T'ai Chi class notes - Wed. Sept 26, 2012 - