Apsire To Be Like Jonathan Mottram!!

Kata will always be an essential form of karate. They hold within them the basic stances, blocks and strikes requires to perform karate and also for kumite (even though few of these principals are demonstrated in modern competition sparring). This is not all however, timing, breathing, mental control, kiai and transitional movement are all contained within kata. Good kata performance is breath taking to watch - for example the recent Mottram vs Valdesi bronze medal contest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVQVfcHS6Cg

So how to improve your kata? We all know practice makes perfect, but practicing kata badly will only perfect your imperfections, so rule number one - find the very best teacher you can  and congratulations to those in the UK lucky enough to train with Jonathan Mottram! For the rest of us, watch good kata on YouTube so you know what to look for and look around and find the best Sensei you can.

Once you've found your Sensei, develop your own system that can be applied to practice any kata. This is what I'm using at the moment:

• Learn the moves
• Master the moves - do them slowly without reference to timing so they really sink in, try it mirror image then try it backwards. Try it super fast - if you don't really know it, you'll go wrong!
• Work out the bunkai - not in PhD thesis level, just something plausible that works in your mind, practice with a friend. Now you have turned a series of moves into a number of opponents. Now you can make sense of the timing, power and when kiai is needed etc.
• Break down each opponent section and practice it in isolation with good technique, power and spirit, mentally finishing off each opponent. Visualize them
• Work out a good beginning and a good end - every performance is improved by a decent start and finish
• Perform it slowly holding each move with contracted muscles to improve your strength without thought to speed or timing
• Consider how you should be breathing
• Work on how you get from one move to the next and remember that speed and power come from your legs and hips
• Do it Tai Chi style - slowly with focus on breathing and relaxation - I'm not sure this last one really helps, but I like it!

Lastly, if you get really good, learn to ignore the screaming girls that will follow you from competition to competition