Founders Cup

UNSW was the host for this years Founders Cup which is basically a team competition between clubs in NSW and Canberra(ANU). So I guess there will be a lot to write about. Hope you find this interesting!

Saturday(5/8/06)
Volunteers for the registration table were supposed to get to uni by 8am and help set up everything. Being me, I woke up at 7.30 (when ur supposed to get out of the house by 7.40) and started walking at 8. I arrived at the venue to find most UNSW players there already *shame on me..yes..I know) After changing into my hakama and gi (which I washed the night before and dried) Dino assigned me to the registration table where Duy and I then took the registration for the seminar and most importantly food. Most of the participants registered and some even paid for the dinner at night. *I would have thought the price for the dinner would turn people off. It was so expensive!*

Anyways, we started warmups with Kirby leading the way quite late in the morning. He did the full normal Thursday warmups and I could see some amused faces when we did the lunges, and especially the space invader warmup. I guess it is pretty funny if you've never done them before. With everybody nice and warm, we started on the seminar with Tanaka Hiroshi Sensei leading the way with Sano sensei translating. We split into 4 lines and did kirikaeshi, kihon men, kote, do, kote men, the usual stuff. Then Tanaka sensei made us take men off and then we did timing exercises. This is in order for kikentaichi to be synchronised together in order to make one explosive attack. Hence, we did the one-two timing against the other motodachi. Just one step, one cut kinda thing with the motodachi holding the shinai at men level. We then moved on to following through with the men cut still with the one-two timing. (I wasnt being careful as motodachi and copped a blow near my eye from Anna Cho's incoming men when I was holding the shinai up for her to hit. Will never be careless again~~) After that, we did do cuts in a similar fashion to the previous men cuts but this time with gyaku doh. The motodachi would do go into hidari jodan in order to receive the do and then move the right foot forward in order for the body to turn into something like migijodan and receive the gyaku do. Was pretty interesting to see people coordinating the movement. It could be confusing I guess. Tanaka sensei mentioned that when we cut do, our hips must also move in order to make the do cut more crisp *is this the right word?* and then follow through. It does not have to be a big movement to the side and only enough so that the men doesnt hit. This would only require maybe half a step to the side. With Tanaka sensei giving pointers and us doing the exercises, it was then time for the NSWKA annual meeting. Hence, there wasnt enough time for us to do some waza exercises but Tanaka sensei did explain to us about the timing for kote-nuki-men, kote-suriage-men and kote-kaeshi-men.

Afterwards, we had the meeting but I, err, sort of slipped away downstairs to wait for the food to arrive. Apparently we would be having Subway and there were also vegetarian *wanted seafood, but too bad there wasnt any today* Anyways, the food came just as the meeting upstairs finished. *Ken Chen had a crush on sensei's daughter, Tanaka Yoko, but was disappointed when he found out that she was sensei's daughter. It was funny looking at him drooling~~ =P*

I got assigned to tick the people off who paid for the seminar and food. There were a few people who hadnt paid but wanted to get food and I was being very stubborn. I had to say no to two kids whose parents didint pay for the seminar and food and then got called a nazi by all the other girls. Hey, I'm just doing my job!! No money no food lah~~ Dino then said that whoever wanted food could pay $5 for it. Pretty cheap I would say~~

Grading
We started grading a bit off schedule but catched up later. I got up to grade for 4th Kyu and got partnered with a girl from Gilderoy College. I kinda got..err...pissed during kihon coz she didint follow me and I had to break my rythym *how to spell that??* Same thing happened during uchikomi geiko. Afterwards, I saw her crying and her parents were putting ice on her arm. Apparently it was my kote cuts. Huh??None of the girls at the club cry when I hit their kote tho. Funny~~*Afterwards, I saw her arm in a sling. She's either very mengada or I did hit hard. Either way, I couldnt do anything about it* Got called up to do 3rd kyu and the same thing happened. Oh wells, I just beared it and went on lazily as I've already lost it. =P Didint really care whether I got the grade or not. We finished early however, and all of us got our grade *yea...I got 3rd Kyu. Yay*

Seminar, Round 2
We did have lots of time left and so did another 45 minutes or so of seminar and tried to incorporate the waza's that Tanaka sensei was explaining earlier. We concentrated more on the timing more then the cutting. Sensei mentioned that we should cut properly first with good timing etc and then only start to edge more and more further away to get distance. We did a few rounds of kote-nuki-men, kote-suriage-men and kote-kaeshi men. Then we did kaeshi-do keeping in mind of the timing etc.

