About this blog..

This is a blog that I started in April 2006, just after I first put on my bogu (kendo armour). It collects the advices given by more experienced kendo practitioners as well as those from my own experiences. Both technical and the mental aspects of kendo are written in the blog. I hope someone will find them useful or interesting at least!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Selection of National Team Members

Ok, so, I went for the nation team member selection on last Saturday, a tough day it was! In total, 65 male and 35 female candidates from all over the island took part in the selection. We were divided into 4 pools, meaning that each team has 16 people, and each of us had to fight 15 matches, whether you advance into the next stage or not.

The top from each pool will be selected as the team member, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th from each pool advance to the next round. In the end, 7 are selected as the first players and 3 are selected as the backup players.

The large number of participates meant that we had to fight for 7 hours. It was absolutely exhausting, both physically and mentally. I started out performing badly in my first 3 matches or so. My reaction and movement were slow. It's like I hadn't woken up yet. And it gradually got better.

Everyone fought differently, so I had to adjust my strategy for different opponents. I definitely lost far more matches than I should have, however, being able to perform wazas like kote-uchiotoshi-men a couple of times made me feel good.

My thoughts for the day are:

  • Fighting spirit is very very important. I found the best way to get it out of me is to regard every opponent as a strong a respectable player. This way, my mind become sharp, as well as my movement. Because I found that my performance was much better against people whom I thought were stronger than me.
  • My kote-men should be faster. This lies on my footwork. So I have to improve this during training.
  • Sometimes I raise my kensen before striking men. DONT DO THIS.
  • Relax my body more.
  • Keep my foot close to each other.
  • Be careful of my zanshin. Very often I let my men open after striking kote, and also not separating myself far enough from the opponent.
  • Be careful when the opponent is at the close range, and also do not let go of chances to attack.

The below were two matches. I'll let the action speak for itself!
(I'm the white on in the first video, and red in the second.)





4 comments:

Yu said...

Nice kote :) I was curious about how TW conducts the national team selection! Was there a requirement on who can participate, or the tournament was open to anyone who's interested?

Unknown said...

Hihi, there is requirement for entering the team selection, and that is 3rd Dan for the men part, and 1st Dan for the women. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Ivan,

Nice Debana Kotes.
Hope you have a good outcome on the National Team Selection.

Just one word of advise for your to practice list (noticed from your 2nd match - when you are red), many time when you try to do kote suriage men, try not to pull back with your arm/hand, as it actually creates an opening for your kote. Suggestion is, if you feel you are abit close to take a slight backward step as you do the suriage else attach forward as you do the suriage.

Good Luck mate.

Al

Unknown said...

Thanks Al, that's indeed one of my problem.