Sparring session

[draconis]

Thursday, we had a full-class sparring session at the dojo. By that, I mean that everyone sparred with everyone else before the night was over, from the two senior students all the way down to the two junior students.

I haven't done any actual *sparring* in years, beyond just a bit of playing around with other folks. It's kind of scary, but the only one who actually gave me a challenge was one of the two juniormost students. Or maybe I'm just used to a different sort of sparring than they are...

One thing I was *very* surprised to see... after I sparred with the "in-house" black belt student -- and beat her soundly, I might add -- she spent the rest of the night standing on my "junior" side, right up until the closing lineup to bow out and end the class.

It will be interesting to see where things go from here. Especially if we both test for Nidan (2nd degree black belt) at the same time, and if we both pass, I won't be at all surprised if she yields the senior student slot to me.

Time will tell. In the meantime, I have a test to prepare for.

Comments

[seferin.livejournal.com]

If you are better, why would should not yield?

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

There's a protocol that goes with such things.

In a traditional school, two students of the same rank determine their seniority based upon time -- who has held that rank the longest. However, there is also an option (at least in some schools) for the "junior" student to challenge a more senior student of the same rank.

Typically, the challenge covers *all* aspects of the art taught in that school -- stances, techniques, physical conditioning, forms, sparring, weapons, etc.

Granted, I could take her on most of those. However, the ones that I would lose on are the ones that would show up more often when working with the lower-ranked students -- they have several forms in this school that I haven't learned before, and therefore wouldn't be able to teach them to the other students. The other thing is, they tend to use the Japanese names for the techniques, and that's not something we did much of in my previous school.

While I probably *could* push for a challenge and win it, it would be very impolite of me to do so, especially considering that I just joined their school and she's been there throughout her martial arts training. However, I would not be the least bit surprised if -- assuming we both pass our 2nd-degree tests this summer -- if I end up in the senior student slot. At that point, I *may* go ahead and claim it, or challenge her for it.

But first, I have to pass this test...