Jigeiko
Jigeiko was pretty short today and I only had time to jigeiko with Maki sensei. I was pretty disappointed that I didint get to play Tanaka sensei as the drum went just as I was about to have my turn. I was so disappointed, that you'd never imagine. I then thought, oh wells, theres tomorow. And I waited for AGES. What a waste~~

Saturday Dinner
We arrived late to dinner because Kirby stopped by to give a ride to the Tanaka sensei and family to the restaurant. Hence, Dino, Sussan and me had to wait for him to drop them off and come back to pick us up. Graeme couldnt drive them as his car battery broke down or something and so he had to forfeit dinner which is a shame really. Anyways, we got there late and it was PACKED. So many people! I would say it was a success. The highlight was when the belly dancer came and started to dance and invited us to dance with her. Tanaka sensei was hilarious with his incorporation of kendo into the dancing and his stick balancing act on his head. Mind you, he's bald~ Dino got up and started dancing with the dancer. All I can say is, GO DINO!! And screamed myself hoarse. Even more so when SANO SENSEI got up. I went crazy cheering him on. *I got up to dance too on sensei's instructions. Haha..you'll never see me do that again okay!!* Food wasnt that bad since it was halal and all but I was expecting a bit more. I wasnt that full by the time we finished but the $30 was well worth the belly dancing anyday!

During dinner, we discussed the team selections with Sano sensei and somehow, Sussan and I got the Kyu Kata. Lolz, doesnt help that Sussan left her bokuto at home and had to borrow Yoshiki's instead *I ended up using it since she didint like the weight* We practised till about 3am with lots of err...knocks and hits to my furniture. It was interesting though and we still managed to get some of the moves synchronized.

Sunday (6/8/06)

We had seminar in the morning where we did shimpan practise. I played for the first shiai as I wanted to get "warmed up" for shiai in the afternoon *not that I was hoping or anything* I got killed by Jason Chapling basically because I didint warm up and I was being lazy. Hah...good for me. Anyways, we then split into kyu and dan grades and did some shimpan practise as well. Some advice from Tanaka sensei:

- When shimpaning and a kote was scored where the subshimpans couldnt see and only the head shimpan had view of it, the decision of the head shimpan should be taken into consideration. This is because, the other two shimpans can only award based on sound and only the head judge has full view of it. THerefore, if the head shimpan waves it away, the other two judges have to take this into consideration and wave it away as well. I reckon this would be pretty hard to do since the judging has to be made after the point has been scored and not too late as another point could have also been scored as well. All this has to be taken into account in a very short period of time and this got me thinking - I dont think I'll be shimpaning in a LONG while~~

- sensei also mentioned that when going down into sonkyo for shiai, eyes must be on the opponent and sussing them out even before the rei and sonkyo. All must be done in unison in order for more ..err..connection (?) and intensity.

Kyu Kata Competition
We practised a bit more and then Sussan got Lyma's bokuto and we gave it our best shot. The funny part was when Sussan brought the bokuto out and it was the wrong way round!!! I almost died of a heart attack. Thinking we'd already lost, I gave it my all anyways and it took so much concentration!!! Never have I concentrated that hard to follow Sussan's moves..etc. First round and we got through. I couldn't believe it. We actually got through!! Anyways, we went on to the finals where we got up against SKC. I was telling Sussan, lets just have some fun and just do what we do best. When the flags came up for white I thought we lost but then I checked again and saw that we were white. I was like, AWESOME!!! My first medal that I actually EARN. Cool stuff. I was pretty happy after that. =P

Women's Team Competition
We were up against ANU after getting a BYE in our pool. I was up against Reiko Cunningham and scored a men just before the wistle went. I was THAT lucky. We werent too lucky in the other two matches but then, it was kinda a tough match. ANU went on to win the womens team competition.

Kyu Team Competition
I'd be lying if I said I wasnt disappointed that I couldnt be in the team but hey, if sensei says no then its no. We didint get out of the pools tho and HanRimWon won the competition.

