Author Archives: Renae Saunders

The Scholarship

This year there has been only 2 members of the Sunshine Coast Dojo go for the Scholarship; myself and Sami. This year the recipient will have 2 weeks of intensive training in Canada during July leading up to Soke Cup 2019. There are so many amazing opportunities that will be had and an extended knowledge that will be brought back into the dojo once they return to Australia. Away from the usual training face to face with Soke Sensei, one of us will have the opportunity to train with one of the the top instructors in Canada, either Robert Lee Sensei (7th Dan, Kyoshi) or Chris Taneda Sensei (7th Dan, Kyoshi).

There are many criteria that had to be considered to be eligible for the scholarship. Had to be a senior brown or black belt in the dojo, participate in the 2 week intensive and also document the mental and physical take aways from the intensive. That is only scraping the ice, other things would be the students training attitude, ability to share their knowledge, how well they conveyed their training journey through these blog posts, being respectful to everybody in and around the dojo, have set goals which they are hungry to achieve, being both mentally and physically strong, and so much more. These past two weeks it hasn’t just been Sam and I during this intensive, also Bailey, Savannah and Will shared the experience and grew with us. Couldn’t have asked for a better team!

Sami is a machine! Not once did she complain of her sore muscles or complain that she was thirsty, she just continued to push and give it her best which raised everyone else’s energy around her. You can not fault Sam’s training attitude, it grew stronger throughout the intensive as she attended EVERY class and went above and beyond every session. She loved expanding her knowledge and finding new ways to learn old concepts to help improve. Keep up the amazing work!

Not only was it Sam growing everybody’s energy, everybody contributed and reached peak fatigue some point throughout the intensive, as a group we helped each other push through and it was more than rewarding! I have seen a lot of personal growth not only in my technique but in my spirit as well. It wasn’t a massive jump but it definitely pushed me closer to my goals and I’m excited to continue this growth.

As I am heading towards Shodan I know that this experience will help me as I know there has been times throughout this week I wanted to give up, but I didn’t, and now I know that I can! I found that it was the little improvements that made the biggest impact on my technique. One of the biggest tips was just keeping my eyes up. Once your eyes are up, your posture opens and your shoulders go back, it has many benefits.

In class today we were throwing our partner only using our body, I found it impossible until I got reminded to keep my eyes up and it helped me out immediately. I have expanded my mind, grown physically and mentally, and had to dig deep throughout the two weeks when I hit peak fatigue to just keep going.

This year I have focused my life towards Soke Cup, I have re selected my university timetable to attend all of the required squad sessions, cut back my work hours and scheduled up until late July so that I can devote myself entirely to karate. For everybody that has and will train along side me this year, thank you for pushing me to be the best version of myself. Also a massive thank you to both Sensei Sandra and Sensei Martin, they both continued to push me and believed in me when I began to doubt myself. I really believe we have the best community of people at our dojo.

A short recap of the last two weeks, I have learnt so much I will have to condense it all to help me put it into practice now. My biggest take away wasn’t about technique but about the dojo spirit, I found that to learn, I didn’t have to go to a senior student because everybody has a different way of looking at things.

Both Sam and I are good candidates for the scholarship and congratulations to everybody for their efforts. Now for a well earned rest after beach training in the morning!

Final two days of training

Friday Class:

The final Friday class of the intensive defiantly wasn’t any easier than the previous week.

The morning class started off with partner training. Will and I were together which was great as he pushes me to my limits every single time with his great encouragement and dedication to training. We had two tasks as partners, one person had to jump in a square motion over 3 bags that were placed in a T formation. This was physically exhausting as there were no breaks for what felt like 5 minutes. the second activity was holding a low shikodachi while holding a bo vertical with your shoulders. While this is a physical challenge I found it so much more mental as you had to just keep feeding yourself positive encouraging thoughts. After completing this once I was proud as I completed it and then we got told to do it again. This time all I could think about was the fact we were directly in the sun, at least it took my mind away from the pain. At the end of this physically challenging class we finished it off with laps. Bailey was my partner which was also great because at this stage I needed a bit of encouragement. We had to do 10 push ups and then sprint up the dojo about 4 laps each. Followed by 10 tuck jumps and a sprint. Finally we did 3 laps of army crawling before seiza.

In the kids class there were many obstacle courses that challenged us. Speed training is still my enemy but we are slowly getting better.

