Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Willougby Dojo (Wed, 12 Jan 2005):
Ah the first training of 2005 in this dojo! Boy do I miss it! I can sense the joy jolting through the masses that kendo is finally back on the menu after 3 weeks absence! Training was great! I was glad to be back there! Got Vivian as my motodachi which was a real plus as well!
SBS Radio turned up at the training for interviews too. Payne sensei was teaching, so he couldn't do an interview, and Doug passed it on to me. So I missed kata practice and talked kendo for about 15 mins. Standard questions: what is kendo? where does kendo originate and how? what are the target areas etc. The interview was recorded so I hope I don't get misquoted. The interview continued after training for about 10 mins as well. The interviewer also interviewed Payne sensei and some of the other guys after training. He actually stayed for the entire training, recording sounds, interviewing people, taking photos etc. Luckily no UNSWKC people were there to "contaminate" the pictures! :D
Will post a link once it's up on the SBS website.
UNSW Dojo (Thurs, 13 Jan 2005):
I woke up with a bad headache that continued to the evening. Besides making me less productive during the day, I also feel quite lethargic. I took panadol, neurofen, had a couple of naps with 0% success. That totally cheesed me off!
And so I entered UNSW dojo with trepidation (and 30 mins late) not knowing what to expect. You see, the dojo is really well suited for stamina training. There is hardly any airflow, and humid as hell. Perfect conditions for a workout. Reminds me of how chinese olympic swimmers train for competition - by swimming upstream against strong current in the river.
With my conditions, I was disappointed with the training outcome. The instructions were excellent, it's just that during jigeiko I was tired after 3 rounds or so. I can feel the sweat trickling down my legs as I struggle to maintain kamae. To add salt to the wound, I had to jigeiko Sano sensei and I feel that I have disappointed him because I wasn't able to do my best. My footwork was messy as hell and I didn't even attempt to create openings as much as I'd wanted. Sigh...as the saying goes...the spirit is willing but the body is weak.
Sano sensei jokingly said to me after keiko that UNSWKC members never get tired. I have to acknowledge that that statement actually contains a good deal of truth. Physical conditioning remains a major challenge for me, and I reckon that it'd be a major stumbling block in my kendo journey unless I do something about it. I'm getting tired of the fact that it's often the physical side of things which have let me down. I have come to realise that, in order for me to improve myself physically, I'd have to go to UNSWKC every Thursday, when the advanced class is held. There is a scheduling problem though - it'd be unfair for my gf if I go to trainings on 3 consecutive nights i.e. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, plus of course the Saturday training at Willoughby. Sigh I have to do some serious thinking about this.
Ah the first training of 2005 in this dojo! Boy do I miss it! I can sense the joy jolting through the masses that kendo is finally back on the menu after 3 weeks absence! Training was great! I was glad to be back there! Got Vivian as my motodachi which was a real plus as well!
SBS Radio turned up at the training for interviews too. Payne sensei was teaching, so he couldn't do an interview, and Doug passed it on to me. So I missed kata practice and talked kendo for about 15 mins. Standard questions: what is kendo? where does kendo originate and how? what are the target areas etc. The interview was recorded so I hope I don't get misquoted. The interview continued after training for about 10 mins as well. The interviewer also interviewed Payne sensei and some of the other guys after training. He actually stayed for the entire training, recording sounds, interviewing people, taking photos etc. Luckily no UNSWKC people were there to "contaminate" the pictures! :D
Will post a link once it's up on the SBS website.
UNSW Dojo (Thurs, 13 Jan 2005):
I woke up with a bad headache that continued to the evening. Besides making me less productive during the day, I also feel quite lethargic. I took panadol, neurofen, had a couple of naps with 0% success. That totally cheesed me off!
And so I entered UNSW dojo with trepidation (and 30 mins late) not knowing what to expect. You see, the dojo is really well suited for stamina training. There is hardly any airflow, and humid as hell. Perfect conditions for a workout. Reminds me of how chinese olympic swimmers train for competition - by swimming upstream against strong current in the river.
With my conditions, I was disappointed with the training outcome. The instructions were excellent, it's just that during jigeiko I was tired after 3 rounds or so. I can feel the sweat trickling down my legs as I struggle to maintain kamae. To add salt to the wound, I had to jigeiko Sano sensei and I feel that I have disappointed him because I wasn't able to do my best. My footwork was messy as hell and I didn't even attempt to create openings as much as I'd wanted. Sigh...as the saying goes...the spirit is willing but the body is weak.
Sano sensei jokingly said to me after keiko that UNSWKC members never get tired. I have to acknowledge that that statement actually contains a good deal of truth. Physical conditioning remains a major challenge for me, and I reckon that it'd be a major stumbling block in my kendo journey unless I do something about it. I'm getting tired of the fact that it's often the physical side of things which have let me down. I have come to realise that, in order for me to improve myself physically, I'd have to go to UNSWKC every Thursday, when the advanced class is held. There is a scheduling problem though - it'd be unfair for my gf if I go to trainings on 3 consecutive nights i.e. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, plus of course the Saturday training at Willoughby. Sigh I have to do some serious thinking about this.
posted by Andoru at
6:53 am
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