Leading open practice in iai
I led the iai class this past Friday in an open practice session.
It went alright. I was a little nervous about it because I didn't want to screw anything up but the nerves weren't bad. As inexperienced as I am, I still have a couple more years under my belt than the next most senior student.
I hope all my classmates and Sensei are having a great time testing in Japan. One of the new students in the class is the girlfriend of one of the students who went to Japan to test for Shodan. She said she got a text from him the day they were leaving from the airport. It was only 10:00 AM and they were already in the bar drinking while waiting to board the plane. *rolls eyes*
I told them to post the occassional update on Facebook but I guess that isn't happening,
I ran the class through the warm-up exercises, kirioroshi cuts, "arm busters" (nukistuke) and inazuma. One of the students requested that we run through bunkai for inazuma but 2 of the students hadn't ever done bunkai. So we showed them how under the condition that when they were actually officially taught the bunkai for inazuma they not let on.
I had told myself that I wasn't going to really correct anybody's form or errors that they were making since I wasn't an instructor and I was just supposed to be leading the open practice. However, I couldn't refrain from correcting some of the more obvious mistakes (massive bouncing while stepping forward, no sayabiki during nukitsuke, forward right foot being turned far to the right during jodan zanshen). I guess it is hard to turn off teacher mode when stuck in front of a class...any class it seems.
All in all, it was a positive experience for me.
I AM sorry I couldn't go to Japan but it isn't bothering me as badly as I thought it would this week.
Frankly, I'm kind of numb. The trip to the conference alone put me pretty far behind my grading and coursework. A 10 day trip to Japan would have been IMPOSSIBLE.
It went alright. I was a little nervous about it because I didn't want to screw anything up but the nerves weren't bad. As inexperienced as I am, I still have a couple more years under my belt than the next most senior student.
I hope all my classmates and Sensei are having a great time testing in Japan. One of the new students in the class is the girlfriend of one of the students who went to Japan to test for Shodan. She said she got a text from him the day they were leaving from the airport. It was only 10:00 AM and they were already in the bar drinking while waiting to board the plane. *rolls eyes*
I told them to post the occassional update on Facebook but I guess that isn't happening,
I ran the class through the warm-up exercises, kirioroshi cuts, "arm busters" (nukistuke) and inazuma. One of the students requested that we run through bunkai for inazuma but 2 of the students hadn't ever done bunkai. So we showed them how under the condition that when they were actually officially taught the bunkai for inazuma they not let on.
I had told myself that I wasn't going to really correct anybody's form or errors that they were making since I wasn't an instructor and I was just supposed to be leading the open practice. However, I couldn't refrain from correcting some of the more obvious mistakes (massive bouncing while stepping forward, no sayabiki during nukitsuke, forward right foot being turned far to the right during jodan zanshen). I guess it is hard to turn off teacher mode when stuck in front of a class...any class it seems.
All in all, it was a positive experience for me.
I AM sorry I couldn't go to Japan but it isn't bothering me as badly as I thought it would this week.
Frankly, I'm kind of numb. The trip to the conference alone put me pretty far behind my grading and coursework. A 10 day trip to Japan would have been IMPOSSIBLE.