Dan Team COmpetition
Now this one is interesting. All the time I had to keep score for the teams in court 1 while UNSW was playing in Court 2. Let's just say my concentration wasn't really there. Thank god I wasnt keeping time or anything like that or time would just go with no wistle. Our team got into the finals and I was soo...emotional, as Ted Rixon sensei would put it. Hah, I think my blood pressure went throught the roof. Especially when Mike was playing. I was sooo nervous! We lost by points tho. I was so disappointed. Very disappointed! But then, we have no luck. We'll just train harder then. =P

Jigeiko
Finally able to play against Tanaka sensei and Yoko-san. Did my best. Tanaka sensei told me that when executing hiki-kote arms have to be extended when cutting. Well, thats what I gathered from his rapid Japanese anyway. Funny when you can understand when you want to. Haha, makes me think that maybe I just dont bother when other ppl speak. Only when its important that my brain starts to think. HAHAHA. Afterwards, he started to speak in rapid Japanese again when I went to thank him and when he decided I couldnt understand, he just said "Men, OK!" Haha. Oklah, I get your point~~ hehe

Yoko-san was a pleasure to play with. I know now that my kendo is largely influenced by the way my opponent plays and hence Yoko-san plays fast kendo. I found that I was influenced by her style of playing which I kinda liked actually. When I went to thank her later, she didint speak much english and my japanese utterly failed me again *not important enough?haha* But I got the message anyway.

Dinner
At KCR as usual and then home for an early night. Mama practically forced me to sleep when she saw photo's of me at Founder's cup. Nizam said I look like a ghost. Thanks bro. Really appreciate that~ =P

Well, to sum it up, I think that we hosted it pretty well with good timing etc. Hope everybody had a good time!!!

MooDoKwan Kumdo Competition

Today was the MooDoKwan Kumdo Competition and had to get up at 6am as Adam was going to pick us up. Got to Burwood reasonably early *ie no ONE was there* checked shinai etc and straight went in for shiai as my pool was the first. I played Brendan Kee from ANU and got a BYE. I was pretty out on the first match having just woke up etc so I just went bludging all the way. Even got one men in. Oh wells, next time...Founders Cup! Anyways, next up was women's individuals. Me as usual, warmed up and stuff. First shiai and halfway into it I was already so friggin' tired. It was really unusual as I dun usually feel this tired. Later on, I knew it was due to the lack of food that I took *no energy etc* had 3 shiai's in a row that really took a toll on me. By the end of it, I was totally...blweh..I dun care anymore..Anyways, lost and got 3rd placing.

On a side note, saw Takeshi score a point with drifting for zanshin. Ultimate cool machine~ =P

Won my match for womens team. Thanks Anna...for the kebab. Really put me back into the game!!!

Dinner at some Pho restaurant and games after. I think I lost 30 in one nite. 20 on games maybe. -_- This is NOT good~

McQuarie Kumdo Competition

On Saturday, the 6th of May the McQuarie Kumdo Competition was held at the McQuarie University. Somehow, I ended up being driven by Gideon to the uni *Supposed to go with Graeme but ended up with Gideon. Long story~* But anyway, we arrived at about 8.30-ish at the sports centre and proceeded to get ready. Gideon was kind enough to weigh my shinai's for me *Thanks Guv!!* and they all passed. Thank God! I was afraid one or two might fail especially since I took the pieces apart and reconstructed a whole new shinai.

Next up was the junior competitions but I didint watch much of it coz according to Dino, the womens were up next. *as far as I remember, womens was always after kyu's* Either way, I was first in both categories so had to warm up anyways. Ended up Kyu's was first so back to court 1 I went. Basically, I messed up my kyu individuals; was too nervous and couldnt play properly. I've always hated shiai, theres so much pressure there. Anyways, I lost 2-0 to John Tsu and 2-0 to Ellis who went on to win the kyu individuals. I wouldnt be lying if I that was soooo not me playing kendo. Totally somebody else.

Anyways, Womens was up next and I had already given up playing for the day. Decided to change my tenegui *just in case the black one has good luck* and went straight in for competition. Didint realise court 2 had already finished the kyu individuals. I played Tan again. I played her last year and she won by 2-0. This time, I got 2-0 on her though I seriously can't remember what the points were. However, I lost 1-0 to Jacinta from Usyd who played really well. I guess my performance in the kyu affected my performance in the womens as well. All I remember while playing is to stay calm at all times. Dun get overexcited.