Like this mornings class and the previous morning as well, we began to punch, and punch, and punch some more. I forgot to count how many we did but it was a lot. Not only in one stance but also in shikodachi and sonkyou dachi. We can all agree our legs felt like lead after this but there was more! No longer fatiguing our arms we got a partner and did squat kicks. Faith chose to do 60 squat kicks but we ended up getting up to 100 in the time limit. Once the time was up we got told we had to reach that number again but this time when we squat we had to touch a bag on the floor so that we weren’t taking shortcuts. Was definitely a feel good moment once we finished it as a team.

My favourite part of this class was the final drill. We did a more kumite based drill where somebody had to apply restraint against a person that is punching. We did many laps of this and eventually the jnr belts were doing this drill aswell. I have stolen a picture off of sami as I didn’t get any photos!

That was all for Friday nights training as squad training commences in February but I’m glad we all pushed through!

Saturday Morning

This mornings class wasn’t super physical. In the little champions class, us doing the intensive took on a leadership role. Sensei Martin and Tim (one of the little champion black belts) set up an obstacle course with jumping, kicking and punching. I got to hold the bag where the kids were doing jumping kicks! I think I got the best bag, was pretty good getting them to kiai and jump higher each time.

In the next karate kids class the seniors were took aside and did some bag work in groups of three. We did laps of rinten, kaeshi and oshi zuki. We were working towards speed and accuracy which isn’t as easy as it seems. I have been focusing on posture lately and found that when I raised my eyes instead of looking at the target it was easier to balance therefore hitting the correct target.

The adult class took a less physical approach and had my mind ticking. Bailey, Savannah, Sami and I spent the lesson working on bunkai. We began with niseishidai bunkai, the first one was a slow bunkai, then one as if we were performing it at a grading, and then finally after a short talk with our partner about one thing we wanted to work on, we did one with full spirit. We did this 3x with each partner. I benefitted heaps from this as it was interesting knowing what other people were focusing on so that I could also try to implement it into my training.

After doing bunkai we focused on throwing, but with no arms. I couldn’t quite grasp the hang of it until I got told my posture wasn’t quite up enough. Once I lifted my eyes it worked a little better. Also going back to one of my earlier blogs (about day 3) I spoke about entering when throwing somebody, so turning the back foot towards the target instead of away. This also helped with entering the hips and taking my partners centre. I still didn’t quite get it 100% by the end of the lesson but I was a lot closer than where I was at the beginning of class. 

Congratulations Everybody for officially finishing the intensive!

Day 9: 17th Jan

Today my grandmother made me cry. I went over to their house about lunch time because I was hungry and my grandfather is so precise that lunch is at 12pm on the dot, so I never miss out. We had lunch and while discussing the intensive I mentioned that my legs had felt like lead lately. Turns out my grandma is a masseuse and rubbed the knots out of my calves. Was one of the most pleasurable but painful experiences ever. Once she had finished we put deep heat on. Have you ever trained with deep heat on your legs? The harder I trained, the hotter my legs got. By half way through training I was on fire!

This morning’s class was a blur, I continue to set my alarm later and later. What is unforgettable was Sensei Martin’s torture circuit. There were 8 of us seniors on the circuit all partnered up with somebody that would push us. I had Bailey. One obstacle was punching the makiwara (vertical wooden plank), another was using the chiishi (I worked on body balance), the third one was a punching/blocking with our partner, and the last one. The last exercise was why I called it the torture circuit. In the dojo we have an extremely heavy bo, It is a metal pipe closed at both ends with another metal rod inside it. We had to do an outside block while holding this bo and use the ‘twist at the end’ of the block to make a clunk noise. The other activity at this station was holding up a weight, while in shikodachi, while sliding our feet to move us in a circular motion. We weren’t meant to put the weight down until the end but I don’t think I was doing it properly and it was hurting the wrong muscles. After this class I came home and slept for another 3hrs – was well deserved

Little Champions Class:

Todays little champions class the intensive people were taken to the side to do some speed training with Sensei Helen. I’m no better than the first time I ever did speed training, I am always the last person to finish but I don’t take shortcuts and aim to do it autonomously. It got to the stage where it became self paced but me being me, I like a competition and I tried to go faster than everybody around me. What I learnt from this was that when I try to go faster, my posture crumbles and my shoulders become very rounded. So throughout the night I worked on keeping my eyes up and shoulders back!

