Page 16 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 155

Dairy Queen donates cakes to

Cool Kid Club

Registered Massage Therapist Sheryl Calvank-Rodriguez, RMT

KARATE KOMMENTS

By Jim Riddell,

Seaway Karate Club

This week’s DQ Cool Kid This week’s DQ Cool Kid
e are now into December with Christmas approaching, and those new is Addie! is Brooklynn!
Wstudents that decided to take up karate either during the summer or at the Addie may be new to our Club this Brooklynn consistently shines with
beginning of the fall season are now closing in on achieving their yellow belt
or may have already done so recently. year, but she’s already making a her respect, genuine politeness,
big impact! Her kindness shines and artistic talent. We’re proud to
One of the components of any belt promotions test is being evaluated on
performing the kata(s) required for that particular belt rank. Kata is a Japanese through in everything she does, and recognize her for bringing such
word meaning “form” using a predetermined series of moves involving kicks, she always makes everyone feel positivity, creativity, and inspiration
punches, blocks, and various other strikes against a virtual opponent. The vast welcome and included. to our program!
majority of combative arts have some form of “kata” in their training. Boxing,
kickboxing, and Muay Thai all have shadow boxing, where the practitioners
throw their punches and kicks against an invisible opponent. This helps to refine
punching, kicking, and striking skills, while also developing their foot work
and committing it all to muscle memory. In the next few Karate Komments
columns we will view a few of the different ways to training kata, whether it be
in karate class, or at home working alone and continuing to improve.
First, we will take a look at improving technique by practicing kata as this will
work on each of the attributes necessary in karate; speed, focus, power, timing,
balance, and coordination. One of the best ways to do this is to slow things
down, and by this, I mean, really slooooow things down. Visualize a falling
leaf on a still October day, floating downward very slowly and gracefully -
that’s the type of speed that we are looking for here. A kata that would normally
be done in 35-45 seconds should now take a minimum of two minutes to get
through. This is the best possible way to identify and correct the little mistakes
that are never noticed at full speed. Super slow motion kata allows you the time
to think about each and every move that is made, are you properly balanced
with both feet in the correct position? Are your hands positioned properly and
are all kicks and strikes being executed with the proper technical correctness?
Is your weight distribution proper? What about the rhythm of the kata such as
starts, stops, and directional changes – so much to evaluate. You will probably
notice a few things in each kata that you would like to clean up and improve
upon, and the best way to accomplish that is to continue practicing the kata at
a very slow speed. This will allow you to continue to identify and correct any
poor habits and upgrade them with proper technique. Once you have done the
kata at super slow speed (more than two minutes) at least a half dozen times, it
can be built up to a medium speed of approximately a one minute. This slower
than normal speed will still allow you to monitor technical correctness while
starting to build muscle memory, with your new and improved form. ERIC DUNCAN MP/DÉPUTÉ
STORMONT-DUNDAS-GLENGARRY
Karate Quote: Progress is the result of Continuous effort over time - keep
going. ERIC.DUNCAN@PARL.GC.CA • ERICDUNCANMP.CA • 1-888-805-2513