I was lucky that Jacinta lost to Tan so that makes us all equal which means we had to play each other again. I had to play Jacinta again after that and won 2-0. Then I played Tan whom I got 2-0 on as well. I seriously dun remember what the points were but I will update when I've watched the videos. After that, I got into the semi finals and played with Anna Cho. Got through with 2 hiki-men's then it was the final. I was really excited to actually be in the final that I already don't care whether I win it or not. As predicted, I lost to Sharon Wragg 2-0 *Partly coz I'm too noob and partly coz I was too excited to actually be in the final*

Lunch was awesome with sushi and stuff but I couldn't eat much as the teams were afterwards. *Okay, so they didint really pick out the teams yet but I was hopeful..=P* I was lucky enough to be in the teams alongside Elaine, Dino, Ephragm *who was playing EXTREMELY well* and Duy *BIRU CHAN!!! =P*

We played against ANU first up and I lost my match (grrr). I nearly lost hope when Ephragm pulled out his exccellent kendo skills for the day and killed Ellis with a Men and then a Kote in two straight cuts. I was impressed!! It totally got us throught to the next round. Ah, the semi finals against McQuarie Uni. They only fielded 3 players so they played in 1,2, and 4th position. Gideon wasnt impressed because that meant that they played Duy, me and Elaine. (They were playing on 2,3,4 positions before) However, after lots of arguments with Rixon sensei, we had to go on with the match. Duy was awesome with his spirit and really got into the game. Next up, I had to play this pushy guy which kinda annoyed me a lot. He was really pushy during shiai and nearly got me out of the shiai jo if I hadnt done a 180 and back on the court again.I got a point on him though which I cant remember what. Just so relieved to get a point and won the match.

We won against McQuarie uni but lost against Sydney Kendo Club who beat us in all the matches. I would NOT count the point I apparently got because of the fact that it was NOT a point. Cassandra passed me the video of that match and it was really obvious that it was NOT a point. I had to replay the thing over and over and over again to see what exactly was I hitting and yea, I still have no idea. That was one DODGY point. Eheh =P

After comp we all went for Korean food (again) which we always have anyway. I don't know why but its all good. Actuallynya, aku dah tersangat tak suka makan makanan Korea tapi nak wutcamne, dah orang lain suma nak mkn, aku ikot jelah..lolz

Recent trainings...

Ever since my parents moved back to Malaysia and hence making me a "bachelor", I've been going all out to trainings as much as I can (as a result of being deprived of it in the first year of my kendo career =P). Hence my kendo schedule would start on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights with Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings and afternoons. Come to think of it, it's not that much anyway. Oh well~

Lately, training has not been going so well for me. Waza and basic practise is fine and I can concentrate but when we start jigeiko, my brain starts to fall asleep. No matter how hard I try to concentrate, my head and eyes feel so sleepy that I think if I were to be given a pillow I would just doze off in the middle of jigeiko. However, after the jigeiko, I am fine again which is really wierd. I don't know what to attribute this to, mental?dehydration?lack of sleep?I'm at a loss. It's been going on for two weeks now and its affecting my overall rhythm in kendo. I'm still trying to tackle the problem. I feel sorry for everybody who played me and got shitty kendo in return. I did try my best but after a while, I just feel that I cant concentrate anymore. It's even worse then playing with a tired body, at least the mind is still alert. *sigh*

Monday training...
I kinda wrote the above and saved it and have only now come back to it. Monday was AWESOME. Felt really into it and concentrated 100% eventhough most of the time I was just plain hyper and not really scoring anything. After the two hours I went straight into jigeiko. Come to think of it, my waterbottle was still nearly full by the end of training as I didint take a drink. I had jigeiko with Chaos, Aaron, Adam (Sanpon) and Mike. Chaos gave me the men in Ippon, didint like that. Aaron looked kinda tired coz he didint have the usual fire that he has when playing. I like that, makes me mentally alert all the time as he doesnt let me rest even during tsubazeriai. Really refreshing. Playing Adam was interesting coz we decided to go for a 3 point match. I think we ended in two points with both of it going to Adam. I'm too slow in thinking unfortunately, I was trying out debana kote that we were praticing during class. Also, I tried to make the jigeiko as much like shiai as possible in order to train for the kumdo Comp. I'm really really bad in shiai. I hate attention and people looking when I play. Its not just kendo, its everything. I don't like it when people start looking (the judges, I'm paranoid..I know). So I'm trying to overcome that plus trying to save my cuts and play more efficiently.

I think thats all I wanna say for the time being other then whinging about how broke I am going out for dinner almost every night. Grr...kendo costs a LOT of money. But I am too lazy to cook after kendo, its just too tiring!! =P

Hidup~

Dah dekat sebulan lebey aku tak update blog neh. Dah sebulan lebey parents aku tinggalkan aku di bumi Australia nih. Dah sebulan lebey aku tak makan makanan melayu, masakan mak aku, mendengar adik2 aku ngamuk tiap kali aku usik depa...Nizam ada crita hari tuh kata dah masuk dah rumah kat KL tuh. Syukur la akhirnya rumah KL tuh siap gak, sampai ke bila nak jadi nomad kan?

