm, the tournament came to an end and exhausted but happy, I called it a day. My first Benefit Tournament was an unforgettable experience and now I am ready to continue training and I look forward to what's to come :) This coming Saturday is promotion and I'm going for advanced yellow belt. I am fine tuning everything for promotion and I hope it's a successful one. Anyhow, I'll write following the promotion.
Yesterday morning, I woke up at 6:50 am and my first thought was, it's morning already?!, as my sleep the night before was short and shallow because of all the jitters and mental rehearsals of my Pinan II. And my second thought was, I have a 8 am meeting at Hunter College for tournament volunteers! So after getting ready in record speed, I quickly threw together two fried egg whites with onion and tomatoes on an everything bagel and Max and I hoped in the car and somehow made it to Hunter College just past 8 am. By the time I got there, the gym was buzzing with life and it was safe to say that nobody in their right mind would have tried to rob Hunter College that morning with the place so densely packed with karateka. I checked in and headed to the gym to attend the meeting that Senpai Barbara was holding for volunteers in her group, got a quick tutorial in scorekeeping and timekeeping and headed to the locker room and proceeded to get lost in the miles and miles of locker rows before settling a locker and getting changed. Kyu kata started at 9:30 am and so that was less than an hour away.
I did some stretching and reviewed some parts of the kata mostly the side thrust kick out of crane stance which I was afraid I would lose my balance on and the basics such as returning to stance correctly at the end of my kata. Other than that, I made some rounds and spoke with others I saw from class (see below). Despite being mortified of making a fool of myself, I was in good spirits with all of the festivities to come (see below). Even Max was in good spirits despite having to practically park in Canada--not really but it was far! (see below).
The announcement for kyu kata came all too soon and myself and a half dozen other women participating in the yellow belt division were called over to ring 2. I was a bit afraid that I'd go first I must admit but I was ready either way as there was no turning back. I thanked all the luck stars in the entire milky way galaxy when I was told I would be going 3rd. In addition, the judges told us that the first three participants would not receive scores until after the three of us completed our kata and that lessened some of my anxieties. I believe this call was made--and I'm not privy to the reasoning exactly--because the judges wanted to create a solid foundation and an appropriate rubric for scoring all 8 of us participating in this division and the seeing the first 3 without scoring yet would help to foster this. Many of us who have went early in the kata division of a tournament (I was 2nd to go in May) know that being one of the first three up isn't always the best spot to be in because a) it's nerve-wrecking, b) you haven't really seen anyone else do their kata yet so you perspective of how it looks in the ring from a spectator view isn't available and c) the judges haven't seen anybody else do their kata yet either.
Well, I was ready by the time they had called me. I approached the judges, bowed, gave my name, my dojo and, my kata. And in no time at all, I heard Yoi! (meaning "get ready") and Hajime! (meaning "begin"). I started a bit off mostly because the floor was slippery (ask anyone doing kumite in the tournament) but quickly gained my bearing and was able to do a half way decent kata afterall. I nailed the first kai (yell that is designed to release energy and break down your opponent's nervous system) which I was happy about because my kai is pretty weak mostly, I kept my balance on my kick and on the last move, an upper block, I almost forgot to kai but remembered a split second later and added it (better late than never). After I finished, the judges spoke for a little bit and called each of us to receive our scores. When I was called up I received mostly 8's and after dropping the lowest and highest score, I received a 40.5. Overall, I finished 5th out of 8 women in my division but I was pretty happy because I had a great time, had worked pretty hard on learning one of the more difficult Pinan kata, and had overcome my fear of getting back up there after coming last (7th out of 7 women) in the May tournament. With my kata over, I was free to get some more pictures and some movies of Max in the kumite portion where he came in first place in the advanced green belt division :)
I finally got a chance to get in on some kumite action later in the day when I was timekeeper for team kumite. It was my first time volunteering and I had a blast. After a quick bite to eat I was back to watch the children's tournament. I must admit that seeing 4 and 5 year olds doing kata is the cutest thing that I've ever seen in my life. Following the children's tournament, there was a children's demonstration including a portion by the Seido junior black belts. These kids were great as they broke boards and wowed the audience with jumping side kicks over 4 of their peers, breaking a boards. One moment stuck out to me though. A little girl who was part of the junior black belt demonstration attempted to break a board with her elbow and as all of her peers broke their boards, hers was only one that didn't. After another attempt, it did not break and the little girl began crying. I was way high up in the bleachers watching and I could hear her and it really bothered me to see her so upset because even at 22 years old I could relate to that feeling all too well. But with help and encouragement from Nidame and the audience she was able to break the board after a few tries. The audience erupted in a thunderous applause and I was cheering her along with them because it was very brave to continue to try when it would have been so easy to give up. That is what makes Seido Karate such an amazing thing to be a part of. Other inspiring moments included the special demonstration where students from the Blind program (for visually impaired students) and the Young Adult Institute program (for students who have various disabilities). Also, Nidame Kyoshi Akira received a ceremonial belt from Kaicho who gave a brief speech expressing how proud he was of Nidame and how hard has worked.
