Openings

[DCooper]

Ooo, good idea

[1stdan]

Bangs head slowly on table......... Bonk......... Bonk......... Bonk......... Bonk......... Bonk......... Bonk

[enkorat]

Hey, no offense to anyone else here posting, but don't worry about it. Don't try to think about it too much right now.

No list of things or list of words is gonna help you much. By the time you "think" about it or remember it at the point where you are, the opening will be gone.

I know people a long time ago on this board have already told you this, but really try consciously forgetting your TKD training. Its like trying to learn how to play the violin after playing the piano for 20 years. Sure, its a musical instrument and there are things in common, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the things that kendo has in common with TKD is much much less than things that are different. Getting your blackbelt in TKD was the result of a lot of hard work and training. But now, you have to force yourself to think that it has very little or nothing to do with what you are doing now. I know a while ago, you didn't react very well when people on this board told you in more blunt words. But I think in fact, you are becoming aware that the way you were trained to think in TKD is a handicap in how to think in Kendo, just like if you had started doing Kendo and moved over to TKD.

And this is a really wonderful question to ask your sensei, seriously. Or a bunch of your sempais. It is no easy question and there are no easy answers, and its something that has to be shown to you specifically in person to actually make sense.

If you want to train yourself to see openings in an unconventional way, besides the other ways that the senseis on this board have already told you to, borrow or use a high speed dSLR camera, go to a tournament and take pictures of your friends matches, and try to get pictures of the hit, and not use the multiple frame function. Most beginners take horrible pictures because in order to take good pictures, you have to "feel" when one or the other person is going to attack, and predict the moment the attack is going to happen. Its an interesting exercise.

[GothMelancolia]

If you want to train yourself to see openings in an unconventional way, besides the other ways that the senseis on this board have already told you to, borrow or use a high speed dSLR camera, go to a tournament and take pictures of your friends matches, and try to get pictures of the hit, and not use the multiple frame function. Most beginners take horrible pictures because in order to take good pictures, you have to "feel" when one or the other person is going to attack, and predict the moment the attack is going to happen. Its an interesting exercise.

Hmmm…I never thought about that before……..interesting…and I’ll get nice pics as well…I just hope the light will help and get to buy the lens I want for this
Thank you…I’ll try that next time

[1stdan]

use a high speed dSLR camera, go to a tournament and take pictures of your friends matches, and try to get pictures of the hit, and not use the multiple frame function. Most beginners take horrible pictures because in order to take good pictures, you have to "feel" when one or the other person is going to attack, and predict the moment the attack is going to happen. Its an interesting exercise.

Its funny you should mention this as I do photography and have done just that. More or less i was close to the hit, frustrating as a photog. But i wonder how i would do now. I know my last batch of pics from a taikai was much better than the first.

And yes it is a serious effort to forget my TKD training. It rears its ugly head pretty often but it is slowly being overtaken.