Karate Kids Class:

These two classes really got my heart pumping. Straight away we split into juniors and seniors.  Sensei Sandra had us seniors and partnered us up.  We had a few minutes to encourage each other as a team to do 100 pushups, 100 sit ups, 100 squat kicks and for the intensive people, also 100 burpees. Was definitely a way to push us out of our comfort zones. The rest of the class was about pushing us out of our comfort zone. After a short drink break the intensive people went aside with Sensei Martin and he set up another torture circuit. At two of the stations we were doing mawashi geri (Round house kick). As a few people know, I can generate a fair bit of power with this particular kick. Poor savannah was the victim to this kick as she held the bag. The remaining person was the time keeper jumping over a bag 30x. We did this circuit 2x and were exhausted afterwards but I know I gave it 150%. We did a few kumite drills after this was a well deserved drink break. We did some core exercises to finish off the class.

Finally being able to stretch after a hard session. Looks like my eyes are closed and are ready to sleep!

Kids Extension Class: Never in my life have I been excited about a 10 minute seiza but this afternoon I was over the moon. If you’ve never done seiza for a long period of time, it makes your legs fall asleep, more so like logs that are on fire. It can be extremely painful. Was definitely a great way to reflect over everything that I had worked on over the past two weeks. Working with the theme I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. Sensei Martin really enjoyed watching us fight through mental battles tonight. We each had a bo and raised it directly above our heads while we stood in shikodachi. this went on for about 5 or so continuous long painful minutes. After we could finally stand up he took us through a stretch what finished in shokodachi again. My knees were screaming at me after this.

Adult Class:

Was a lot less intense than todays theme. We did a lot of partner work. Working on punching, blocking, kicking and stances with our partner. we would watch – do – and then give feedback. It was good to get feedback that my posture had finally straightened up.  To finish it off we did more partner work, working on various wrist escapes. This can be difficult when you have a larger, stronger partner, but we did alter it occasionally to cater for us smaller people.

I know that tonight’s blog was more of a short novel but I feel like it has taken me in a new direction with my attitude towards receiving feedback and putting it into practice.

Also unfortunately I have not been able to capture as many photos as others. but I have taken so much out of training, and get so into it that I forget to do it myself or ask for photos to be taken. Tomorrow is the last Friday session and I will prove to you all that I can take more photos!

Day 8: 16th Jan

Todays class’s were not super physical demanding. There was a lot of short burst activities which got the heart rate up but also a lot of time to reflect on what we were trying to succeed.

I’ve been set the task to reflect on why I continue to train karate after 10 years and who inspires me. I believe these two things come together. In the past I have struggled to keep training as I thought I had hit a wall and could not progress anymore. After soke cup 2017, I came home and had a break until the new year started and I hit off training with a bang! When I was 10 years old my long term dream was to start up my own dojo, go to a soke cup and to get my black belt. So far I have achieved going to 2 soke cups and am working furiously towards my black belt.  

I remember writing my grading theory when I was at the lower ranks and one of the questions was “How many times do you attempt something until you give up?” I always wrote down that I never give up, I may have a break at times but I always finish what I started. Since I was 13 years old I have obviously grown and I have developed a greater understanding of that answer, It still has the same meaning but it is more of a mental challenge, It isn’t about just doing it, it is about doing it to the best of my ability.

There are many many inspiring people at the dojo, a few of them have gone off on another path in their journey and some have continued to train and grow with me. Earlier in my karate studies I really idolised students such as Anthony, Tia and Duncan. All of these people helped me during and through the preparation for soke cup 2013. After we all got back to Australia, life took its toll and they moved on, it doesn’t feel like 6 years ago! As for now it isn’t just senior students I look up to, but also the younger upcoming athletes. Black belts like Bailey, Klaudia and Sam really lift the spirit in the dojo and I am aspiring to follow in their footsteps. My sensei’s are also extremely talented and humble people, when you first begin training your long term goal is to be like them, but as you grow more mature you realise everybody’s journey is different. As for the juniors, William, Emmett and my little sister Rhiannon all show me that karate isn’t about the colour of the belt around your waist, but it is about how much effort and attention you give. The named people aren’t the only ones that are amazing but they are who have stood out to me recently.

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A bit of a lengthy blog tonight but it is worth it!

