Adding interesting challenges to forms/poomsae

[auntlisa1103]

If you got them all wrong on this test, though, maybe more quizzing would be a good idea.

Maybe. Or I could take the initiative and practice it more on my own 😉

The Master who conducted and her Senior Master husband are both well known for throwing curve balls in tests. They want to see you think on your feet, especially as you reach higher ranks.

During the ho shin sul section (grab escapes), she had me and my partner do a grab we’ve never practiced before (grab one wrist with both hands) and we had to think of something and add a strike on the end. For a split second I got nervous thinking “this woman wants me to invent a new ho shin sul!!” But then I realized number one would be just as effective on two hands as it is on one, so I just did that. And she liked it, so.

 

[J. Pickard]

I personally never put much merit in the symbolism of the forms related to the trigrams of the Taegeuk (taiji). I always assumed they just used the Taoist symbols from the I ching because Korean culture was fairly heavily Taoist pre Japanese annexation so it was sort of symbolic of regaining cultural autonomy post Japanese occupation more than anything. However, one thing I did back when I was going through gup ranks and I do now just for fun with my students is call out a specific Taegeuk/Palgwe/Pyong Ahn form for each bar of the form.
For example, when training Taegeuk poomsae they all have 6 bars (directed plains of movement) so I might have a student do bar 1 from Tg 1, but bar 2 is Tg 2, bar 3 Tg 3, all the way through taeguek Yuk as the last bar. We also sometimes do a pick 3, where you pick 3 taegeuk poomsae and do each bar in order, then in reverse order starting bar 4. So as an example bar 1 is Taegeuk il bar1, bar 2 is the 2nd bar from taegeuk Ee, bar 3 is Taegeuk Sam, bar 4 also Sam, bar 5 from Taegeuk Ee, and finish it with the last bar from Taegeuk il. There are lots of fun ways to train forms that mix it up a bit.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Had a new forms challenge over the weekend. I mentioned it in a different post but I thought I’d put it here too. The conductor called about 5 of our taegeuk forms by the English symbol. Heaven, lake, lightning, thunder, etc. And of course, she bounced around, not calling them in order.

We had three testing candidates in the room, including me (me and one other for first dan, and one for second dan), and my husband said never once in those five forms did all three of us do the same form. I know for a fact I only did the right one once. The judges and black belts actually teased me a little bit about doing Yuk when she called Lake, for picking the wrong kind of water LOL

This was one of my issues with kempo. We had various combinations, that were organized by belt and number (ie: orange belt #1). I was fine with those. The same combinations though were labelled by number, so the above combo would also be combination #2, despite us learning like 6 combinations before that (in order, they went 6, 7, 3, 3b, 2, 5, 6b, 6c, etc.). Then kempos with names as well. I knew all the different techniques, and knew them by belt, but had so much trouble if they're number or name was called out. Had literal flashcards to help me but it just didn't stick. During classes/tests we just laughed and they specified what they meant since they knew I knew all of them, and it didn't negatively effect me grading.

Similarly when I did Judo, I had trouble with the names of various throws, until my instructor went over with me what each one means in english and I was able to make sense of them (ie: Otoshi means body drop, gari refers to reaping throws), and that helped me a lot in classes since I could understand what the names meant.

Seems kind of silly to me for them to include that, when they clearly don't go over it with you guys (if they did you would be doing the same form). That's a fault on their end of either education or testing, not on yours as a student.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Maybe. Or I could take the initiative and practice it more on my own 😉

I'd agree with you, if you were the only one having the issue. When all 3 of you had the same issue, that's on you.

The Master who conducted and her Senior Master husband are both well known for throwing curve balls in tests. They want to see you think on your feet, especially as you reach higher ranks.

That's fine in terms of technique. In terms of rote verbal learning, that's not what MA's are for.

During the ho shin sul section (grab escapes), she had me and my partner do a grab we’ve never practiced before (grab one wrist with both hands) and we had to think of something and add a strike on the end. For a split second I got nervous thinking “this woman wants me to invent a new ho shin sul!!” But then I realized number one would be just as effective on two hands as it is on one, so I just did that. And she liked it, so.

This is a perfect example of learning to think on your feet. And learning to adapt/improvise. Having to recognize the english version of forms you never use the english for is not.