Later that day, we saw more amazing feats in the breaking competition where black belts not only broke wooden boards but baseball bats and concrete slabs. One participant broke two concrete slaps with his forehead as well as two concrete slaps with his hand which scored him a 49.5 out of 50 and another participant broke a wooden board with one finger as well as another board via a spinning heel kick. Kyoshi Paul, who scored an amazing 49.9 and finished in first place broke one baseball bat with his hand and two baseball bats with a single kick. The black belt action didn't end there but culminated in the final fights which crowned two new grand champions (one man and one woman black belt) and the presentation of the SOGO awards for men and women black belts who competed in kata, kumite, and breaking.
At around 7 pm, the tournament came to an end and exhausted but happy, I called it a day. My first Benefit Tournament was an unforgettable experience and now I am ready to continue training and I look forward to what's to come :) This coming Saturday is promotion and I'm going for advanced yellow belt. I am fine tuning everything for promotion and I hope it's a successful one. Anyhow, I'll write following the promotion.
Friday, October 17, 2008
The Eve of the Seido Karate 32nd Anniversary & Benefit Tournament
I have less than 24 hours until I participate in the Seido Karate 32nd Anniversary and Benefit Tournament and I am feeling a couple of things right this very moment. Excitement, of course, because I'll be there with so friends and special people in my life and there will be plenty of new faces from Honbu as well as other from other dojos here in New York as well as from other parts of the world. Some anxiety because there will be so many people watching (I heard a rumor that nearly 600 tickets were sold...don't know if it's true) including Kaicho and all of the highest ranking seniors in Seido and because during the Interdojo Tournamnent this past May, I scored poorly coming in last place (7th) in the advanced blue belt women's division. I remember how upset I felt that night. 5 and a half months have passed since then, now I am a yellow belt and I can definitely say I trained and prepared much more for this tournament so I hope that I do much better. I have a bit of a different mindset. Before I was competing (and coming in last, I felt like I lost) and tomorrow I will be participating, meaning I am taking advantage of being part of something great, over-coming the fear of performing my kata in front of hundreds of people and, hoping to become better as a result of my focus, dedication and spirit. And getting that far should feel like winning no matter what place I come in.
I am doing Pinan II, a really beautiful kata with lots of fancy techniques. I have practiced it about 75 times outside of class. I have Honbu instructors like Kaicho, Jun Shihan Debra, Kyoshi Billy, Sensei Marc, Senpai PJ and as well my yellow belt peers, Max Gubin (3rd kyu, advanced green belt), and others I'm probably forgetting to thank for watching me practice my Pinan II kata over the past month and offer advice on technique overall, stances, strikes--anything, you name it--as well as answering my dozens of questions even when they had others things to do. I've made it this far--training for the tournament and actually taking the up the opportunity to participate again despite a poor showing in the May tournament--because of the support of so many at Seido Honbu. Best of luck to everyone competing tomorrow and hope see many faces tomorrow at Hunter College!
I am doing Pinan II, a really beautiful kata with lots of fancy techniques. I have practiced it about 75 times outside of class. I have Honbu instructors like Kaicho, Jun Shihan Debra, Kyoshi Billy, Sensei Marc, Senpai PJ and as well my yellow belt peers, Max Gubin (3rd kyu, advanced green belt), and others I'm probably forgetting to thank for watching me practice my Pinan II kata over the past month and offer advice on technique overall, stances, strikes--anything, you name it--as well as answering my dozens of questions even when they had others things to do. I've made it this far--training for the tournament and actually taking the up the opportunity to participate again despite a poor showing in the May tournament--because of the support of so many at Seido Honbu. Best of luck to everyone competing tomorrow and hope see many faces tomorrow at Hunter College!
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