NK Teams: dutch national championships for kendo teams

2012-02-19 22:06:00

First off, I'd like to give special thanks to Kris-fukushou for his guidance during our day at the NK kendo! It was a huge support for us newbies, to have him take some time away from Museido Dojo and to coach us. Thank you Kris! Also a hearty congratulation to Museido for winning third place and to our mother-dojo Renshinjuku Amstelveen for winning first place!

Originally I was going to take part in the NK Teams as part of the Renshinjuku Almere team, but that took a turn. There were six of us and because Jeroen hadn't fought today, I offered him my spot on our team, putting myself in the reserve seat. It's good that I stuck around, because Kris was approached by a member of the jury, asking about Houdaifa's age. Turns out that the age limit for the NK Teams isn't 16, but 18! Which meant that I got switched in for our second competition in our poule. 

I went up against mr Weber or Arnhem's Kendo Kai Higashi. Luckily I lasted longer than my two fights in the NK Kyu. I went down with two men-strikes against me, plus one loss of my shinai which was flicked away when defending against a very strong men-strike. Learning points:

• Peter tells me my kamae was bad. Pretty damn open even, while I thought I was closing things.
• My posture was slouched, though I think this was due to me compensating for the ill-fitting helmet.
• I was still too eager to strike. I wasn't waiting for openings, or for mr. Weber to attack. I rushed in. 
• Stemming from that, I rushed in from longer distances, closing quickly hoping to land a quick strike.
• In both cases I'm told that my moves were utterly predictable. Very easily readible. 

Then, as for our team? I'm sad to say that, honestly, we were not a team. We were six kendoka who train together and who spent the day together. We were the least experienced team and it showed. 

Nothing but good about the fighting prowess of my sempai! I'm greatly impressed with how they all did and I will have plenty to learn from them in the years to come! And our attitude amongst eachother is great! We're a positive and friendly group! However, outside of the fighting we weren't very good. We have a lot to learn about order and displine. 

• Nobody was in charge, or took charge.
• We were late in starting our warming up in the morning. 
• Prior to the NK Teams we did no huddle and no warming up.
• Our grasp of etiquette is very loose and reihou towards team members and opponents alike was messy. 
• When one of our team mates was fighting we didn't stay in a row, but instead just chatted :(

During the day I was too overwhelmed by the spectacle of it all, but afterwards I'm honestly a bit ashamed. 

Ton-sensei, Hillen-fukushou and Kris-fukushou say it often: training once a week is not enough. By only spending two hours a week together we barely have enough time for basic training and some geiko. Let alone time to learn etiquette and equipment maintenance! If there was a chance to train twice a week with our dojo, I'd jump at the chance! And I'd love to help in any way needed to set it up! Heck, I'm already training several sempai in the maintenance of their gear!

Tomorrow I'll take some time to write about the rest of the day and my participation in the individual NK for kyu-graded kendoka.

kilala.nl tags: kendo, sports,

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