Refining Bassai

Today I trained in the morning with my usual crew, and this afternoon I trained again, this time with my friend Jennie. On days when she can't come in the morning, she comes with her son and takes the Red Belt class with him. Since she would otherwise be the only adult in the class, I try to make it a point to be available to train with her whenever I can.

We spent the first part of class tucked in a corner of the dojang, practicing Il Soo Sik (One-Step Sparring). We made it through all our our required techniques before time was called, so Sa Bom Nim placed us with a group of young Red Belts to practice Bassai Hyung. This is a fairly new form for Jennie, so she is still working on sequence. I learned the form almost two years ago, and for a while I thought I had it perfected, but recently Sa Bom Nim showed me some refinements that I have been trying to implement, with varying degrees of success.

For instance, in one of the early moves of the form, there is an inside-inside block combination followed by a turn into an outside-inside block combination in the opposite direction. Sa Bom Nim pointed out that I was not preparing properly for the outside block. He showed me how to do it, but since then I have had to ask him to show me again several times. Today I think I began to get it - at least the arm positions. I probably still have to work on utilizing my hip the right way.

Meanwhile all this heavy thinking in the midst of the form tends to confuse me and I make mistakes in the sequence - like doing one too many crescent kicks toward the end of the form, so that I get off on the wrong foot. Last month there were several days where I couldn't get past the triple jump because I was initiating with the left foot instead of the right.

But repetition is the lubricant that smooths out the rough spots, so I know I'll eventually master these refinements - just in time to find out that something else needs fixing!