 

[auntlisa1103]

We weren’t down graded for it. Senior Master says even he gets confused when she does that. I got good naturedly ribbed for doing the wrong kind of water when she called lake and I did Yuk. Other than that they told us to at least commit to and do well the form we chose. GM tells us all the time that we are GOING to make a mistake and that they grade far more on our response to it than on the fact that we make it. I once lost my balance during a rotated kicking drill that traveled up the floor, and landed (not very hard) back first into the mirrored wall. Senior Master could tell it rattled me a little and told me if I had fallen he would’ve graded me on the landing, not the fact that I had fallen.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Maybe. Or I could take the initiative and practice it more on my own 😉

This is generally my prefer solution to most difficulties. However, I think in a classroom setting, it's safe to say that if one student is struggling, it's basically on them. If everyone is struggling, it's on the teacher.

The Master who conducted and her Senior Master husband are both well known for throwing curve balls in tests. They want to see you think on your feet, especially as you reach higher ranks.

Yeah. I don't think translation is a good example of thinking on your feet.

During the ho shin sul section (grab escapes), she had me and my partner do a grab we’ve never practiced before (grab one wrist with both hands) and we had to think of something and add a strike on the end. For a split second I got nervous thinking “this woman wants me to invent a new ho shin sul!!” But then I realized number one would be just as effective on two hands as it is on one, so I just did that. And she liked it, so.

Now this is a fine example of thinking on your feet. It is also a way to see how well a student understands the material.
When teaching a form, we all pretty much do the same thing. We demonstrate the techniques and give them names. The names put the technique in a box and tell the student what the movement is for.
Except it really doesn't. An easy example is the outside to inside middle block.

Figuring out how you can use this movement to deflect a punch coming at your sternum is pretty easy. It's the obvious use of the technique. But it is absolutely NOT the only thing it's good for.
Movement is just movement. In this particular movement, the chamber can be a block and the block can be a strike.

Assume an opponent in front of you. They throw a roundhouse at your head. Chambering this block can deflect the roundhouse. And since your fist is back there, why not throw a hammerfist to the side of their head?

That's the sort of thing we do. I teach the obvious applications. During tests, I'll give the candidate a tackling dummy...errr...I mean partner, and ask them to show an application for the movement that is NOT the obvious. A person who only understands the obvious application has what I call an immature understanding of the technique. As they mature and as their understanding of the movements mature, the lightbulb pops.

Now, obviously this isn't something to be expected of a 12 year old yellowbelt. But it is certainly expected for those who reach Chodanbo.

Oh, and for the record, we do NOT teach chambering the off hand on your hip during this block. That leaves your front totally unprotected. Instead, as the right hand comes back to chamber the block (or block a strike) the left hand would move a bit closer to the body and towards the right. Depending on circumstances, it might come far enough over to support the chamber/block.

Movement is just movement. Every block is a strike. Every strike is a block. Chambers are blocks. And strikes. And grapples.

 

[Earl Weiss]

above "Inside Block" video shows how terminology can vary. The Chang Hon Blocks that move from the shoulder line toward the center line of your own body would be "Inward' as opposed to "Inside" . From Center line toward the Shoulder Line would be "Outward: "Inside " and "outside" describe the block in relation to the other person's body. Inside would be between their limb and centerline or for example if they were doing a front punch with palm facing the floor it would impact the thumb side of the arm. Pinky side would be outside,

 

[auntlisa1103]

Yeah. I don't think translation is a good example of thinking on your feet.

But it’s a great way to see how someone reacts to being rattled/surprised. You can’t ask a bad guy on the street to hang on a sec while you check your notes or recite a mnemonic in your head. You have to pick something and commit to it.

 

[J. Pickard]

Figuring out how you can use this movement to deflect a punch coming at your sternum is pretty easy. It's the obvious use of the technique. But it is absolutely NOT the only thing it's good for.
Movement is just movement. In this particular movement, the chamber can be a block and the block can be a strike.

Something my instructor told me about 18 years ago that has stuck with me for a long time; "It is what it does. A block is a block unless it's something else."

 

[auntlisa1103]

Something my instructor told me about 18 years ago that has stuck with me for a long time; "It is what it does. A block is a block unless it's something else."

Agreed. A down block can clear an arm/wrist grab, etc.

It can also stop a 50 pound lab puppy from landing a running leap on his 100 pound human mom and knocking her over (ask me how I know LOL) 😂

 

[Dirty Dog]

But it’s a great way to see how someone reacts to being rattled/surprised. You can’t ask a bad guy on the street to hang on a sec while you check your notes or recite a mnemonic in your head. You have to pick something and commit to it.

I doubt I'd be bothering to translate things in that situation.