The worst mistake you've ever made in kendo
 

Hey All (this thread just proves how board I am at work today!!!)

Time to bear all and tell the Kendo world of the biggest mistakes/blunders you have made during Keiko/Shiai which have cost you ippon or whatever.

Mine occured during the European championships in Portugal 2007
It was my first match of the individuals and I was raring to go!!! So when the Shinpan shouted Hajime I went for it!!!
I tried to score a quick Kote but being the complete plonker that I am, as I attacked I completely lost control of the Shinai with my right hand and kinda hit the floor http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...milies/eek.gif and of course my opponent stepped forward and said thank you very much and scored Men.
I felt like commiting suicide!!!
And of course I brunt of my team mates jokes for the rest of the championships.http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/laugh.gif

got shinai knocked outta my hands via a hachidan hanshi. went to pick it up and he gave it a push across the dojo with his own shinai. There were about 30 6th /7th and 8th dans watching.....

once we were near the very end of the class(jigeiko), and sensei separated us into kyu / dan groups and told us to fight ppl within our same group and not mix. after kotae/rotation i was left alone and that sucked, to miss the last jigeiko of the nite. so i saw this strong kyu in the other group, who was also pairless and decided to give him ago. i thought "why not? this is the last jigeiko and we're both not doing anything cause the numbers are odd".

after the jigeiko ended, as i went into sonkyo to bow out, something struck me like a thunder on the side/rear of my men. probably the hardest, meanest and loudest shinai blow on the head i have ever received in my whole life. i thought my neck was broken, as i turned around from the floor and i saw everyone absolutely silent and terrorised while my sensei yelled at me.... "what part did you not understand about NOT mixing the groups!?!?!?"

my neck hurt for a week.

worst mistake ever, do not piss off your sensei http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/biggrin.gif http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/biggrin.gif ...and if you do something wrong, make sure he doesnt catch you off guard when receiveng the customary "wtf are you doing?" punishment whack on the head lol http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/silly.gif http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/silly.gif

Tsuki'd a Kyoshi 8.dan.

Let me rephrase that.
Attempted tsuki against a Kyoshi 8.dan.

Trying to pressure his tsuki and hit sashi-men, wound up just never going for men.
He didn't beat me up afterwards, and at the end of practice, I simply could not apologize enough (to my own satisfaction).

He was actually very cool about it.
This was back in March and actually, I still feel shitty about it.

attempted a saya men as my sempai was moving through the center line.... cracked him in the base of the skull... boy did i feel like poo! I somewhat realized what was happening mid strike and tried not to hit with full force but it was definetely not good!

In a jigeiko with a nana dan sensei of the Toukyou Police. He's come many times to Mexico and last seminar I went (around 2 years ago). I did a do cut to him, he covered it but my excess of strength made it continue and get moved the shinai with my own strength, that I hit his leg. I was like "OH! GOD I'm GONNA DIE!" It was too evident how it hurt to him, and I apologyze many times. He was not mad, and instead gave me many advices of how to control it and properly execution of movements. But I'm still embarrased for that episode, and thats when I noticed that my kendou needed a new route.

Don't tell me... you tried to tsuki Ota sensei.

Oh yeah........

You got the biggest GUT of all.

Ya mean the "biggest set of cojones or "bag of marbles""!!!! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/laugh.gif

My biggest mistake was more of an accident or possibly a cosmic joke on me.

Last January I was sparring with a rokudan and through some random convergence of events managed to disarm him mid-strike. All I remember is seeing him lift up for a men-uchi and thought I should try for ai-men. Well I got my kensen up just in time to catch his tsuka. His hands came down but his shinai didn't....for a few seconds. As it clattered to the ground I just groaned and prepared for the worst.

The rest of the match is just a blur of pain.

Why is that a mistake? If he gets disarmed it's his fault, not yours. If he took it out on you then I'm not impressed.

Right on. Rokudan, hachidan...nobody likes a sore loser, or a bully.

That is harsh.

Have it on video. It doesnt make me feel to bad as before me he did the same to a female 5th (maybe 6th?) dan.

Another opponent fell over the same night doing hiki waza (when fighting the same sensei) and he keep getting tsuki'ed whilst trying to get up.

Harsh lessons but well learned, believe me.

a hachidan sensei told us to "kihon keiko" (actually a kihon kendo kata practice with men & shinai) whereas I understood "ji keiko"... so I just went for it.
Result: sensei ended the class with big wide open eyes yelling: "what practice? WHAT practice?"
oh my, still sinking through the floor when I think of it.
http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...mbarrassed.gif

What are you supposed to learn from that?? I cant see anything other than "dont get disarmed" and "dont fall over". Is there something Im missing???

full contact, tackle kendo maybe? "You can pick up your sword over my cold dead body"

that IS pretty intense... old school sensei or sadist?? or are those the same thing? http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/biggrin.gif

Naw, that's just standard stuff. Did he taitatari you to the floor when you went to pick it up? If he's giving you the rough treatment, he probably thinks you're worth teaching.