The theme of tonight’s classes that stood out to me the most was spirit. A lot of bunkai (partner application) was performed but instead of just doing the movements, we had to try and scare our partner. We got to rate our partners ‘scariness’ our of 10. Somehow I managed to get 10 every time. I know it’s my kiai because it has gotten so much stronger recently. I got told that my facial expressions don’t show any emotion except fierceness and focus, in any other context than karate that wouldn’t be taken as a compliment but it made me feel good.

Is that face scary enough?

This focus carried onto the next class where it expanded into different bunkai’s. Even in the adult class we weren’t told of this but I still tried my hardest to be scary. Not just with a partner but in my individual kata aswell. Although it was short burst It was exhausting. Doing one speed kata followed by a normal paced kata got my mind ticking.

Now to continue the spirit throughout all of my training and grow with others!

Day 7: 15th Jan

Todays 6am class was very hard to get to. I thought I was a morning person but I’m beginning to realise I need more sleep. Weather it is throughout the day or more in the morning I don’t mind. To contradict that though I am going to miss training everyday once this intensive is finished.

Morning class:

This morning we had a focus on bo. 3rd Kyu students and above worked on Ryukyu bo numbers 1 to 7. After doing sets of 10 on each sequence we split into 3 mini groups where we broke down each sequence into great detail. There wasn’t a lot of time so we only got up to number 5 but I did take a lot out of it. As noticed in last nights class, I need to accelerate from my hip right from the beginning of the technique.

Once I got home I slept for about 3hrs and then went to the beach to let the waves beat around the muscles in my legs and hopefully help with the tightness.

Little Champions Class:

This afternoon we split into two groups straight away; was intensive students on one side of the dojo and everybody else over the other. Sensei Martin got us to begin with slow and controlled front kick. We held it out for the count of three and then pulled back. Once we did a couple of laps we got faster. The fast pace stayed for remainder of the class. We did 6x laps of front kick, increasing by one kick each technique every lap (first lap = 1 kick each leg, second lap = 2 kicks on each leg, etc… ). Following this was 6 laps of jumping front kick. After just this one cycle I was exhausted. But we weres only 1/3 of the way through. We repeated this with side kick and also round-house kick. Safe to say my legs felt like lead for the next hr.

“Will it be easy?

Nope

Worth it?

Absolutely”

Karate Kids class:

I started off this class still barely being able to lift my legs from the last class but during the warm up, in my competitive nature, I had to help my team be the fastest! It is all good fun until you push a little too hard and overheat. About 20 minutes into the class I felt dehydrated and went quite dizzy while doing more sweaty activities. A short drink break fixed me up for a while.

At about half way the intensive students began to do some more bo. We focused more on Chito-Ryu bo. After going through the kihon kata we formed a line and did 100 consecutive kirikaeshi (hope that is how you spell it) in shiko dachi with the person in front and behind us. This was yet another physical challenge which really burnt the leg muscles. Again another activity that tested the mind and body strength that we all worked together to complete!

Adult Class:Adult Class:

I had some really painful stomach cramps at the start of this class so I sat out and observed for about half an hour. There are so many ways to learn and it is good to change it up sometimes. While watching them training I began to understand a little bit better how to generate power from the ground up into my punch. It is all about the tension throughout your body.  Also in yesterdays blog post I spoke about getting the illusion of tearing the paper with your feet and squeezing the thighs. I tried to put this into practice and it was real effective throughout the class and all the other ones as well!

Hopefully throughout the next couple of blogs I can talk more about techniques and body awareness but for the now, it is still proving to be a very mental and physical challenge. Thankyou everyone that is training alongside me

Day 6: 14th Jan

Over half way there and I’ve never felt more motivated to see what i can earn for the rest of the week! This morning was the only class this week that I wasn’t able to make due to work but I’m 100% the afternoon classes put all of us through our paces. No photos tonight as it so full on!

Little Champions Class:

This class is such a fantastic class to figure out the theme of the night and set the basis of how the rest of the night’s focus is going to be. In this class the brown and black belts were taken aside to do some chito ryu bo kata and basics. Last week we had a sai focus and I spent he week learning the basics and beginning to generate power and kime through my body. With the bo we did all of the Chito-Ryu bo Kihon kata sequence and also kumi bo. More of a physical challenge this was because there was one section that we repeated 90x with multiple partners. My knees were weak and my arms were heavy but I knew that if I could switch my mind back to one of the sessions last week about perseverance and getting the job done I knew I could finish it off strong!

