Father and son

Being a bank holiday weekend, my son had been on a sleepover.  On his return, lots of things had happened, so we needed Father and Son time...

Given the weather was actually good for a little while, it was park, swings and Kata.   Where there is a 46 year age difference between us, its important to have a common interest.  He started Karate first, so I'm the follower, but so what?

We can discuss what we need to discuss and enjoy time together. 😊  We did Naihanchi Shodan together, he mirrored and took on the lead in Naihnchi Niedan and I copied, then he did Naihanchi Sandan.

A while ago, I told him I would like to be able to do the three Naihanchis together, and wow he did that too.  I'm sure there is lots of room for improvement, but part of what we have being trying to do is getting him to go for things.  He did that big time, a 😊nd is learning Karate values too, what more can I ask for? 😊  Other than he keeps teaching me as well  😊 😊

Getting home from work: A son's enthusiasm 😊

While our Sensei Ben and Alison have been in Okinawa, my son has been working with Sensei Graham on Saturdays and doing quite a  bit of back to back work.  This evening, was something different though, the Sensei of our honbu Dojo, Sensei Craig was taking the lesson.

They did "take to ground" and ground work in quite some detail, and my son was chosen to work with Sensei Craig to demonstrate.  He was really happy and eager to try his skills on me when I got home from work.  We managed to get the take down worked through, but we simply didn't have room for the ground work, so I guess will have to find time later in the week to practise that, when we can make a bit of space 😊

For the record, the take down was to trap a mawashi geri, take hold of the gi with the other hand, then leg sweep and push.  He had fun with that 😊😊  As a parent, there is nothing better than coming home to a son's (or daughter's) enthusiasm and wanting to demonstrate new things 😊😊

On a practical note, my reading is starting to convince me to keep my kicks low when I practise, and try to get my technique better, before I try to get the kicks higher.  Also to practise more slowly at home and try to get the form better.  Hopefully that should start to improve the accuracy, especially of the yoko geri and ushiro geri kicks.   

I'm pretty sure that this is what my Sensei have been trying to tell me for some time, but I obviously need it drumming in.  Seeing others get their kicks higher makes me want to try too, but I need to master the basics first  😊

A Father and Son blog: Training time

It's school holiday time, but I'm still at work.   My son had a Karate lesson with our Senseis and they have now started to set him specific teaching tasks:  To help me stay in touch with what I'm missing out on 😊😊😊

His latest lesson consisted of Kata work, step transitions, drills and a little bit of Kobudo (bo drills).  The teaching tasks they set him were to teach me the Neko Dachi stance and step transitions, then go through the Naihanchi Shodan drill with me. 

It was a bit late when I got home, but he still wanted to show me 😊😊😊  I suppose I am a difficult pupil, as I am used to asking him to show me things, not hoim wanting to teach me things.  I need to work on that, but nonetheless, we spent some time going through both.

The drill is good but will need a good few gos to learn the full sequence, and all I will say about the other is I am no cat; neither smooth nor very flexible 😞😞😞.  However, the good thing is, he is willing to teach me some more and I am willing to learn.  Here is to a new type of father and son relationship 😊😊😊.