Bo Class

Black belt class last night was a bo class. The first half was spent working on Urashi Bo. We all went over it together as a class, then sensei worked a bit with Mrs. W, who hasn't yet learned the whole thing. Josh, Barrett, and I went over it together a few times while they did that, then we discussed bunkai a bit.

The second half of class was bo vs bo kumite. This was fun, because Mrs. W hadn't learned any of this in her old dojo. So I was trying to teach her the side I already knew, while learning the other side at the same time. But we kept at it, and managed to get through it a few times.

Tonight is going to be a rank test. Cody is testing for his ni-kyu or second grade brown. I told sensei that I would have him there, but I would probably be passed out in the back room because I had a root canal this morning. More about that later.

We were discussing last night about how Cody and one other little boy are about ready for their junior black belts. The other boy just turned 13, so he's got three years before he can test for his full shodan (our association sets an age limit of 16 for shodan) so sensei was talking about how to keep him motivated for the next three years. He says he's going to break the rank up into half ranks. Junior shodan will be a black belt with a white stripe, then he'll get a black belt with a yellow stripe, then blue, etc until he is old enough to test for shodan in front of the board. He wants to think of a requirement for each of those ranks. One will probably be Agena no sai, and one will be bo vs bo, and one will be two man basics. That's why he hasn't really pushed those with Cody and Chad. He's started them on two man basics and Agena, but hasn't really worked on them that much. Sanchin will wait until full shodan. They know the moves, but getting the breathing and tension and being beat on will wait until they are older. Chad will probably test for his jr. shodan in January or February, and Cody will test a few months later.

The good news is that Mr. Eiffling and some of the black belts from Greenville are going to come work out with us. Sensei says maybe next Tuesday. That's always cool.