Sparring Nemesis

Martial arts are one among the many means to come in contact with our perceptive potential. During the practice of martial arts, we go back to a primordial simplicity. No need of drugs, objects, or external substances to help us. We are left alone with our bodies. We don’t have to wait for things to happen, we make them happen. It is like Zen archery or like climbing mountains: we use the body as a takeoff runway for inner skies.
-Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



124.5 on the scale this morning. I went to McDonald's and had a cheeseburger and fries before class! And I'm hungry again now.


Today's Form Of the Day is Iron Needle. Yesterday's was Black Crane One. Friday's was the Southern Mantis fragment that JoE taught me. I have to clarify with him the stance in the opening of that. I'm not entirely sure if it's a forward stance or a Cat stance, or perhaps it's even a Seven Stars.

Sunday evening Kung fu. It was not a terribly productive night for me, as half of it was spent on catching other people up on Spear Hand (which I have worked on and have fairly solid), and the other half consisted of working apps on a section of Bung Bo Kuen that I have done a bazillion times and feel likewise confident with. Minor notes- the double fists are better targeting the sides of the neck as opposed to the skull... and if you step to the *outside* of the opponent's leg/foot, it makes it even easier to throw/takedown the person.

Sparring... sigh. DD was there, which always makes me very anxious. By the time my turn came, my stomach was a-roil and I felt like I was gonna hurl. Moreso when I saw that I was being put up against Nemesis.

We were supposed to do the one-attacker-one-defender, slow, short-sequence thing. That sorta works as long as we are disciplined enough to KEEP it really slow, which we rarely are. It usually speeds up, and proceeds from "short sequences" to "thwack each other till Kitsune takes a too-hard hit and calls a time-out".

In a way, he actually smashes me worse when we try to do the short-sequences thing. That format involves me backing off after each of these sequences- and every time I try to back off of Nemesis, he gets in one or more nasty parting strikes with his long, long reach while I'm doing that. I take a lot of beating, and it's also discouraging (and intimidating for the next go-round) to end every flurry with that.

What small amount of competance I ever have against Nemesis seems to involve getting right in on him, up in his grill, and stay there- advancing on him and keeping up a continual chain of attacks. As soon as he gets the room- and time- to start playing *HIS* game, I'm phucked.

I tried to center and breathe, and found myself working out of the center of a dark, thick, blotch of stillness. I reached out from inside of this blotch to strike, and then withdrew and rechambered back into the blotch. I was fairly calm and not feeling especially intimidated or afraid of his wild strikes. I did what I usually do with him, which is bridge and hang a hand/wrist heavily off his forearm. I linger there for a bit, then 1)come in for a kick, 2)pull him in with a Mantis claw on the bridging hand and strike at him with the other, or 3)slide the bridging hand up his arm and strike at his head with it. Once in, I keep advancing on him and striking at him on multiple levels.

He did clock me too hard once with an elbow to the head, but that was the only bad hit I took. It was a fairly long and intense spar. We were both dripping in sweat and bleeding (me from a scratch across the face, he had blood on his shirt that I'm not sure where it came from).

I feel like I did fairly okay. I stayed calm and centered. He got some good hits in, but I got a few too. When we clinched up, I was able to not lose control of the situation as commonly happens. Then he started grabbing my hair again. KAHARA, why does he always have to do that?! I hate that! I didn't cope with that well, but time was almost up by then. Makes me want to cut off all my hair again. I think I need to act immediately and decisively next time that happens- get loose however I can right away, even if I have to get rougher to do it (heck, he just grabbed my hair, he's the one escalating), or tear some hair out to do it. I can't just let him control me utterly and shake all the fight out of me every time he gets a fistful of hair.

DD commented "Good" - huh. SK commented that as soon as I bridge Nemesis, Nemesis can then attack me even if I am the designated "attacker" (and he was doing that, in the second half of the spar). He commented that the clingy bridges I am doing are a "you've got me, but I've got you too" situation. I dunno, I just like doing that (with everyone except SK and CC, who just roll over it and turn it against me).


JoE has obviously been working on throws. He was taking Nemesis down left and right tonight. It was quite impressive. Smack, smack, smack... a few techniques back and forth, and there's Nemesis hitting the mat again.