UBBT: On It

Whoops, I dropped the ball a bit with my blogging. But, no worries. I picked it up.


So, what has happened that’s noteworthy…

Sparring at the Ging Wu in Edmonton. Just like last year, it was a riot. Learned some specifics about San Shou rules in competition, tried a few new takedowns and (my favourite) got a chance to spar some people that I don’t spar every day. While it was a “light” contact seminar, there were still a few people with some bruised ribs and the wind knocked out of them. The guys at the Ging Wu are very quick and really fun to spar. I had a lot of fun, to say the least.

Our school tournament is coming up as well. This year I’m not only competing in it, but helping to make things run smoother as much as I can, mainly with the kids’ competitions, but with the rest if I’m needed. It’s always exciting to compete against the rest of the school, especially since the Onoway branch of Silent River comes out as well and we rarely get a chance to mix it up.

What else? I’ve been working on my forms more and the more I do, the more I realize that everything I do is wrong. Luckily, it’s not all bad, and I can fix it. I have many new insights into how the form actually works that I didn’t catch the first time around. All of the subtleties are being made clear and the connections to the 6 harmonies are making more sense.

I’m going to have to make a few extra blog posts to make up for the ones that I have missed in the last week. I know that doesn’t technically make up for missing, but it’s a good step I think.

Jonathan Robinson

www.SilentRiverKungFu.com

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

UBBT: Haymaker Play

We had a very interesting Sihing class the other day. We were told to do a defence against a haymaker, so we did, over and over and over again. Eventually, the sifu tells us to experiment with locks after we have completed the technique and to try and get the other person to submit on the ground. After that vague instruction, we started experimenting and trying new things, which turned out to be things we already knew but applied in ways that we hadn’t tried yet! The exciting part is that because we already have played around with locking the joints in the arm and transitioning from each lock, and as we have knowledge of how to escape from some locks, we had a good 20 minutes of full out experimentation, with rolls and twists, laughs and sore shoulders and wrists. It was a great reminder of how we need to use our imagination if we want to put the “art” into “martial art”.


Jonathan Robinson

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

UBBT: Weeeellllllllllllll

Weellllll, looks like winter is actually over, but how do we really know? Part of me wants to say the ground will dry up soon and the weather will stay warm, but the smart part of me says that we have at least another snowfall coming up. Alberta winters don’t go gently into that good night. The point is I am out on my bike because there’s no deadly ice! I’ve been racking up the kms, doing between 5 and 20 kms a day for the past week. My km count, which is lacking, is now catching up at an awesome rate!


Also, just hung up the heavy bag again, using springs from my roommate’s trampoline as shock absorbers so that my garage ceiling doesn’t cave in. Now I just need a way to tether that bouncy thing to the concrete floor. Anyone have a concrete drill I could borrow?

Jonathan Robinson

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada