Okay so Sunday the 16th was our last squad training before Sensai Sandra, Sam and myself leave for Japan this coming weekend. It was a great session with Special guest visitors from previous Soka cups, it was very interesting to hear their perspectives and experiences from when they attended their international tournaments in previous years.

During this squad training we experimented on making our presence stand out to others, have a strong, focused, confident and level presence in the way that we present ourselves in the ring while doing not only kata but kumite. Throughout this training I didn’t feel quite at my peak with my energy and concentration. However I feel as though since the start of my journey training for the Soke Cup, my kata and kumite has improve quite a lot, with technique, better understanding of kata and improving my technique using my stance to excel my technique and better, more soft use of my hips.

With my kumite, my fighting style has changed quite a lot from how it was a few months ago, I am using different attacks as in faking an attack pull back then attack again, I am doing more than one or two attacks now I am following through a lot more doing three or more attacks, I feel lighter on my feet and have stretched out my stance so I am more stable and can move quicker while attacking and getting out of the way of an attack.

As a conclusion I am happy with where I am at with my karate technique and spirit. I found this last squad session together very enjoyable and helpful with my preparations for my scholarship to Japan.