Friday evening after dinner with the Knox family, Sherilee & I were on our way to Bryan-san. We arrived in Vereeniging just past 9pm.
After some coffee & chit-chat with him & Anita (aka mommy) we were off to bed at 11:30pm.
5am we were up & gearing our selves for Sensei Mike’s welcome back training.
Sherilee is still going for physio for her knees, so KWF karate would not help, so she was just going to be a spectator.
As we left the house we checked the temperature outside & it was -3.5 degrees Celsius!!! It was at this point when I realized how much I miss Port Elizabeth.
As we arrived, we received our normal welcoming from all the Vanderbylpark karateka. I must say I always feel apart of the Dukas karate Institute, it is like a family away from home. There are times when I feel more at home in Sensei Mike’s or Bryan-san’ dojo than I do within my own association.
Sensei Leon van Volleenstee joined us from Witbank aswell. It was so nice to see him again.
Training commenced at 6am with some slow punches. We then moved onto OI-ZUKI… in slow motion. We broke it up into two phases: one being the first half of the step over working on rolling over the front knee & keeping the hips the same height, ensuring that the knees both keep to the front 100%, this is my problem, mine buckle a bit.
A point that I was working on is something I heard from within the KWF Sohonbu dojo, then bending or forcing of the front heel into the ground when starting the move, flexing the ankle to past the normal maximum.
From there we worked on the thrust of the rear leg, but keeping the heel down, as it is the source of power & also keeping the same height… I am still not able to do this like Bryan! & also the pushing of the opposite hip as this is the second vector of the KWF triangle of power.
Yahara Sensei’s KWF believe strongly in a straight rear leg, which is very different to Abe Sensei’ JSKA, also Abe Sensei works a lot on a wider stance for more stability, but KWF is all about long…. More… get there & go through.
This obviously had me working my behind off. Well that & the fact Sherilee was giving signals on how I must correct myself according to Sensei Mike’s general instructions. This is where everything got tough. Sensei Mike started pointing out my mistakes… (which I am greatly appreciative for)… “coming up”, “buckling the knees at half way”, “ridge of rear foot not 100% on the ground”… that did not help as every time this happened, it was as if Sensei & Sherilee were working in tandem… I am not really complaining, I actually really appreciate him drilling me, that is why I go there in the first place!
From there we moved onto oi-gyaku-zuki, keeping in mind the things we just worked on we did this over & over & OVER. You have to love basics!!!
With very little time left we worked with a partner with jodan oi-zuki with the passive person only moving back (no blocking). The second part was including the age-uke with maximum hanmi & a blasting gyaku-zuki.
The third phase was the continuous age-uke-gyaku-zuki, as if down with one breathe & one motion. I noticed moving my left leg back was slower than the right back.
We then worked on the attacker deciding (& not nominating) either jodan or chudan (at full pace) & having to defend this & counter in one motion, either age-uke-gyaku-zuki or soto-uke-gyaku-zuki.
The class ended with Yahara Sensei Bassai-dai, which is majorly different to that of the Karate Academy, but I like the feeling of “BACK TO THE ROOTS”, it is what drives me towards Karatenomichi.
Bryan-san always has input to give when Sensei Mike is teaching, sometimes when a senior tries to put his bit in, it gets rather irritating, but with Bryan-san, well his ability to do Yahara Sensei’s karate, just makes my jaw drop to the ground… so I love it when he pops in his notes along with Sensei Mike’s teachings.
After class we all went for coffee at Wimpy. After this Bryan had to rush home as it was time to visit little Mikayla in hospital.
Once again Sensei Mike’s training was that of awesomeness!
I want to thank Sensei Mike Dukas & also our friends at The Dukas Karate Institute for the awesome training!
To Bryan & Anita Dukas, thank you so much for your awesome friendship & hospitality! You guys are super stars!!!
OSS!!!
ps:
24 days to
KSA Senior Champs (Port Elizabeth)
46 days to
14th International Development Shotokan Karate Championships & friendly Shoto-Cup (Potchefstroom)
82 days to
Dan Grading (Pretoria)
