2025-03-05

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

I had to travel back to Illinois again last week. Thank you to Sensei Barry O’Brien for covering my classes while I was gone.

We spent the first half of tonight working on kata in the adult class, starting with Heian Shodan and working up through Heain Yondan. There were plenty of questions, and one student even apologized for asking so many questions, but I love questions. Questions mean the students are thinking and wanting to know more. If I know the answer to the question, that’s great - I share it with them. If I don’t know the answer, that’s great - I get to take the question home and continue my own learning before coming back to share it with them. Yes, of course there’s such a thing as too many questions, or inappropriate questions, or even inappropriately timed questions (save those for after class), but if I ask for questions, it’s fair game.

The second half of the evening was devoted to kihon - lots of it, and at an increased pace. I was hoping for less thinking and more doing. The main takeaway of the evening was consistency. I want good technique, sure, but I want consistent technique more. If your technique is consistent you can improve it. If it’s not, then you lack the baseline you need to make those improvements. What does “kick higher” mean if your kick is all over the place to begin with?