Today ended up being less keiko than I would have hoped, as regular keiko was truncated to make way for team-based shiaigeiko.  I was exhausted very quickly.  In shiai, as senpo, I managed to hikiwake one of my younger rivals despite his shodachi kote with a hiki-do that came from nowhere.  I’m surprisingly good at that, and feel good because Sensei did award that point to me as well.  Still, I do need to better modulate the kiai, saving it for an explosion for ippon.

Tonight turned unexpectedly into shiai, which was fine, I guess, since I managed to win my match with a clean men straight out of sonkyo.  I really should worry less, though, about winning and losing, but it’s difficult to not care when everyone is watching–it’s somehow easier in actual competition.  Other than that, I had a few good kote in kihongeiko because I was all loose…  And I had some pretty great kote-nuki-men.

Today’s shiaigeiko was more of a seminar for shimpan than anything else, though I guess it was fun doing things to provide them with training experiences, such as losing my shinai (did I knock out a lamp?) and unnecessary roughness.  It was odd too because though in practice it was just mostly unbearable, the faux-shiai practice felt better, perhaps just because I was only up against kohai but still had to consciously change things up against opponents, mostly some misete fakes in order to open up a kote for some opponents who kept on blocking their men too much.  I guess I do need to work on confidence first, and greater variety and unpredictability–numerous sensei have remarked on my “honesty” or tendency to hit in the same pattern over and over again.

I was definitely very apprehensive today when it came to approaching my six shiai-geiko matches, and shiai sensei indeed scolded me after for my lack of observation.  Mostly I was afraid of losing to my juniors, which I didn’t do, though I ended up tying them, which is not much better.  Overall, I went 2-1-3, but I need to observe more and not rush in as much, even though it’s shiai.  Keep up the pressure, tone down the attacks…

Meanwhile, Sensei in his overview speech likens kendo to shooting a rifle.  Unclear if this helps me, but the point is that when shooting a rifle, one must line up the wooden stock against something, firmly.  The left leg is like this wooden stock, and must be turned inward to face the opponent, not all pigeon-toed, which would be like lining up the rifle against one’s chest.  Off of that foundation the strikes come out straight.

Tonight’s first thirty minutes were very encouraging, but the following two hours of shiaigeiko were less than enthralling, mostly because I was never on-deck.  But that’s all right, as Thursday will be my day to shine or dim.

Shiai season is definitely not among my favorites but at the least it ups the ante and gives some of that all-too-unwelcome scrutiny: I guess this time around there are actual tryouts for team placement, which should be extra incentive, even though I tend to choke. It’s good, even though I’ll likely now miss one practice a week due to classes next semester at least. My goal is not so much shiai as shinsa, June 2009.

Some brief comments on the 10th Rensei.

The seminar led by Teramoto-Sensei seemed pretty standard, at least for someone at our dojo–how to pick up a shinai, kihon-uchi, renzoku-waza, and other forgotten minutiae.

Today’s shiai was a late start for me due to weather and then I went up for nidan division for the first time in four years. Against my first opponent, she kept on raising her hands and so I could not score effectively: she scored a dodgy men on me after some tsuba-zeriai nonsense. Then, noticing that chushin almost scored a hiki-doh for me, I started trying to hit doh, finally landing a nice solid forward-one. We go to encho and after more of the same grappling in tsubazeriai, before I do one of my dodgy kote-men combos and score.

The second match is one of these perfect kote-nuki-men setups, except he keeps dodging his men. We grapple scoreless for a while, and eventually he lands a kote, and I don’t have time to take it back. This is why I don’t like shiai.

We brought three teams, and all lost in the first round. We were up againt the host A team, so I don’t feel all that bad, actually. My match was one I lost 0-1, due to a kote again, though I think it was relatively legitimate. Always next time. Overall, the competition felt much stronger than before.

So it’s shiai season, which means that practice is abbreviated by shiaigeiko nightly, only to run long as the matches wear on. I reflect on the last two practice matches I had.

