Power is a word typically associated with ippons. Each move should be done so strongly that it can break a board.

This past week, I introduced the basic class this shorter series of self-defense techniques.

The full name for an ippon is ippon kumite kata, which can be understood as point sparring form or one-step sparring drill.

Something you’ll notice about the name right away is that it contains the word kata. Kata, as you’ll know, means form. Unlike full-length katas, ippons are much shorter in length (5-8 movements, or so).

Ippons begin and end with a block in order to respond to “any possible renewal of aggression,” according to Master Trias. In other words, karateka are always aware and prepared for the next potential attack.

“While these techniques were designed primarily to develop POWER,” Master Trias writes, “each movement should be distinct, purposeful and in good form.”

Let’s break that down.

Distinct – Each technique should be clear and should not necessarily blend in with another or be executed at half-speed or power.

Purposeful – Focus your intent with your techniques and imagine what targets you are hitting.

In Good Form – Keep the power while still maintaining proper stancing and targeting. Don’t sacrifice form for power. Good form will give you power.

One of the keys that students always seem to forget is breathing. Let your breath come through your mouth. Don’t try to contain it – let it out. You can liken it to a silent kiai. Breathe out, think about destroying that board, but don’t necessarily kiai every time (though that is a drill we work from time to time).

Any questions on ippons? Post a comment here, or ask me during class!

I always tell my martial arts students that a tournament only represents how you performed that day, at that time, in front of  a set of judges, in a division with a set of people. In other words, you can almost never predict how you’ll be scored by the judges.

After coming up short at the 20th annual North American Grand Nationals last week, two of us placed in four different divisions at Morrow’s 39th semi-annual tournament in Davenport at St. Ambrose University.

I’m very proud of Faith Robertson’s 3rd-place victory in her division with green and blue belts. I judged her division last week, but got to watch her as a spectator. I could tell she’s been fine-turning her performance, and I’m looking forward to seeing how she does in the future. She received what I always consider to be the best compliment you can get at a martial arts tournament: a judge from her division came up to her at the end of the day, gave her some tips about how to improve, and told her she thought Faith should have won first place.

I placed first in three black belt divisions – forms, sparring and…horse-riding stance.

That’s right – horse-riding stance. Mr. Morrow is the only person I know to have a horse-riding stance competition at his tournament. The goal is simple. Sink into a horse stance so that your legs are parallel to the ground and can balance a bo. When your legs give out, the bo falls. The last person to remain in the stance wins. After what was probably about 2 minutes, I managed to outlast five others.

My forms division was tough.

One competitor was in his first black belt division after being promoted earlier this spring. I know it’s recent because I worked with him at a seminar in February and he was still a brown belt.

Another pair of competitors were a husband-and-wife combo, who I first noticed at this event last year for their internal martial arts. While I’ve been trained for most of my martial arts career in the hard style of karate, seeing a Chinese style such as tai chi chuan in this type of environment is great.

The other competitor was a karate stylist who, I discovered after talking to later, seemed to be a Japanese or Okinawan stylist. We talked for a bit, and I could tell he respected Shuri-ryu.

My sparring division was even tougher. I don’t often spar in tournaments since my emphasis is typically on kata. But, after five years of coming to this tournament, I thought it was finally time I strap on the gear.

One competitor drew blood in the first match, cutting his opponent right under the eye. These accidents happen. He lost the match, and I assume left the building. He didn’t even stick around to watch the rest of the matches. I can only suspect why he left, so I can’t say with certainty what happened. If he left because he was upset about not winning the match, I hope that in the future, he represents himself and his school in a better manner.

I defeated two competitors, including the fresh black belt I mentioned earlier, as well as the brown belt who received the cut. (Due to lack of competitors in his division, or his age – I’m not exactly sure – this individual was placed with the black belts.)

Fasting to End Hunger

Every year in time for his tournament, Mr. Morrow fasts. He does this for a number of reasons: to show discipline, to demonstrate the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, and to show that the martial arts can help you persevere. But mostly, Mr. Morrow was doing this as a means to eradicate world hunger. He says of the 7 billion people in this world, so many are obese and so many go hungry. “Let’s balance that out,” he told the crowd.

Mr. Morrow, 61, then proceeded to do 130 pushups on the backs of his hands in 60 seconds, unofficially breaking his Guinness World Record of 123. An article that appears to be from 2006 discusses this feat.

Overall, this is a great martial arts tournament to attend. Quick divisions. Fair judges. Great competitors.

What more do you need? 

This past Sunday, three Metamora Martial Artists competed in Rockford at the North American Grand Nationals.

Zoe Durand competed in forms. Faith Robertson competed in forms and sparring. I competed in forms, as well. None of us placed in those divisions.

I did, however, place 2nd in weapons as a result of performing Soken Bo San.

This tournament was tough. On the trip home, I thought about why, and I came up with three reasons. One, this tournament featured creative forms mixed in with traditional forms. Two, many divisions contained anywhere from 6-12 people, so in order to place, the competitors really had to work. And three, the competitors were polished in each division.

