2 days (well right now its 1) to AUG

Today, after hitting the library to get some work done, I leave the Bailleu around 5.00pm to attend the final kendo practice before the AUG.

And as I walked along Tin Alley, I spotted a group of people walking towards me from the opposite direction, obviously having gotten off the tram on swanston street.

Here's a few things I registered the moment I saw them.
1. They wore yellow and black jackets.
2. There was a group of them, meaning this had to be an AUG team.
3. They had shinais.

Obviously this was a group of kendoka from another uni who wanted to have a training session before the big day. However due to this being my first AUG, I have little knowledge on the various kendo teams. Obviously they werent from Monash since despite their jackets having similiar colours, the design was very different

(not to mention I know the Monash people abit, these guys were total strangers to me)

In the changing room I finally learnt they were from UNSW.
Oh wow, UNSW, one of the top uni kendo teams in Aus. Our formidable rivals, todays training just turned more interesting.

I finished changing and headed upstairs, just as I was putting down my stuff, another group of people walked into the dojo. To be more precise they were all girls, around 7 of them. As they put on their gear, I got to read their zekkens :

USYD
XXXX

And so, this must be the women's contigent from USYD.

At this point it was becoming obvious that the number of people turning up to training from UMKC was waaaaay lesser then the number of visitors we had. At the back of my mind, I was slightly intimidated by their pressence.

" How good are they"

Needless to say, I wasnt in my optimum kendo condition for most of the training. My throat was dry during warm ups and I was obviously somewhat dehydrated. Through the training, I focused on pushing through and showing our visitors how training here in UMKC is really like.

Fortunately, by the time jigeiko came, I was pumped and ready to go. Funny as it sounds, I think I'm beginning to enjoy kakarigeiko as a means of getting myself in the right condition where your mind reacts faster, and the body is more springy and light.

Jigeiko. I fought 3 persons, making an effort to ensure they're all visitors so I get the most exposure.

1. Nelson "Gold"... I think his name is Nelson.... arg cant remember. He was somewhere slightly above my level. It was a good fight, I managed to keep my focus on him and not get distracted. Managed to pull off a men-taiatari-hiki dou. Tried to do proper seme and footwork. It was a good satisfying match. We concluded it with an ippon shoubu in which he scored 2 hikimens. First one was slightly weak in zanshin, but the 2nd one proved to be good enough.

2. Unknown guy in red dou. Overall was an easier fight then the first one. Again I focused on seme and footwork, and launching a good fast direct men cut. At this point there were less people on the floor, and I had more space to zanshin. Was a pretty good fight, though my legs got somewhat sore during the fight, I managed to keep it flowing while maintaining the center. Managed to win the ippon shoubu with a men cut.

3. Fought against a um.... UNSW?!? girl. She's been doing kendo for 2 years as well and shes from Singapore. What a small world!! As for the fight, it wasnt much. She managed to get hiki-mens on me quite a number of times, but her center was weak and it was easy to nick men cuts off her.

So yes, todays training was one of the best I've had in awhile. I was in relatively good form, and the sheer number of people training today was awesome. Not to mention the skill level and spirit.

It's kinda funny how people line up and ask one another for a fight. It's like speed dating, only more intense.



tomorrow I shall be weighing in my equipment.
And on wednesday... its the big one....