Explosion

So I went today - which is a Saturday. I am skipping the squad for the 3rd week running... To attend B-day lunch / family gathering for my Grandma. (nice excuse)

We had an "above average" amount of kirikaeshi recently... Like today after doing it against empty air, we put our men on and went through the entire rotation (about 16 people today..!!)...

And then Eda-sensei called for the gender grouping again. So I was stuck with the girls (8 of us today). Not a big problem as after the hard rounds we had really slow kihon with Tanaka-sensei. But I wasn't sure about that other girl who kept dropping out from our round after every few cuts (like, it was just shomen or kote x2...??!?!)

Apart from the (ir)regulars there was this girl whom I haven't seen before - Tam. Actually her kendo is really straight, and better than some of those who came regularly. I hope she carries on despite the busy work hours...

Usually I choose the new faces to practice with at jikeiko time. So I went into a really good fight with Tam. I was quite happy with a lot of the cuts I made (because I got most of what I intented to do). Also I was in a teaching mode suddenly - and have the confidence to commend in Cantonese. She seems to be the type who listens, and thats probably why I bother.

After Tam I had Amy which is also quite a nice fight. Recently I was working on my explosive-ness for my Men. So my kendo has really minimal waza. But it was a good feeling to take someone down with just toikomi-men passing straight through (and not falling over), for more than a couple of times. Yeah of couse my kote snaps, but it's a boring thing to mention (and do).

Oda-san who was watching from the side (because he is having an operation later next week...) came up to me after keiko. He said a couple of my men on Tam was really good. I just say my concentrated training on just straight men is working. Actually I am not sure if it is me who just keep on improving my men during kihon and jikeiko worked, or what Kishigawa-sensei told me about koshi and stuff... Was it from my 750 rope-jumping sessions, or that twice killer 800-metre I ran last Weds made my lower body stronger? (right now the muscles on my SHINS still hurt - why did I run with a pair of Converse??)

Maybe it's the combination of everything. I don't know.