Hmm… have been a busy bee recently and have lots of things to talk about, so will backtrack a little to start…
A couple of weeks ago we had a bit of a hectic Seminar in preparation for the upcoming European Championships in April which left me battered and bruised, but very happy. I actually wrote my review the day after but have been a bit slack and am only now posting it along with a general update.
The two days prior to the seminar were long and mind numbingly boring shifts in work and I also picked up a spot of the old man-flu which did not help matters. This made me feel a bit low and tired, so it was a welcome relief to have a nice chilled evening on the Saturday night although I did stay up quite late to my downfall. Sunday is generally a slow day for me and I found it very hard dragging myself out of bed, which meant it was a mad rush to get out of the house and over to Falmouth in time. The Europeans will be my next tournament and I am really looking forward to it, but it has thrown up a bit of a dilemma. I can only enter three categories this time and I really wanted to compete in the Chang Bong (long stick) category, but that would mean either dropping a forms category (which is where I think I stand the most realistic chance of getting a medal) or drop sparring. Sparring in my opinion is luck of the draw on the day as you can train as hard as you want but as my instructor always says, if you get the eventual winner in your first fight then you are screwed and you might get people who are bigger, faster and just plain better than you, so it is hit or miss for me which is why I toyed with the idea of entering staff forms instead. But…. I just don’t think I could go to a competition and not fight, so unfortunately I don’t think I will be testing my Chang Bong prowess this time round. It’s a shame but I think that it would be a very tough category anyway, especially as some of my Cornish comrades are entering and are so much better at stick wielding than I am so its probably for the best.
Now comes my second problem. What forms shall I compete with? I know the two that I want to compete with, but this is not really up to me as I am not the best judge of my own ability, so I will be using the upcoming senior classes to determine what my best looking forms are. I want to do Bassai for traditional forms and Chil Sung Sam Ro for the Chil Sung Category, but I have a sneaky suspicion that my instructor wants me to drop a form in both categories. I won a silver for Chil Sung Il Ro at the British Championships but I was a third Gup then so I don’t want to be doing that form if all the other first gups are performing the form above (Sam Ro), will it make a huge difference in the judges eyes and will they score higher if the form is higher? We have spent a lot of time on Pyung Ahn Oh Dan at Wednesday’s senior class recently and I have performed that form at my last two competitions so I really want to step it up now and perform Bassai at the Europeans, but again, this isn’t down to me. I will go with whatever is recommended for me and ultimately what is best for the Cornish team.
So the Falmouth Seminar then… After turning up at the last minute and feeing very embarrassed at trying to enter the wrong door and having to get changed ultra quick and rush onto the mat, things eventually got going with a warm up and stretch and then straight into forms. We were told that we would be performing our two chosen forms in groups according to grade in front of the class to discuss the finer points and subtle differences, and also that there was going to be a mini tournament where you would perform both forms in front of a judging panel, and the entire room. I am still not very confident with Bassai yet as there are loads of fine points which I need to query and correct before the tournament and was a little nervous about performing it in front of the entire class. I don’t think it went too bad but I definitely recall performing it at light speed as you often tend to do when the spotlight is on you! I did the same with Chil Sung Sam Ro but as I had already experienced the pressure I was a little more relaxed. It was the mini forms competition where I made a few errors but on the whole I was pleased.
After a quick break we had a quick warm up and stretch (tournament style) and moved onto sparring. We split into two groups with one group relaxing while the other was fighting, continuously switching to a different partner every time. It was great as I got to fight some of the up and coming green belts who are about my size and are getting pretty damn good now, but also there were lots of younger white and yellow belts I got to fight/coach too which was very pleasing. After the various drills and free practice we had another mini sparring competition where the whole group were split into two teams and had one fight each (winning team choosing fighter and opponent each time) with one team victorious at the end. It was very close and there were some epic rounds and the atmosphere was intense, more than some competitions I have been to thinking about it! I fought second to last and was up against one of our young orange belts who loves his sparring and is never afraid of getting stuck in. He caught me with some very good techniques including a sweet Peet Ch Gee which I bowed to him for, very impressive. I think he probably should have won it but the round did go in my favour.
At the end it was time for a big announcement and presentation (which I was made aware of before hand, being part time cameraman for the day) and one of my seniors was called to the front of the class. I can’t think of anyone who deserves their Dan Grade more so a huge congratulations is in order, you know who you are!! As a self confessed lightweight to hot, spicy foods I genuinely felt for you during ‘the final test’, hope you have grown your face back now!
Since the seminar, training has been very hard and I finally think I have got my fitness back up to a level I am happy with. We have started the new Viper Squad league after a couple of false starts and I have now been taught my two new forms; Sip Soo and Naihanchi Cho Dan, both of which I absolutely love. I have been dying to learn them and have been practicing both constantly in the little spare time I have to myself and both are proving quite tricky. Naihanchi Cho Dan is a lot harder than I thought it would be and I have been struggling with it quite a lot. It has some new techniques which I have not come across before like a certain move which resembles a Joong Dan Sang Soo Do Mahk Kee but turned sideways to 45 degrees and with the front hand facing palm down instead of palm up. Would love to know the Korean and the (various) application(s) of this move so will do some digging and see what I can find.
Just trying to save for the Europeans now and have a couple of seminars to keep me going in between, plus a grading in March. I cant wait to be rid of winter now and am looking forward to spring/summer.
