Staying Busy

I haven't done a post on what things are going on in class in quite a while. There's a lot that has happened, and I'm definitely staying busy! Here's just a few of what's happening in my world.

I’ve been asked to get together with some of my fellow students, pick a form, and choreograph it (for lack of a better word). I’ll be the one doing the form, and the other students will be ‘attacking.’ If we get it down well enough, then we’ll demo it for the entire class. I think it’s a fantastic idea, because a lot of the younger students and even some adults just go through the motions of a form without really thinking about what their techniques are actually doing.

No more Monday afternoon Tae Kwon Do class. I’m down to two a week now. The class over at the elementary school stopped due to a lack of students.

My Thursday night class has moved from Mr. Mc’s workshop to a church a few miles away. Mr. Mc’s neighbors, who were being taught for an hour before me, asked if we could start a class at the church they go to. We did, and are averaging about fifteen brand new students, and several from Tuesday night class. Other than one yellow belt, I’m the only colored belt, so I’m assisting Mr. Mc and Mr. G with teaching.

The students in both classes are now being told to call me Miss (my last name), and in front of the students, that’s what my instructors have started calling me. After almost several years of going by my first name only, this is a huge change and it generally takes me longer to respond if I’m being called across the room.

Hearing “Yes ma’am,” directed at me in class by my adult students who are older than me  is also very weird.

I received my first pair of escrima sticks on Thursday. Mr. G was going to order me a set, but Mr. Mc decided to give me two from his own set. Needless to say, I’m absolutely thrilled about that, and also thrilled about getting started with weapons training!

Tomorrow is testing day for at least one student. Thursday night, I was asked to run him through his ‘test’ and evaluate whether or not he is ready. He’s a yellow belt wanting to test for his stripe. The major problem area with him is consistancy. He can do the forms/kicks pretty well at first, but then he starts getting sloppy. I’m going to work with him before class and see if I can give him any more suggestions to help him.

It’s staying at about 60-70 degrees here, so I’ve been taking my puzzle mats outside and practicing. The sun and added breeze, plus the longer daylight hours have been awesome. I sometimes even take my CD player with me and have it playing in the background. The only downside to it all? My cat Oreo thinks that it’s perfectly all right to flop down right in my way.

I’m hoping that since it’s getting closer to summer that we can start having some classes outside on the grass. We’ve only held class outside at most twice, so I’m looking forward to having more outdoor workouts.

Summer cannot get here soon enough. No school means more time to devote to practice. More practice means improving. Improving makes me feel better about my Tae Kwon Do. Feeling better about Tae Kwon Do means everything to me.