2022-04-06

2022-04-06, Wednesday

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The first class only had two students tonight, but it was still pretty good. During warm-up exercises, I asked both students how their day was going. One student said, “Okay.” The other student said, “Amazing.” Wait, what? Say that again? “Amazing!” Okay, awesome. I guess I’ve got the bar set pretty high for me then. We spent the first half of the class going through basics, as usual: making a fist, choku-zuki, oi-zuki, age-uke and gedan barai in place, and then moving across the floor. Repetition can get old for students, so the trick is changing it up just a little bit each time.

Things were going really well, so I decided to move on to kata. But first, I broke out my secret weapon - painter’s tape (the blue stuff). I always keep a roll in my gi bag, and it’s an excellent tool for helping students visualize the embusen of kata. We start with Taikyoku Shodan, so the embusen resembles a capital letter “I.” Most students understand that when you explain it to them, but can’t hold onto the idea while they’re actually working their way through the kata. They’re so busy moving the correct arm, turning the right way, etc., that remembering the letter “I” is the last thing on their mind … so I put it on the floor. But I also add something special - a little piece of tape halfway up the stem of the letter “I.” Why? Because it helps students remember which way to turn. Every time you turn, you have to keep that little extra piece of tape in view. (This doesn’t work for all katas, but it does for Taikyoku Shodan and Heian Shodan.)