News 2007

3rd national team selection camp
News 2007 >>

Already before this camp the two coaches had chosen most of the members for this year's national team. Some places are still open and they will be filled probably after Viking Cup if not before. I have the hounour to represent Finland both in the European and World Championships in 2nd degree patterns, middleweight sparring, team sparring and team special techniques. Male patterns team won't be seen this year in competitions. In the picture on left are new black belts Henna Majanen, Aleksi Sarkkinen and Hanna-Maria Seppälä, who are names of the future, but the two first mentioned have the possibility to try their wings in the national team already this year. One more fresh black belt, junior Tiia Kiviranta, had to stay at home because of fever. This talented junior has already cleared her position in the junior team and gets to the Championships to fight for medals.

On the beginning day of the two-day camp we had two 1,5-hour trainings. In the first session we trained patterns with sabumnim Mariusz Steckiewicz. At the same time boo sabumnim Pekka Varis conducted sparring training for those willing to train that aspect. Dividing group like this makes it possible for everyone to train according to their interests and emphasis. This is most valuable for those who don't take part in patterns in the Championships of this Spring. I participated the patterns training, where we concentrated on creating power in many different ways as well as expression. The exercises were partly familiar, partly new and even very original. We experimented different ways of doing techniques, e.g. over relaxed, "in the pool of jelly", with the thought of braking, "in space" and with the "mental case" -style, which brought out joy of expressing in the group. It's interesting to notice how the way of thinking affects the way of doing techniques. The purpose of these experiments, in my opinion, is to find different possibilities to achieve optimal performance. Some way brings most of all relaxation and easiness, another raw power whereas with some style you might notice being more concentrated and doing with calmer rhythm. The real challenge is to build an optimal performance of the good aspects of different "styles".

In the afternoon trainining we did sparring exercises. The theme was preparing situations especially using fakes and rhythm changes. Most of the exercises were done to small kickingpads from movement. Special attention was also paid to keeping correct distance and continuing after action. Since I had a lighter week in training behind me, my legs were pretty light and I felt relaxed. In addition I feel the good physical condition of the moment, since I can do the basic work pretty much without getting too much tired. Conscientious training can also be seen in my hart rate. The average of two nights' hart rate in rest has been 41 beats/minute. These kinds of statistics naturally don't directly count in competitions, but they give self confidence and trust in one's capacity, which is very important especially in sparring. Now that both flexibility and endurance are in better shape than ever before, I still need to put my speed into condition and get some explosiveness in techniques. After that there's only sparring tactics, strategy and techniques... So there's lots of work to do, but there's still plenty of time untill the World Championships too, as well as good competitions to test things in practice. Proper finishing training before the main event also usually brings the edge required in the doing. Therefore I feel being on the right way at the moment, future shows how it goes in real life.

After a 40-minute break we started sparring training again. First, however, we got sweat with a couple of playfull competitions. Especially stealing objects was surprisingly fun. Maybe because our team was so much ahead of the opponents especially in tactics, speed, strength and outlook. The trainingsession was began with shadow sparring, where Mariusz gave different kinds of tasks. Then we moved on to training with partner, first "the boy and the barking dog". After this the group was divided into smaller groups by size and the topic was attitude and holding position. Each one in the group defended in their turn their place as the others attacked one after another. In our "big boys" group the exercise went in my opinion very well. The guys let it go rather briskly with good attitude and yet without striking each others down for nothing. In the end we sparred a couple of rounds, trying to put things trained at the camp - mostly breaking the rhythm - into practice. The issue is anything else but new but still carrying it out in sparring can be difficult. Especially in competition, when one's head is difficult to keep together anyway. However, the exercices done in these camps and especially in own trainings drive it constantly in the hard drive and I have the possibility to test how it works in real situation already next weekend in Ireland. 

The camp had once again a lot to offer and the atmosphere was good. The two coaches are doing good work all the time, plan the camps carefully and give ever so important feedback. Training mates help a lot too by creating spirit, driving one to one's limits and giving feedback. The next camp will take place in two weeks at Virrat from Friday till Sunday. The group will also stay together all the weekend, which is in my opinion absolutely great and makes it possible to create team spirit and get to know the members of the coming national team better also outside trainings.