Finally, An AAR*

I've been meaning to post an AAR on Saturday's events, but this is the first time I've actually had time to sit down and do it.

There were 5 students testing that morning--Kevin, Barrett, Adam, Joshua, and John. Kevin had tested with me last year, but the board felt like he had some things he needed to work on before becoming a shodan. He had only been an ik-kyu for two months, but his sensei had gotten a new job which required a lot of traveling, and he needed a black belt to run the dojo in his absence. So he had Kevin tested, even though he wasn't near being ready. Kevin was promoted to shodan ho, which means he could wear a black belt, but he wasn't really a Black Belt. I think if Kevin's sensei hadn't been on the board, he wouldn't have even gotten that. But Kevin showed tremendous improvement from last year to this, and was promoted to the rank of shodan. He deserved it.

The other four testing were ik-kyus. Joshua and Barrett were from our dojo, and the other two were students of Ricky Airendale. Barrett messed up chinto kata, and Joshua messed up kusanku kata. Their biggest problem was that they didn't want to just pass the test, they wanted to be better than the others who were testing. Barrett actually told me this before the test. They kept trying to be the strongest and the fastest, and would get ahead of themselves and make mistakes. Mr. Dreher counseled them to slow down, focus, and get their minds right. Then he allowed them to redo the kata they messed up. Once they quit trying to compete, and just did the kata, they performed excellently.

I think the part they had the most difficulty with was the sparring. The both took some pretty good licks and both of them got sick. But they didn't quit, and that's what counts. They had to spar 6 matches and score two points on their opponents to end the match. That is what I had to do as well, except for my last match. I fought sensei last, and we had to just keep going until Mr. Dreher called for us to stop, no matter how many points were scored.

The dojo this year was not nearly as hot as it was for my test. I kept suggesting they bring in heaters to level the playing field, so to speak, but nobody took me seriously. However, I have heard from several sources that the more they think about it, the more they realize they should never have tested us that way. Imagine, if you will, a small room with NO air conditioning or even windows to open, 5 sweaty karate students, and the hottest day of July. That is what I went through during my test. After the test, we went outside into the 105' weather to cool off. I'm guessing it was at least 120' inside the dojo, and all 5 of us were literally standing in a puddle of our own sweat. One of the board members has since said that they will never again conduct a rank test in the dojo in July. Still, I have a measure of pride in that I tested, and did well, under such conditions.

But enough about that...

Connie Worbington had tested and been promoted to san dan at Bill Pogue's seminar in Nashville last month. However, she wanted to give a demonstration and have her rank recognized by her own board in her home dojo. So she was not really testing but demonstrated some outstanding kata. She is amazing. I only hope that one day I'll be able to perform kata half as well as she did.

After the rank test and a break for lunch was the Black Belt tournament. It was a rather informal just-for-fun tournament. It is the first tournament I've ever competed in. Sensei wants me to do tournaments, but I just can't afford it. For Cody and I both to compete, the entry fees will be around $80. That is nearly an electric bill. I wasn't going to compete in this one either, but Connie and Lisa talked me in to it. Even though nothing was at stake, except my pride, I was soooo nervous. I think I was more nervous then than I was at my black belt test. When Mr Dreher asked who wanted to go first, I jumped right out there. Mr. Worbington (the head sensei of the Greenville dojo) called out, "That's the spirit!", but really I just wanted to get it over with. I performed a presentable seisan kata. Then Lisa performed sunsu kata. But thennnn, Connie got up and performed a sunsu kata that totally blew us out of the water. The final results were Connie--1st, me--2nd, and Lisa--3rd.

After the men competed in empty hand, we did our weapons kata. We each performed Toukmine no Kun, and the results were the same. After the event, there was a get-together at Mr. Justin Eiffling's home, but I didn't go. I wanted to, but I'd left Cody home alone, and there's only so much home alone he can take. He'd already begun sending me text messages, so I figured he was getting lonely.

While I was there, I rubbed elbows with some outstanding martial artists. The highest ranking people there were Larry Dreher and Harvey Kennedy. They are both 8th dans. I must admit I was a bit nervous about meeting Harvey Kennedy. I'd heard too many horror stories about him. About how he represented the dark side of karate. About how he manipulated and sexually abused his female students. (I've also heard the other side of the story--how there was only one, and the woman wanted the relationship just as much as he did, and it wasn't until after it ended that she began crying abuse.) But upon meeting him, though I only had a brief conversation with him, I found him to be very polite and respectful towards me. He didn't seem anything like he had been described to me.

All in all, I had a great time, and I came back feeling motivated and ready to go. Indeed, while the students were testing, I got so fired up I wanted to get out there and do kata with them. I wish we could do things like this more often. Just getting together with other Isshinryu people, especially the women since I am once again the only woman in my dojo, has made a world of difference in my attitude and motivation. I can't wait for next year. Of course, next year I will be testing for my ni-dan.

Better get to working out.

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*AAR= After Action Report