It’s always tricky, these dojo-based matches, because everyone is watching and so you not only really want to do your best, but will see these people very soon again. It’s also tricky because sometimes it’s better as the underdog, since you’ve got less rep to lose that way.

Tuesday, the match was against a Korean kohai who is quite good at the shiai-style of practice and has a lightning fast kote. Tired as I was, I revved myself up with plenty of kiai, and from that point of view dominated the match, at one point pushing him back in tsubazeriai on the strength of my kiai alone. The first point was a hiki-men which I scored, and it did actually feel like a point to me, with plenty of backwards momentum to boot. I was satisfied with that but then we ended up exchanging blows which were ineffective, until, on the turn-around, he hit my kote with me barely noticing. That was typical for me–overthinking when I have the lead.

Thursday, the match was against another nidan who may or my not be more senior than me–he comes from our LI sister dojo, so who knows. I did my usual overthinking–he tends to be like our branch sensei in his low kamae and the way in which he tends to hit the upper corner of the men while sailing away real fast. Not too long into the match this is what he does. Sensei remarks that this point probably would count in shiai but was a little on the soft side. I am waiting, heart-pounding, in kamae before nihonme as this is said. It is a tough moment. But then with hajime, I stop thinking–much less than before at least–and before long I have scored, one, two kote. The second felt especially good, I think some species of degote, and I definitely felt the impact. Somehow, then, I managed to win the match.

I need to keep going on this–the advice Sensei gives–maximum power in the abdomen, kata-5 style high-lifting, and maximum tightness in the last two fingers–are things I will try to continue to do…

So it’s a great contrast, the transition from kata (kodachi ipponme through sanbonme) to kendo-keiko, though Saturdays usually means more focus on jigeiko, with very little kihon-geiko, and today we also squeezed in some shiai-geiko. Today actually I managed to practice against three Sensei, including one who hasn’t been around quite so much the past few months, so it was a good revisiting on my progress since then since he would yell at me in the past for various minor offenses, such as mokuso-ing wrong, breaking mawari, loosing energy. So it was good energy all throughout, with brief keikos, which I think I prefer, as I get to burst forward more.

My shiai bout was against my immediate sempai, who is also my immediate sempai overall in terms of the dojo, as he has an extra month on me, but practices far far more than I do. I started out really strong with massive kiai, and scored an ipponme men after we followed through on an attack–I nailed it with a satisfying thwack. Unfortunately, my kensen came off, and so I had to get a replacement shinai, and this meant that I broke the rhythm and after I ran all the way downstairs redfaced in full bogu, and then rushed back, never regaining the momentum, and losing with two straight men. I think another problem is that I used up most of my kiai too early on, and then was panting too much, and it was only a three minute match. I should try to play strategically–this is sanbonshobu, which means that after I have ippon I should play differently, though I suppose in real life my matches don’t go well after I have ippon–at June’s shiai, I scored a kote out of the gate, but then went down to two men’s. So it’s delicate balance–not to loosen up enough to let the opponent score, but also to not overexert and lose all my energy too quickly.

So bonusgeiko is inherently great, but it’s even better when I manage to squeeze in a nap before practice. I felt extra-crispy today as we were put through the condensed but concentrated rounds: mawari-ippon-shobu, kakari-geiko, men-taiatari-renzoku-men, and then shiai-geiko. Completely exhausting and yet at the same time invigorating. No real waza, and I still need to find a tokui-waza, though I feel as if my kote has improved greatly and isn’t something to sneeze at, but I don’t think it’s my clutch waza. It was nice to play so much jigeiko, although I guess I do miss the kihon. I have been striving to use more men and avoid kote even in jigeiko, but I shouldn’t neglect kote quite so much, while men-misete-kote might be something to play with as well. I’m told that my debana-men is of a good speed, but I need to make it much smaller and sharper, with my hands higher in zanshin–not bouncing up and showing how uncomitted my strike is, but rather going well over my opponent. Following through, following through–this is definitely something I need to work on, as I stop after even a good point.