I'm never sure about the purpose of my Kali posts. Some are to entertain and inform the readers, but some are more like diary entries for myself to look back on one day and see just what I was doing and thinking at a given time. I don't really go all out on making them entertaining and funny though (I'd lie more) and I don't make them personal and detailed enough to really be useful memory aids for me in the future. So are these the best of both worlds, or are they failing doubly?
Encouraging introduction aside, I went to two Kali classes and a workshop this week.
Tuesday Night Class: I have no memory of this one. We did something, possibly with sticks, while spending a lot of time talking and thinking about what we'd do in the double stick and broadsword seminar the next night. Oh, and everyone was showing off their new broadswords to each other; a largely pointless exercise, since most of us had identical training ones bought from the same local stores.
Wednesday Night Seminar: This was a lot of fun. We did broadsword stuff for the first hour and a half, mostly solo. Tuhan (the master) would show us a strike, usually one making a circular motion so we could swing it up behind ourselves and bring it down again, and we'd do our best to emulate him while standing in two rows with enough space to avoid killing anyone with our backswing. Broadsword isn't that different than heavy stick, which we practice all the time; you just have to do larger swinging motions, and you want to strike with the middle of the weapon and then slice along to the tip, making long cuts on the opponent. With a stick we constantly strive to hit with the very tip, for maximum force, so some adjustment is needed. You also don't need to keep your grip as straight with a stick, since there's no blade on it and it doesn't matter what face hits the target. That's obviously a bit different with a broadsword.
After going through a few strikes that way, we did some stuff in pairs, practicing basic counters and parries against an attacker, and then killing him in various ways. My favorite was the behind the back stab, where you tuck the sword behind your back, stab it over to the left of your body as you step past your opponent, and then whip it around while turning and chop off their head from behind. Best of all, you not only can do it with a twirling flourish, you have to, since that's the fastest way to move it both behind and out from behind your back. It's like showing off that serves a purpose.
After the broadsword stuff we moved on to double stick for maybe an hour, and that was both enjoyable and frustrating. I love double stick, and practice it all the time on my own. This is useful since I'm very comfortable with two weapons, and I can keep the constant spinning motion (siniwali) going very smoothly, and I'm good at attacking with them. It's bad since I never practice against another person, and when you've got to keep circling them, time your spinning to get your weapons ready on the correct side of your body, and then swing them to hit the opponent's hands as he swings his own weapons, it's damn hard to coordinate all of that. I've done it a few times, and been better than I was for my 30 seconds in front of everyone on Wednesday night, but for whatever reason I was just terrible at it then. I just couldn't get in a rhythm, and kept banging into the sticks of my sparring partner, rather than blending to his speed and hitting his strikes as they passed me by. It was sad too, since others said I had the best siniwali of anyone there but Tuhan, and then my actual fighting abiility was inversely proportional. Sort of like a really hot model who keeps falling off the catwalk.
Watching Tuhan, and also my Gura, go with double stick was inspiring though. Tuhan was truly awesome with them, hitting like a machine, always on target, always taking out both sticks of the attacker, always driving two or three shots into their head or other vulnerable area before they could recover from being blocked on their attack. I honestly didn't think it was possible to be that good with two weapons at once, and while I was very disappointed in my own showing, I was inspired by seeing just how well it could be done. I've just gotta get Malaya to spar with me a bit more, so I can work on my timing and positioning and get used to fending off attacks while moving into my own counter attacks. She just needs to stand there and swing (slowly, for now, given my skill level) so I can practice. The tricky part is that you've got to keep your sticks moving in the siniwali, but speed it up and slow it down so your sticks are in the right position to counter their attacks, no matter how they move and how they strike. It takes a sort of four dimensional timing, since you've got to control your own position, estimate their speed and direction, and anticipate their next attack before they make it. Strong wrists and arms are essential as well, since you've got to snap your strikes right to their hands with good aim, precision, and speed, and you've got to keep track of your own sticks, knowing if you should hit and pull it back low, high, wrap it around your body, turn more sideways, and so on. Etc.
Thursday Night Kali: There were six of us in class, and the four guys had all been to the workshop the night before and everyone had a sore forearm from all the broadsword swinging, and most of us had sore legs from some of the lunge-like double stick footwork we'd been doing. The other two people in class were newer female students, and while Gura said we'd do something light without weapons, I ended up partnered with the biggest guy there, who is also the best open handed fighter. We did a few drills at first, practicing basic parries and counters, but my partner quickly wanted to do more and began free styling around me while I threw lefts and rights and let him practice parrying those and hitting me.
From there we began doing more freestyle, and were soon into out and out open sparring, mostly in long arm style, which is slower and a bit more graceful than your typical jab-heavy boxing match. We use both hands though, swinging backhand a lot, include all sorts of kicks, go in close for neck breaks and arm twisting submission holds, and so on. He destroyed me, of course, but we had a great (and very sweaty) time and both learned from it.
I even got him to go at more than the 50% speed he usually uses for sparring in class, and it was interesting to see just how quickly I had to move and react to stay alive at that point. He's so good at open hand that he basically does it all in slow motion, just practicing his form and aim and such, while the person he's going against is usually getting in their hits only by sheer speed. I was guilty of that, to some extent, but I tried to use form and technique and style more than just giving myself the "I'll go really fast while you're going half speed." illusion of success.
I got in my fair share of hits, for once, marvelled once again at how good he is at blocking any hit from any angle, and got some great practice at blocking his attacks and counter attacking. The more I spar, with stick or kicking or empty hand, the more I appreciate that a fight between two competent opponents is really all about counter attacks and defense. Anyone who knows what they're doing (which sadly does
not rule out quite a few professional boxers/K1 guys/ultimate fighters) can defend themselves well enough that they're almost impossible to hit cleanly. The way you get hits then, is to nail them when they're open, and that's when they've got something extended to hit you. Of course you've got to avoid their hit while moving to get in your own, which requires super reflexes or a lot of luck and timing, and there's nothing to say you won't just be opening yourself up when you swing at them.
Check out this compilation of
old Mike Tyson knockouts, for instance. He makes a few happen with sheer bludgeonery, but most of them come after an opponent's punch; quite often a hook Tyson ducks, before exploding with his own overhead left hook. His style wouldn't work for Kali; you could just kick or knee him in the face as much as he ducks, but it's amazing how well it works in those videos, and how terrible most of his opponents are at defending themselves. You never swing and then stand there with your hands down; always keep at least one up beside your head, and ideally both. I can't see how these guys got through years of amateur boxing without knowing that much, but then again, at least half the boxing matches we see on TV feature constant terrible form and execution. That's why the occasional brilliant boxer like Tyson, or Ali, or Leonard, is able to dominate at so many levels or for such a long time. Simply knowing how to defend, how to keep your head moving, and how to counterpunch is invaluable.
And now there's no more Kali for me this weekend, while Malaya's going to her women's class tonight and then again on Sunday morning before I'm even awake. Hopefully I can get her to do some practice Saturday and/or Monday, since even if she just stands there and throws slow 1s and 2s with a stick, I can work on my double stick technique.
And yes, this is far more than almost any of you wanted to know, judging by how often (virtually never) anyone offers any feedback on martial arts stuff. I guess this answers my "why do I write these" question from the intro though, eh?