Karate Kids class:

The previous class had already made my legs jelly and I was already pretty hot and sweaty. Nothing could prepare any of us for what was about to be presented to us seniors in this class. The blue belts and above were taken over to the side to do some kata. With a twist though! We had to do as many kata as we could pump out, but after each kata we had to do a combination of 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, 10 squat kicks and 10 burpees. The day was extremely hot during the day and I forgot to eat properly… so this was extremely exhausting and it got the better of me after 5 sets. I had to sit out and was immediately beating myself up over it. Was such a fantastic physical and mental challenge though.

The advanced kids class we revisited the bo. We focused on kime and how to use our body to generate it. While sharing our thoughts with each other we concluded that it was to do with the tension (push and pull of out pullback) and generating the power from our hips/the ground. Personally I tried to get the feeling of getting the power from the ground up. I made the illusion of squeezing my thighs and making a ripping the paper feeling with my feet. I got the power and the kime towards the end of the class but I didn’t have consistent speed throughout the entire technique; I started off slow and then finished fast. More to work on tomorrow night!

Adult Class:

Tonights 10 minute break was well deserved as the session was intense from the start. Again we did a lot of speed training and I know that I am not the fastest senior on the dojo but tonight I was the slowest. It didn’t overly bother me as I knew I would just push and finish what I started without any shortcuts. The entire nights training was exhausting so I thought the adult class would be more technical than physical. I was so wrong! Again the seniors in the class were taken to the side and we did the kata/conditioning challenge again. We had half an hr to complete up to shi ho hai. My muscles were aching, my head was telling me negative thoughts because I didn’t complete it the previous class. But I pushed all of that aside and I did it. It was the most amazing feeling knowing that I could turn it around and just do it. Yes I was the slowest, yes there were instances where I did the wrong move in a kata, yes I collapsed a few times during pushups, but nothing stopped me and that’s the attitude I want to retain with me throughout the rest of my training.

Day 5: 11th Jan

The final day of the first week was probably my favourite class yet! I must admit I snoozed my alarm thismorning 3 times and got to the dojo with 5 minutes until class. But yet again, I felt great during and after the class. Some days when it is hard to get to the dojo, I give the class 10 minutes and by then my complete attitude has changed and I just want to train!

This morning was the only class I attended today because my family and I have gone on a weekend get away. The class was entirely self paced but before the seiza Sensei Martin got us to think about what we want to get out of this class.

While in the 5min seiza I reviewed the week entirely and what i have struggled with the most. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to work on body balance and using my left and right sides equally to generate power. For about 10 minutes the dojo was silent and then i began to kiai. The power of a Kiai is almost infectious and soon the dojo was no longer quiet. The first half an hour I did a lot of stepping/punching and advanced kata. I really focused on my overall balance and generating the hard and soft throughout a kata. To do so I tried to use less muscle and more hips. I think this helped and I will play with it more throughout the rest of the intensive.

The second half of the morning class I was working with one of the yellow belts. We did a bit of bunkai and then kicking on the bags. Again I focused on not wobbling my head and getting that twist at the end of my blocks/punch. With the kicking we used the bags, we started off slow and controlled and then evolved into a faster kick with a target. I loved just letting loose and using all on my power. Was good to just sweat!

This evening my little sister and I found a grassy patch on southbank river and had a bit of a kick around. I got her to play with her balance while stepping and then to use her leg strength as we did a few really slow controlled kicks. Was just enough to get our minds ticking before we got dinner!

When I first starting writing this blog at the start of the week, I believed it wasn’t going to do very much for my training as I already have a training diary. But I found that reflecting in more detail by myself and writing down my experience has grown me. Not just as a karate student but as a person as well!

I have had some very positive feedback from students and parents at the dojo who have been following me on this intensive journey. Even a few from overseas, thank you so much. See you all Monday!

Day 4: 10th Jan

Day 4 done! I am finding out where my fitness and flexibility levels are at now. This week is still proving to be a very mental challenge but I believe I am handling it with competence.

Throughout the last 4 days I have participated in 2x 6am classes and also 2x 5am shifts at work. I am really benefitting from these early mornings as I always feel refreshed and ready to fight any battle that is thrown at me throughout the day. Throughout the intensive programs that I have participated in, at the beginning of each new class, with new fresh students, I find their enthusiasm and presence invigorates me to give 110% again. I love feeding off of others energy and I also love sharing my own energy and building up the dojo with a kiai!