Skarang nih baru aku blajaq nak appreciate mak aku. LoLz, hari2 kena masak, pikiaq nak masak pa, nak basuh baju. Dahla apartment nih tadak washing machine, aku basuh ngan tangan jer. Hebat ark? Teringat balik time duduk kat hostel dulu dok basuh ngan tangan punya nak seb duit takmo basuh pakai mesin.

Hari ni start cuti pertengahan sem aka Easter Break. Aku pikir dan rancang nak study for mid session yg akan tiba on 28th neh tapi terasa malas lah plak. Tadi aku ada interaction test for jap. Siot nya takleh nak buat beb, aku pakai freestyle jap aku la. Hentam kromo jer. Dahla tak brapa nak paham sangat sensei kata apa, tapi tak pa..abeh2 pon dapat markah skit gak. Lolz...

Aku nih kan pemalas..thats gen knowledge beb..kerja tute work aku tuh weeks 1-3 jer aku pulon cuk kora, skarang ni malas siot. Tapi aku pegi gak lar kelas kalo aku tak tidoq lambat dan bangun lambat. Hari tuh aku terjaga lambat sangat tak terpergi lecture jepun aku tuh, teros gi kendo. Dahla malam buta lak tuh, takut tuh ada gak tapi kena lar berani coz I'll be doing this like...for the rest of the year. Anyways, cukuplah stakat ni rintihan aku..nanti bila aku rindu keluarga aku lagi aku tulih lagi..hahaha..

Fukuda Sensei Visit - Episode I

I was a little late on Thursday due to the bus coming late (again~~). As I entered the dojo, I heard warmups being done so I thought I'd miss haya suburi (again~). I got surprised though as the warmups were being done by a group of young boys who I've never seen before. Since when do we have separate warmups? Anyways, I knew as soon as I saw Fukuda Sensei. Ahh..these must be the 10 boys Sensei said he'd bring from Japan to train with us. They look...fast~ Anyways, we did our own superspeedy warmup (lead by Mike) and then got to seiza.

After seiza, Fukuda sensei showed us how they do kirikaeshi and so all 9 + 1 of them got on the floor to demonstrate. Ahhhh..let's just say they flew across the dojo, the one on the far end was so fast he banged against the cupboard (OUCH!). They did kirikaeshi all across the length of the hall and back (Kirby used to do this) but only once. Then it was our turn to do it. I paired up with Elaine and after getting inspired to fly across the hall, we managed to at least walk at a fast pace across it. My turn to do kirikaeshi and I stuffed it up. Probably coz warmups were too short and I didin't really get a good hold on my shinai (always happens when I start late..*sigh*) Anyways, I tried my best since we only did it once as well.

Next up was tsuki. I was like, whoa...way cool~~ They showed us how they do tsuki. I tried to take note of everything but it was a bit too fast. Kirby said to do it like how we do it on Wednesdays during bokuto waza. I tried to do it that way but it grazed Elaines neck. Fukuda sensei then showed me how to do it properly. Apparently you'd have to gradually move in then at the last instant thrust with your hand and kiai- TSUKI. (I didin't hear anybody kiai that way earlier on) Fukuda sensei said that the tsuki that we are practising now is not for shiai tsuki. It is more for practising seme. We can also use the same body movement to execute a men or kote cut. Gradually go in with seme and cut men at the last instant with fumikomi and kiai. It was pretty interesting. However, won't our opponent sense us coming in and hence would be able to execute a cut beforehand? Or should the seme be as subtle as possible so that the opponent could not see us coming. Must ask Sensei the next training~~

With reference to that, Sensei then told us to try out men, kote and kote-men.
MEN should be executed at the last instant (like the tsuki cept we do it for men). Same for kote (correct me if I'm wrong).
KOTE MEN - this ones a killer. Fukuda Sensei's students demostrated to us how good kote men should be like. BAMBAM...or something like that. It looked really fast. I didin't get to do it though, I let Kai have a go at doing something. The poor guy was just standing there for the last two cuts. I'll try it out sometime next week on Monday most probably.

