From Matt Kaplan, Go-Dan, Director
Ueshiro Okinawan Karate Family Club
State College, PA
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Keeping the body together as an integral unit

When moving, attacking, and defending, we want the body to maintain its structure as an integral unit. Here is a partial list of violations to this principle:

“reaching” beyond one’s stance (and rootedness) to deliver a backfist (uraken).
lifting the back heel (and letting the foot flail up and out) when stepping and sliding forward.
kicking at a far away target.
leaning too far forward, backward, or to one side when delivering a block.
Alternatively, by getting rooted at a location closer to the target, each technique can be delivered with more precision, power, balance, and control.

Domo Arigato Gozaimasu,

Matt Kaplan, Go-Dan, Director
Ueshiro Okinawan Karate Family Club
State College, PA