Takes a licking and keeps on ticking…

During my train ride after Sunday’s training, I saw a billboard which inspired the title of this blog post. Watches are trendy in Japan. While making my way through the second busiest train station in Tokyo, I saw a Timex advertisement. I remembered an older Timex commercial that had the slogan which I borrowed for this post. It pretty much described my experience over the weekend.

The weekend training was more intense and fun. During my first week, I was excluded from the sparring sessions. I understood the sensei wanted me to work on basic strikes and the fundamentals I was taught. I expected much of the same for my second weekend. I was pleased they saw fit to involve me in all their drills. I may have influenced their decision some by falling in line with the other students and responding with an “hai” when they announced the next iteration of training.

After a prior post, a comment was posted discussing always being assessed. I wrote those words down on a sticky note as a reminder and made it a point to recall that throughout the training sessions. I try to hustle between each training event and sound off like the other students. I saw a great example several years ago as a group of senior leaders in my battalion observed a football team practice. One player stood out for his motivation and hustle. Tim Tebow jogged between each training iteration, moving from station to station whenever the horn blew to rotate. That example stuck with me.

Many dynamics occur throughout our days, whether it is in the office, playing field, Dojo, or wherever we may find ourselves. During those times, we are being observed and setting an example. I believe leadership and a positive example has to be modeled to back our words we often like to pontificate. Moving forward with the mission statement I discussed in a previous post helped me to stay on track and make this past weekend’s training purposeful.

The Kendo training follows a general format with warm-ups and working basic strikes to get the heart rate going. I believe it was last week during the second session, one of the students approached me during a break after warm-ups. He told me it was okay to rest if I got tired. The retired soldier in me responded with, “I will have time to rest when I die.” He looked at me with a quizzed look as if he didn’t understand. He then responded by saying, “hai, so desu ne,” meaning, “yes, this is true.” I recognized it wasn’t the correct response to say in the open. I think many folks reading this will chuckle. Still, the truth of the matter is that humility and understanding of the cultural context are, in many cases, more important.

I kept my typical comments to myself that I historically used to motivate or increase the intensity. I noticed, especially during the sparring sessions, that phrases such as “bring it” or “let’s go” circulated in my head. I have noted the need to work my self-talk in a more balanced manner. Meaning, motivational speak balanced with developmental and learning talk. I thought about the balance of strength in both hands while gripping a shinai. Like a baseball bat or shooting a pistol, the differential in grip differs depending on the act. I can see where the balance of self-talk will aid the development and execution of Kendo tasks.

One of the things I quickly picked up on is that the equipment works! We conduct several drills, which are a combination of working the technique of strikes along with what I call, equipment appreciation. And I have come to appreciate the equipment more, especially when the equipment is missed such as the body armor and the ribs take a jolt. The hand and forearm guard reminded me of the Blauer suits we used in the Army for combatives. It doesn’t shield you from feeling the strike so much. Instead, it prevents feeling a large amount of pain. My right forearm is currently bruised and welted. Ah, the price one pays to have a little fun?

My main takeaway from the sparring sessions is the speed of strikes and needing to develop an awareness of openings and being able to convert that to action. I know it will come in time. I focused on working a couple of the techniques which were taught to me, mainly head and wrist/forearm strikes. I found myself getting off of my plan, especially when feeling the blows on my right forearm. Trying to defend the attacks to the forearm gave my opponent a larger target window and off of my plan of attack.

I am using the video from these sessions to gain performance feedback and to see where improvements can be made. Right now, the canvas to improve is wide and open. I am okay with that as I am enjoying the learning atmosphere and feel there are lessons I can use in the future. It was also motivating that several of the sensei mentioned to me that they were impressed with how far I have come in two weeks. The big thing was that I felt the improvements. It is a blast to be in the arena again!

Pat