Next up, we got separated into 3 groups. Fukuda Sensei's students, the higher grades and the lower grades (where I belong keke). First up, Fukuda sensei demonstrated us how to practise debana kote. One group was split into half with 4/5 on each side. Then the player doing the de-kote will be in the middle doing it. Others would take turns attempting a men cut on the player as fast as possible and the player would hence have to attempt de-kote before the men which would mean..as fast as possible. The last person that the player cuts will receive another "goodbye" cut. Group 1 did it with style and elegance (if you count doing de-kote with good kiai at top speed elegant) Then the higher grades did it. Also with considerable amount of style and elegance. Then it was our turn. There were a few confusions and banging and yea..we need more practise -_-

Worse still was kote-men. This time, the player would be attempting to cancel out kote cuts done by the opponent and then go for men. This time the left feet does not step forward and fumikomi is done nearly at the same spot. (Please correct me if I'm wrong) There will also be a hiki men on the last cut(person) which is something like what Fukuda sensei taught us before. Instant hikimen after blocking an incoming men.

Then the highest 9 grades will go up against the 3rd dans from Japan. Fukuda sensei said that they did not train for the past 6 months and are therefore kindof not at their strongest (what the hell~~ I don't wanna know how much stronger they can be~) I can't remember much of the matches cept the first and second match didin't go too well. I guess our players were pretty psyched up and really nervous about the shiai or just too excited. But after that, we saw a pretty leveled game. A few hikiwake's and Kirby managed to salvage some Aussie pride by landing a men. Sano sensei, Fukuda sensei and Master Kim were the shimpan's for the shiai.

Next up, we had jigeiko with all the jap guys being motodachi. I played the jodan player and..another player. I can't read kanji unfortunately, so I cant distinguish who is who. They all look the same in bogu. Jodan player was really fast. I thought I could get a kote in but his men kept coming down. It really made me think how to get to that men. I still didin't get a cut in after a few tries. He finished me off with a men.

Afterwards, I played Master Kim whose kote cuts were legendary. I was pretty defensive of kote and he kept going for men. I was kinda surprised but it still was a very mind stimulating game. It actually got me thinking how to kill his centre, kamae etc. I usually just play for the sake of playing without actually using my brain. heh..wrong...I know~ However, time is short and so I bowed out with a men cut from Master Kim.

Next up was this anonymous Japanese player. I can't remember much from this match though. It was still mind stimulating but not much different then the jodan player cept he finished me off with a kote. =P

Since it was Dave's last show today, Sano Sensei made him play with all the Jap players at one go. He got almost all hiki-wake and missed several good nuki-men because of the lack of proper execution of cut (or something like that...most probably zanshin?) Anyways, he's going to Singapore so I might see him at goodwill taikai's between Msia and Singapore.

That's all for now. Will post Episode II soon. Ciao! =P

First 2006 Training

4/1/2006 happens to be my first training for the year. The club started on Wednesday which I unfortunately couldn't go as I was sending Shaheen and family off at the airport. I'm soo gonna miss them. Anyways, Fukuda sensei took the first half or so of the class. We did two waza's which according to him, Australian's do not use frequently. One was where motodachi and shidachi both go for men at the same time. Then during zanshin, shidachi will turn around then do a hiki-men. It was pretty cool cept it felt wierd doing it the first time. After a few more runs, it felt more natural but I think it'll require a few more rounds before it stays in my brain.

After that, we did a particularly hard one (well, I found it hard, dunno bout the rest of the club). Motodachi will go for men then come to tsubazeriai then shidachi will straight away go for hiki-men. Sano Sensei mentioned that we could act like we are bracing for tai-a-tari and then go for a cut before motodachi comes to a full stop. It's kinda like faking it (I think) so that motodachi will stop at tsubazeriai position and then we'll go for hiki-men. The hiki men has to be done instantaneously as motodachi comes in so that there's no room for motodachi to block. It helps to push the motodachi's shinai down a bit before going off. However, I was thinking, wouldn't it make it obvious that we will be attempting to cut?

First bruise for 2006 was given to me by.........Voila...ME! Hahaha...the most dangerous person to myself is me. Sigh. Anyways, played Eddie, Nat, Sussan, Hugh, Adam, Sensei (it was tough..have to get back into that kendo feeling) and Sussan again at the end. I think I played Sussan and Nat twice. Lolz..But it was fun, going into jigeiko again, thinking and playing.

So yeah, that's all for now. I'm too lazy to write some more but there would be a few things I'd like to acheive before going back to Malaysia at the end of this year:-

1. Get over a good kamae, one that doesnt falter when you go for a men cut.
2. Try get a men cut on somebody!
3. Improve on zanshin
4. Build up stamina
5. At least go onto the next round of a competition. I'm sick of just playing 2 games in a comp. =P

Well, thats the five things I'd like to do this year. So yeah, c ya'll around!

Nurlin