London Cup '12

My uni project deadline is this Friday which means i've been kendo-slack for the last few weeks, only managing a couple of practices. After my hand in I'm planning to take advantage of the short inter-module break and make a few additional weekend practices.

I fought in the London Cup team event a few weekends ago. Nenriki entered two teams this year and I felt ours was pretty strong, three of us are similar grade/experience and the final two are old hands at shiai.

I was fighting Jiho (second) and our first match was against Mumeishi B. Due to my regular practices at their club I knew my opponent, he's an Ikkyu so was less experienced than I. Nevertheless, he proved a tough guy to break down. I managed to beat him with a kote nuki men before the final bell.

Like previous years, people commented that I didn't 'claim' my points enough so most of my opportunities were not scored. This is a reoccurring issue I need to rectify, otherwise fighting in competitions will be a waste of time.

Our pool only contained two teams so both went through to the next round, where we faced Team GB 2. Again, I knew all our opponents due to squad training and faced their Jodan fighter. I knew this guy was quick and aggressive so set my stall out early to try and unsettle him, I chucked in a few rubbish tsuki just to let him know I was willing to give that target a go and tried to maintain a forward positive attitude. He kept working away at my kote and was told after I was in for a shout for a nuki men... however, at one point he managed to clip the bottom of forearm when I was lifting for a cut which was scored by the shinpan - I could tell it missed my kote due to the pain! My opponent then followed up with an identical cut which hit kote plum, no complaints about that one.

At least I put up a good fight and didn't disgrace myself. The final score was x KK x x x, which mean my result lost it for the team. I was gutted. GB 2 went on to win bronze.

Regarding general practice, i'm still struggling with posture. I'm over compensating my leaning back by leaning too far forward, leading to my back leg flicking up. O'Sullivan sensei says my posture is still looking a bit ungainly and awkward, i'm unsure if this is due to my leaning forward/backward issues or something different.

59 days until grading....

Good luck to those grading at watchet this weekend!

London Cup 2011

Due to a wedding reception and lots of booze I was only able to attend the team competition on Saturday.  Sunday was a write off with a horrible hang over, i'm glad I didn't sign up for both days.

This year I was fighting senpo for our 'B' team and was the first time I've had the responsibility of setting the pace by fighting first.  I was hoping to put in a good show to try and settle a couple of team members nerves who'd never fought in a competition before.

Well, that was my plan.

Our first opponents in the pool stage was 'International Men'.  This team comprised of a mix of Swedish and Greek (I think) fighters.  They had already fought and beat our second opponents (UCL A) before we lined up in front of them.

I wasn't feeling that nervous when I entered the shiai jo.  However, on the shout of 'HAJIME!' all I can say was I froze... I felt like a rabbit in the headlights and not in control at all.  The guy I was fighting was very nippy and attacked at speed, I seemed to be second best the cut every time.  I could suggest that he was already warmed up from his first fight but he was simply much better then me.  I was finished off before the bell with two men cuts.  The rest of the team tumbled to a whitewash with the exception of Oli (our Taisho) who managed a draw.

I was very disappointed with myself and felt I'd let the team down.  Saying that, 'International Men' ended up taking third place so we were fighting experienced players.

Our second match against UCL A was straight up after.  I was determined to give it a better go so tried to increase my kiai and aggression.  I cant really remember much of the match but I recall chasing the guy around the shiai jo every time he did the old 'cut and run away' thing, it must have looked amusing from the sidelines.  I managed ippon first, I think we both went for men but I snuck my cut in first... unfortunately, he took a point back with a men after I performed a dodgy kote.  Drat.

The rest of the team gave it the best but we defeated in the end with three losses and two draws.  Unlucky chaps.

It was nice to see our team members gain experience in the competitive side of kendo and for the first time I kind of enjoyed the fight.  I didn't feel the terror of previous years, I just need to start winning some matches.

M3's 2010

We entered two teams into this year's Mumeishi 3's which was the biggest yet with over 65 teams competing from all over Europe. I think what make this competition so popular is that three men squads (two dan and one kyu grade) there is fast turn around of matches and it gives a chance to blood beginners.

I was fighting as number two (chuken ) and our first match was against Mumeishi 'A'. Seyi our kyu grade performed really well and won his match 1-0, I started well in mine with a quick kote... however, I did the same as in the British Open and threw it away by losing a men and kote. Was very annoyed with myself! This left the match all square at 2-2 points. Oli fought into encho and took it with a winning men cut.