Mr. Bockler, Faith Robertson and Zoe Durand

I knew placing wasn’t going to be easy for any of us. So instead of focusing on “winning vs. losing,” like I’ve heard so many teachers and parents do at these events (I overhead one parent/instructor tell his son/student to get out there and compete, but in a phrasing not suitable for this blog), I had the students focus on making it a learning experience. I wanted them to see how focused their competitors performed, with various levels of intention, and how to pick out grace, power and speed.

Master Ben Pedrick, who promoted the event, did a great job of keeping everyone going that day. He buzzed around throughout the venue, and was usually nearby when judges needed a confirmation or when some other issue came up. He and his school, Star Martial Arts Studios, deserve a big hand for running an expedient and fair event.

Winning and losing does not matter to me. What matters is that our group learned some valuable lessons about competition. And in that sense, we all won.

During 2013, I’ve made a personal goal to attend as many seminars as my schedule (and budget) allows me to.

One I wanted to make sure was on my radar was a seminar taught by Mr. Phillip Koeppel and hosted by the Springfield Karatedo Budokai.

Mr. Koeppel teaches kyu ranks at his 10th annual seminar in Springfield

Peoria-area martial artists should be familiar with Mr. Koeppel. He opened his first school in Peoria in 1960 and, from what I can gather, has been in or around town ever since. He’s also the founder of the United States Karate-do Kai, an international organization consisting of karate schools of different styles whose headquarters is in Peoria.

Metamora Martial Arts students should associate Mr. Koeppel as a senior student of Master Robert Trias, with whom he trained for 22 years.

“I was the first shichidan (7th-degree black belt) he ever promoted,” Mr. Koeppel said in an interview with H.P. Henry. “He promoted others later on to this grade, but as far as I know, and as far as I am concerned, he never graded anyone above the rank of shichidan.”

(The interview is great, by the way. I suggest reading it. Mr. Koeppel talks about training with Master Trias in great detail, as well as his entire martial arts career, and led him to leave Shuri-ryu and begin taking up Matsumura Seito Shorin-ryu, with which he developed his own style, Matsumura Seito Shorin-ryu Koeppel-ha.)

Upon his arrival in Peoria in the mid-1970s, Mr. Hawkey trained at a dojo owned and operated by Mr. Koeppel and received instruction under one of Mr. Koeppel’s instructors, Mr. Randy Holman.

The seminar itself was intriguing.

Mr. Koeppel, 75, started by running the attendees (mostly black belts) through Ryu Sho Ken. I quickly realized I was one of the few who did not know this form. With the help of Mr. Loyd Shults and his son, I was able to keep up. Mr. Shults looked at me at one point and said, “I can tell you don’t know this form.”

I really liked what was described as the “Four Winds Kata.” I found my phone and recorded a group of attendees practicing the form so that I could review it later.

As he was throughout the four-hour session, Mr. Koeppel was a stickler for details. He described how the feet should move in two motions instead of one, and how the hands and feet should be at 35-degree angles. He illustrated exactly how the hands should swing down for the opening motion.

Clearly this day was about perfecting. Not introducing.

After Ryu Sho Ken, we went over gokui waza. In talking with Mr. Shults, Mr. Koeppel created the gokui waza to be short snippets of kata. In other words, Mr. Koeppel would extract essential points in kata for shorter, more direct waza. These are similar to our ippons, taezus and kihons.

Again, more detail. Raise the arm up vertically instead of rotating it out. Step out of the line of attack. And so on.

My favorite part of the session was a Chinese form that I understood to sound like Ba Bu Lin (I’ve seen other spellings online, including Ba Bu Lian or Lien. Somebody help me understand which would be proper).

Mr. Koeppel said he learned this form from Patrick McCarthy, translator of the famed text, Bubishi, in 1997. “I’ve dedicated my life to learning it,” he said to me afterward.

The form appears briefly in the Bubishi under the name Happoren. It is also apparently a predecessor to Tensho, a tension form for advanced ranks in Shuri-ryu.

As a practitioner of Chinese martial arts, I instantly loved the form and am working on memorizing the movements.

Again, Mr. Koeppel emphasized details. The traditional Chinese opening of the form. Breathing when releasing the tension in the hands. Releasing energy on a movement known as “fire hands.”

Overall, this was a great seminar to attend. Mr. Lucky Phillips hosted it at his home dojo, a beautiful space in a Morton-style building. And, if the seminar wasn’t enough, Mr. Phillips cooked a big cauldron of chili for everyone to enjoy afterward.

Metamora Martial Arts is profiled in the latest edition of Art & Society. Just look for the article titled, “Spirit of the Empty Hand.”

Art & Society, May/June 2013

Writer Gabrielle Balzell interviewed me for the article about two months ago. She spent around 45 minutes asking me questions about the program, how it started, what I enjoyed most about the martial arts, and what the plans for the program are moving forward.

I was also given an opportunity to present a brief history of karate, beginning in 500 A.D. in China and proliferating through Okinawa, Japan, and eventually, the United States.

You can pick up your copy at Art & Society at a number of area locations. I know for certain this is at Bradley University and Kelleher’s. If anybody knows anymore locations you see this magazine, please let us know in the comments.

The cover features Preston Jackson, a renowned artist here in the Midwest. Fun martial arts trivia: Mr. Jackson also teaches tai chi to students on Saturday afternoon at the Contemporary Art Center in Peoria.