Footwork

         I think its safe for me to say that footwork has been my biggest challenge throughout my martial arts career.  I always feel really clumsy or clunky when it comes to my footwork and its taken me a long time to polish it.  Even then, I know it needs a lot of work.  Also with my intermittent knee issue on the right its added an extra layer of difficulty to navigate.  I usually want to stay a little higher in my stance and not fully commit because of it.  It will also cause some stability issues when I'm having to turn or solidify on that leg.

        Having the Sanda seminar has been great, because a lot of the drills we do, focus on footwork.  Same with lion dancing, which we were doing this past week.  Its nice to be able to take what I'm learning and apply it to my forms.  Though our stances in sparring might not be as deep or wide as in our forms, getting the feeling for where my weight is, and how to move and transition is definitely something that applies across the board.  I tend to feel better in these shorter stances, and when I'm sparring because I can just move a little more freely, compared to the stances in forms that are deeper and also restricted to the direction that the form dictates.  Having the freedom to move around more also makes me feel freer in movements if that makes sense.

         Although my footwork is one of those things I consider to be my weakness, it is improving. Some days better than others, and then some days if my body is really protesting it feels worse. I’m learning to adapt though and learning how to still feel grounded even if my stances aren’t as deep.