Advanced Kids Class:

In the advanced karate kids class tonight we did a lot of partner conditioning exercises. One exercise specifically was an ab workout. As pictured below, one partner had to raise their legs in the air and move them in a scissor motion while the other partner jumped in and out of the legs. We only had to do this 40 times. each.. I found that this exercise didn’t hurt my abs too much as my focus was on trying to avoid my partners feet as he landed… really close to my legs…

Also in this class we finished 10 minutes early to do another exercise that tested everybody’s mental strength. We had to hold a push up position for as long as possible (10 minutes was the goal) without our bottoms being higher than our head at any time. I got my first and final warning that my back wasn’t flat at 5 and a half minutes, and then my second warning at 7.5 minutes. I am proud that I was one of the last students to sit up but I believed I could have gone longer! Always aim to exceed your personal expectations, it’s all mental.

Adult Class:

In the teens and adult class tonight we continued on the flexibility and conditioning road. We began the class with a very deep stretch which helped settle down my muscles and stop them from crying a little bit. HAHA. After this we did a lot of kumite drills. I am really enjoying these as it always lifts my speed and intensity which carries throughout the class and helps everybody else grow too. While doing speed training and kumite drills are extremely exhausting, it only drives me to put more in.

All of us doing the intensive have been doing a minimum of 4 lessons per day, usually one right after another. It does become more challenging as the week goes on but why do we continue? we all fight through the pain, the muscle soreness and the mental challenges because we know what outcomes there can be. After the intensive is finished, you always have a feeling of success and on top of that a more vast knowledge of the basics that have been in practise.

As it comes to the end of the week my body is holding up fairly well (that’s being generous) and I am proud of what I have achieved so far. I’m not going to lie, I am looking forward to a weekend to relax and recharge but there is one more day to get sweaty!

Day 3: 9th Jan

So much feedback tonight, I am still absorbing it all. Tonight’s sessions were both physically and mentally exhausting, I don’t think they were any more difficult than the previous days, the lactic build up around my muscles and the physical exhaustion was a real contributing factor though. In times like this it is when you really need to dig deep and remember what motivates you. When I feel like giving up and my head is feeding me alternative thoughts, I have to remember why I started and what I’m working towards. Putting in that little bit of extra effort now will result in big gains.

If you think that you’re already giving 100%, dig a little deeper and give another 10%. By proving you are capable of this will not only grow yourself, but will influence upon everybody else around you. Tonight I really tried to show this and hopefully I can continue this throughout the entire two week intensive. When you think you have reached your limit, it is just a thought, pushing through the mental barrier of pain and doubt is what will get you to your next level or goal.

Feed off of everybody’s energy to grow yourself

Day 2: 8th Jan

The second day of training is finished. I missed the morning classes due to work commitments but tonight’s class sure made up for it. My muscles are screaming but I have never been more excited for the upcoming two weeks! I hope to build my muscle endurance and extend my mental stamina over the intensive program. This quote encompasses the reason I am challenging myself to do every class possible over the next two weeks, not just participating but by extending myself.

“Your body can stand almost anything, its your mind that you have to convince.”

Evening Classes:

Kids Classes: It is becoming easier to take off the teachers hat and just train. I have done many years of leadership so helping out the younger students comes naturally now, but by being a good role model and helping out non verbally has assisted me in my growth. This is a great skill as there is a time and a place for talking, but also a time for the ‘just train’ attitude. This is a very mental skill and through my university studies in coaching I have found that kinetic instructing/training (physically) is one of my preferred styles.

In the advanced class we threw on some bogu and jumped into some kumite skills. This was another instance where I had to brush off the cob webs. We focused on three elements of an attack; distance, speed and accuracy.  Even on a swinging bag this can be difficult to execute. We also worked on how to generate reach, I came to the conclusion that I need to bend my knees more and turn my hips more!

Adult Class: Tonight I trained as if I was competing. Hopefully at the end of this intensive I have purged my Christmas over eating and gotten my beach body back! The first half of the class Sensei Sandra stretched us and evaluated everybody’s capabilities after the break. She must have thought we were pretty capable because she put us through our paces after a quick drink break. While performing every kata as I was at a tournament I had only one focus; to enter. While stepping or changing stances, instead of turning the back foot away from the centre, I tried to generate the feeling of entering / like I was throwing a partner. This helped me with my pull to the centre throughout the class. 

I am eager to find out what lessons can be learnt throughout the next week and a half of training!