2022-03-21
2022-03-21, Monday
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
The first class had only one student tonight, and he was brand new. That was actually good, as it gave me a chance to give him plenty of attention without taking anything away from the other students (because there weren’t any). As you’d expect, we started with making a fist, then alternate punching towards a mirror. Next, we worked on how to make, and step forward in, front stance. Finally, we put it all the pieces together and made oi-zuki.
This particular student has a lot of extra movement. The best word for it is “fidgety”, but I don’t see it as a negative thing. It’s just something that we need to work on, so I told him my big secret: The most important part of karate training is trying hard and doing what your sensei says, but the second most important part of karate training is doing nothing. After all, when sensei’s not telling you to do something, what are you supposed to do? Nothing! In between counts of a drill, what are you supposed to do? Nothing! Every time you’re not doing something in class, what are you doing? Nothing! The ability to stand still like a statue is a learned skill, and an important one, so we practice it like everything else.
The second class was just a yondan who also shows up to the ISKF Tempe classes where I’ve been subbing for a couple of weeks. Since I’ve been teaching different kata applications in both classes, and this student had seen them all, we did a review of everything. We practiced cross-side wrist grab escapes from Heian Sandan, Tekki Shodan, and Bassai Dai, then same-side escapes from Heian Sandan and Tekki Nidan. We also threw in some lapel grab, tackle, and bear hug escapes from Heain Sandan. Towards the end, we finished with a bare-hand strangle escape from Jion and an application of the first sequence of Sochin. Once we got through it all, we just worked them over and over until class was done. Slight variances in foot placement, orientation, and the partner’s degree of compliance mean no two “reps” are ever the same in partner drills.
