More on the screening
Sep. 20th, 2010 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrAs I said, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. Mr. Worley gave a nice little speech before we started, which I appreciated. He mentioned that many people find the first screening to be the hardest, because they don't know what to expect. Well, I knew what to expect, since I've seen Fiona and Delia both go through this. But I'm expecting the next screenings to be tougher. OMG, they last almost an hour longer. An hour and a half of flat-out effort was bad enough. The other thing he pointed out was how few of us actually get to this point. I thought back to all the people I've met over the years since I first was a white belt, and then considered how many have dropped away. He's right, and I hadn't thought of it before like that.
Then we got started.
The first section is kicking. We started out on my weaker side, and I initially was doing pretty well. By the time we'd switched to my stronger side, I was having more trouble with my balance, but that was more due to exhaustion, I think. I've been practicing ten slow kicks on a side. Mr. Worley had us do five or six, although the last one is held for a really long time. But the fast kicks were many more than I was used to doing.
During classes, I usually hydrate two or three times. Sometimes I have to wait a little longer than I'd like, but generally, not to the point of discomfort.
After kicking for awhile at a screening, however, I find that you get really REALLY thirsty. And you don't get a break for water until the section is over, and that takes a lot longer than your body says it should. The thirst was incredible, so that your tissues feel parched and leathery. And when we finally got the water break, I couldn't drink as much as I wanted because I was panting so hard. 'I don't know if I can do this,' I moaned to Rob. I switched to orange juice to get a jolt of sugar, but my hand was shaking so badly I spilled it all down my front. Oops.
The next section was paper kicks. This, I felt was the section where I did the worst, specifically on the ten round kicks in a row to the X-ray paper. We did it three times on each side. The last time, I wasn't able to get all ten, but was staggering all over the place. I heard Mr. Worley chiding others about their knee motion (the knee is supposed to cross the center line twice during the kick). I don't know if my knee motion was correct, or if he was merely concentrating on other people.
Marching basics, I felt I did pretty well. I used the fiercest karate face I had.
Form, hmm. Not sure. I was one of the last people to finish discovery, but I thought that was because I was one of the few who actually held the pauses as long as they're supposed to be held.
Self-defense. This is a section a lot of people fail, because they either fail to twist the back leg (when they attack as well as defend), or they fail to transfer their weight. I chose to do a knee smash--there can be no doubt that you're transferring your weight on that.
Last was the horse back riding punches. I kept my knees bent and hit hard. That was it this time: no pad strikes or sparring.
I only got two comments through the entire test, which was rather remarkable, all things considered, since the testing group was so small (and, to my surprise, I was actually the only adult of all the candidates. I've never seen a screening group that small before). Mr. Sidner at one point during the kicking section had to remind me to breathe (I tend to hold it when I'm concentrating really hard) and Mr. Worley at one point told me to lead my punch with the fist itself, rather than turning the upper body first. That was it.
I limped out of there, sat down, drank water, and shook for awhile. I felt tears welling up, not because I thought I had done badly--really, I had no idea how I'd done, although I knew I hadn't exactly shone on the kicking section. I had just physically pushed myself so hard past my limits. I felt pretty sure I had avoided the easy, stupid errors; I kept my fists tight through the entire test, folded tightly, hit hard. The question just would be how heavily they would weight my performance during the kicking section.
When I saw Mr. Sidner on Saturday, he was encouraging. He said that my technique throughout the test looked pretty solid, which pleased me a lot. He said where I was weakest was where we expected it would be: the kicking section. What we'll do is he'll watch me during the next month and then evaluate me right before the next screening to see whether he thinks I'm ready to go on. So I'm going to spend the next month doing crazy amounts of slow kicks, to work on my balance, and wind sprints, to build up my cardio stamina. I get the impression I did better than several of the others who came from our school, who probably won't be advancing on to the second screening.
So I guess the bottom line is that I passed--sort of. IF I can show enough progress through the coming month, I'll be going on to the second screening.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank again the anonymous benefactor who has made it possible for me to continue my studies in karate.
Then we got started.
The first section is kicking. We started out on my weaker side, and I initially was doing pretty well. By the time we'd switched to my stronger side, I was having more trouble with my balance, but that was more due to exhaustion, I think. I've been practicing ten slow kicks on a side. Mr. Worley had us do five or six, although the last one is held for a really long time. But the fast kicks were many more than I was used to doing.
During classes, I usually hydrate two or three times. Sometimes I have to wait a little longer than I'd like, but generally, not to the point of discomfort.
After kicking for awhile at a screening, however, I find that you get really REALLY thirsty. And you don't get a break for water until the section is over, and that takes a lot longer than your body says it should. The thirst was incredible, so that your tissues feel parched and leathery. And when we finally got the water break, I couldn't drink as much as I wanted because I was panting so hard. 'I don't know if I can do this,' I moaned to Rob. I switched to orange juice to get a jolt of sugar, but my hand was shaking so badly I spilled it all down my front. Oops.
The next section was paper kicks. This, I felt was the section where I did the worst, specifically on the ten round kicks in a row to the X-ray paper. We did it three times on each side. The last time, I wasn't able to get all ten, but was staggering all over the place. I heard Mr. Worley chiding others about their knee motion (the knee is supposed to cross the center line twice during the kick). I don't know if my knee motion was correct, or if he was merely concentrating on other people.
Marching basics, I felt I did pretty well. I used the fiercest karate face I had.
Form, hmm. Not sure. I was one of the last people to finish discovery, but I thought that was because I was one of the few who actually held the pauses as long as they're supposed to be held.
Self-defense. This is a section a lot of people fail, because they either fail to twist the back leg (when they attack as well as defend), or they fail to transfer their weight. I chose to do a knee smash--there can be no doubt that you're transferring your weight on that.
Last was the horse back riding punches. I kept my knees bent and hit hard. That was it this time: no pad strikes or sparring.
I only got two comments through the entire test, which was rather remarkable, all things considered, since the testing group was so small (and, to my surprise, I was actually the only adult of all the candidates. I've never seen a screening group that small before). Mr. Sidner at one point during the kicking section had to remind me to breathe (I tend to hold it when I'm concentrating really hard) and Mr. Worley at one point told me to lead my punch with the fist itself, rather than turning the upper body first. That was it.
I limped out of there, sat down, drank water, and shook for awhile. I felt tears welling up, not because I thought I had done badly--really, I had no idea how I'd done, although I knew I hadn't exactly shone on the kicking section. I had just physically pushed myself so hard past my limits. I felt pretty sure I had avoided the easy, stupid errors; I kept my fists tight through the entire test, folded tightly, hit hard. The question just would be how heavily they would weight my performance during the kicking section.
When I saw Mr. Sidner on Saturday, he was encouraging. He said that my technique throughout the test looked pretty solid, which pleased me a lot. He said where I was weakest was where we expected it would be: the kicking section. What we'll do is he'll watch me during the next month and then evaluate me right before the next screening to see whether he thinks I'm ready to go on. So I'm going to spend the next month doing crazy amounts of slow kicks, to work on my balance, and wind sprints, to build up my cardio stamina. I get the impression I did better than several of the others who came from our school, who probably won't be advancing on to the second screening.
So I guess the bottom line is that I passed--sort of. IF I can show enough progress through the coming month, I'll be going on to the second screening.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank again the anonymous benefactor who has made it possible for me to continue my studies in karate.