The Underhill Journal

I attended a fighting course today run by my Instructor, which doubled as squad training for our inter-club competition England v Scotland shield.
It was a really interesting course. Shihan focused mainly on scoring techniques that play on the opponent's expectations, with feinting kicks and strikes and other ways of hiding your intent. We also worked on movement on the mats (something which I actually don't have much trouble with) and reading the opponent.
I'm fairly exhausted, although the course was not as intensive physically as one's I've done on Kata and Basic Techniques. I have come back with some pretty hefty bruises on my knuckles from practicing Uraken's on the pads though.
The course continues tomorrow, although unfortunately I won't be able to make it. Good luck to all those I saw today who are going on to the Welsh Open on the 10th of February!

I went looking for a non-denominational Martial Arts forum and found a nice looking, newish one. It's called Martial Arts Edge and my profile for it is here. I'll be exploring it in depth over the next few days.
I'm off to a fighting course tomorrow, which should be interesting. I'll report back here on how it goes.

Over the last few months (when I haven't been posting much to my blog.. oops) I've been getting involved with a local Animal sanctuary - Sanctuary Gardens. It's run by Sam and Susan Drummond and they take in unwanted and mistreated animals and give them permanent homes. They have a large number of rabbits and guinea pigs, as well as quite a few birds, chipmunks, chinchilla's and hamsters. They are planning on opening up a much bigger site, as well as running a community garden in our village.
You can find their contact details on the link in the sidebar, but as yet they don't have a website for the charity. It's something that we're working on, so watch this space!

I saw this and was blown away by the kids timing and technique. I've tried working with a 3 section staff - it's murder and it hurts, so this is just amazing. Enjoy.