Team work
For the July Fort Erie Tournament I had the opportunity to participate in the team Kata competition. Our team consisted of 5 members ranging in age from 17 to 42. We also ranged in sizes, from 5'8" to 6'2" and in weight from 145 lbs to 195lbs. Our first objective was to decide on a Kata. After choosing seishan we discussed flow and focus to synchronize the movements. Some of the things we discovered were as follows:
by Sensei Randy FriessenThe longer your legs, the more time it takes to get from a zenkutsu dachi stance, make a gather and explode into a zenkutsu dachi stance in the opposite direction. If you really concentrate you can see a lot more with your peripheral vision than you realize. This was used to acknowledge your team members while the kata was being performed. It was also a problem because we decided if one member was out of sync the other four would continue on and allow him to get on track. We were lucky that this didn't happen because you have to be very disciplined to ignore another persons movements.
The older and more worn out your knees, hips and back are the slower your turns are.
As a team we worked together and turned in the best effort we could to represent the Grimsby beach karate club. I would like to, thank my team members Brian Julien, Peter Tisi, Terry Tennant and Bruce Moore. I would also like to thank Brian Chmay, Brad Cosby, Mark Hannah and Brad Ysseldyk for all their help and for being prepared as alternates.
Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to represent our club in the kata competition.