Knife Class round two

Held our second knife class with the father and son. Both showed marked improvement from the first session and it was obvious they had been practicing and doing some sparring. That is always rewarding for a teacher. So they had a few questions which we discussed and they were ready to show me what they had been working on. I had taught them the eight angles of cutting. They worked most of them in a back and forth sparring. As I observed several things became obvious.

Not surprisingly the son was much faster and more aggressive than his father. The father was using a good fighting posture but too rooted. So I suggested the son might not want to stick his head in where it could be easily slashed and I suggested the father move about more and not focus on his son's knife. I explained to them about using peripheral vision to more quickly catch movement even though the perception is not as sharp. They asked me about where to focus and I advised them to watch the opponents shoulder tips for movement. That seemed to improve both of their blocks.

Since their movement was still a little stiff we discussed the idea of moving on triangles, both the male and female triangle, side stepping and forward and back movements. Practicing this definitely allowed the father to avoid some of the hits to his forearm. That is always a welcome relief because even a hard rubber knife whacks the bone pretty good. The one thing that both seemed to forget is that you can attack while moving backwards. I'm not going to explain it in detail. Think about it.

As we wound down for the evening I could tell the son was dying to spar with me so I manned up. I had a lot of fun and he learned that this old man is still pretty fast. He was caught off guard several times and had to back pedal to keep from eating steel (ahhh rubber that is). It was good for me too since I have not sparred for about two or three years now. I had to laugh when the son decided to go left handed and mix in a few thrusts, which were not on the menu this early. Didn't give him the advantage he was hoping for. He's a fine young man and going to make a good knife fighter. His dad made great advances and said he felt more confident by the end of class. All good signs for a healthy training session. Check back for our next meeting.