Our next match was against Tora 'B'. I know these guys pretty well so knew the quality we were facing. Seyi fought Josh, who graded shodan this year. Seyi didnt give him any room to manoeuvre and drew 0-0.

I fought their kyu grade, I could tell he'd been given instructions to stay close and keep in my face so I couldn't attack from distance. He was doing a good job well until wakare was called and we were parted. This then gave me room and I got him with a small men on the restart. 1-0.

This left Oli to fight Dipak who was their best fighter. Dipack went ahead early but Oli managed to tie the match late on giving us the win.

We were drawn against Portsmouth 'A' in the next round. Again I knew these guys from visiting their dojo in the past. Seyi was paired against a Japanese lady and did his usual straight cuts without letting them settle. Another 0-0.

I was matched against the kyu grade again which upped the pressure as people were expecting me to win. However, things didnt't do to plan as I couldn't get a clean cut. I did notice that he was lingering next to the shaijo line which gave me the opportunity to cut then nudge him out for a hansoku. After the restart he again retreated near the line so I attempted a cut/taiatari to send him out for a second hansoku..... i'm unsure if I hit him with a genuine taiatari or a shoulder barge but I sent him sprawling across the floor. I felt really bad as I don't usually fight dirty (I hope they let me train with them again!). It finished 0-0.

It was down to Oli again to win it for us again who was matched against their 3rd dan taisho. Both fought well and it stayed 0-0 though full time, encho and ended with a judges' decision (Hantei) which was given Oil's way. A tough way to go out as both sides fought hard.

This win meant we'd made it to the quarter final against Wakaba.

Seyi again drew his match 0-0 against their kyu grade (meaning he was defeated in every match), and I was drawn against Andris who i've practiced against many times before. I felt I kept my end up well during the match but he caught me with a kote, ending 1-0. This meant Oli had to beat their taisho to keep us in it. Unfortunately, Takuya was too strong and won the match.

We performed our expectations to make it into the quarters although my team mates did carry me though most of the matches. The main positive I've taken from this competition is the vast reduction in nerves while in the shiaijo. Hopefully I will start to loosen up for future shiai and help score a few more points.

Slack Month

Due to a number of events over the last month or so i've been unable to practice much kendo. A combination of illness (the dreaded yearly autumn cold/flu outbreak), my brother's stag do (Munich beerfest. yay!), wedding and house decorating meant I missed a lot of dojo time.

However, i've now been back for just over a week. I'm short on form but still managing to concentrate on my footwork. I have worked out that i'm balancing more on my back foot in kamae which could explain why i'm lifting my front foot up high and stamping when i launch forward. Consequently, i'm trying to shift my centre of balance more to the front foot (40/60) which helps raise my heals and bend my knees. I'm finding it difficult to retrain my muscle memory but I need to persevere.

I also fought in the British Open Taikai last Saturday. Unfortunately, I lost in the first round after going 1-0 up with a men cut, I lost my concentration in the latter part of the match and lost to two kote. I should have closed the match down instead of fighting for a second point... oh well, i'll mark it down to experience.

Beginners

An usual week this week.

Its my turn to take the new beginners group for the next 8 weeks. At our club Shodan and above take it in turns to run the course so we all gain experience in teaching kendo (under supervision from sensei). The course introduces basic big men cuts, kirikaeshi and an introduction to Bogu.

This was my first one so I was pretty nervous about taking a class of 25 people. I broke the class into basic footwork, kamae and men cut (split into 3 then 2 'phases' of cut). The class was finished with 10-15 mins of hyasuburi. Hopefully I can keep the newbs interested for a few weeks, but we all know how bad the attrition rate is in kendo ;)

Saturday and Sunday was the London Cup. I fought in the first pool match for us in the team comp, we had more than 5 people in the squad so we were allowed subs. Nas and Oli took turns for later matches.

I fought against a lady from the Dutch national squad (Chung). She was much shorter but quicker than me and won with a degote. Two disappointing things about my performance. One, my usual problem with attacking too close allowing the kote and two, crap zanshin/kiai. I spoke with one of the shinpan afterwards who said I would have scored at least one men cut if i'd claimed the point more convincingly.

Sunday was the individuals and I was paired against Lee from Shiraoka in Scotland. I didn't last very long against this lad, he was too strong for me.

Not a very good couple of days really. However, the one improvement from previous shiai is that I didn't feel as nervous as before. Maybe in another 10 years I will be able to get into the second round?