Last night was a great class! Physically it went very well, Mentally I was well-connected within partner exercises, and as an added bonus, my favorite instructor who runs a related club came out to train with our mutual Sensei here at the Instructor's Dojo.
Brianna - someone who used to train 15 yrs ago as a pre-pubescent youth and just came back - came to the dojo early enough that I was able to invite her before class started to go through the kata she knew years ago, and she was very happy about the invite. We only had about 7 minutes of time to work together before Sensei came onto the floor and class started, but we went through Heian Shodan three times and walked through most of Heian Nidan before class started. After class, Brianna asked me to take her through Heian Shodan one more time so we did that as well. Throughout class and while we went through kata before and afterwards, Brianna trained near me and watched me for clues of what we were doing, and as a result I tried to go through my techniques more completely without rushing through them, to give her brain time to recognize what was going on.
During the class itself, Don (my riding/training buddy) conducted the warmup as usual, and when Sensei returned to the floor, we continued the warmup with our standard standing punches (hip vibration practice), then jab/reverse punch combinations while standing in a deep front stance (hip rotation practice), then stepping forward, punching (forward drive practice), then front kicking (hip pendulum action practice). We went back and forth and back and forth with the moving exercises, and got the blood pumping and the breath gasping for everyone.
Wednesday nights are 'kata night', although we tend to have kata as part of all of our training classes, with very few exceptions. Wednesday is specifically labelled kata night however, and we tend to go through more kata or junior level kata with much more detail and depth than when we were learning that same kata for testing for a colored belt years ago.
Last night we went through Kanku Sho again a few times, and then moved on to Heian Yondan and Heian Godan. I'm sure Sensei selected those two to help Brianna re-familiarize herself with those two kata, since her old rank attainments as a kid had already used both kata successfully in tests (meaning, Heian Godan was the last kata she used for her last successful testing, and thus isn't testing with the same kata again for the next 3 tests, but still should know and improve upon the kata she's finished testing with). We went through each kata about 4 times, until everyone was tired again.
Afterwards we did some kumite exercises with a partner, and switched around so we got to work with a number of different people. I was working on my sen timing, mainly. It's kind of scary to go IN on an incoming roundhouse or front kick to start my defense, but a useful timing ability to have.
All in all, class was a good workout and I made some nice deposits to the karate karma bank by being the one who approached the "new girl" and helped her start to re-learn what she already knows. I don't understand why so many other people my rank are afraid to offer assistance, or just don't think about what someone else at a junior rank may be interested in getting assistance with. After all, Sensei can't answer every question or help you with everything - a lot of karate is self-training and seeking out help on your own.
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Hi there... I've been reading your blog with interest. It's nice to see you working hard at improving your stamina with treadmill walking. Have you seen an improvement?
I'd like to address one of your comments " I don't understand why so many other people my rank are afraid to offer assistance, or just don't think about what someone else at a junior rank may be interested in getting assistance with."
I've seen the same thing happening at a variety of dojo. There are many reasons why the majority of students tend not to help the lower ranks. Shyness at interacting with others, lack of confidence in their own knowledge, a discomfort with the whole aspect of teaching others (or in other words, they can DO the action, but they have troubles explaining it to others), a centralization in their own progress ( which may or may not be from selfish motivation.. for example.. if they are paying for the class, then they would want to spend each minute soaking in as much as they can.. they aren't paying to teach, but to be taught.) In fact, I think that there are more reasons to not help a lower kyu student than for the opposite.
However, there are people like you and me who look out for the new student, and we do our best to help them improve. I find joy within me when I see understanding, confidence, and an echo of happiness happening in the eyes of the person that I'm helping. I think that the gift of being able to share the knowledge that my Sensei has given to me with others is, in a way, a fitting tribute to honor the investment that my Sensei has placed within me.
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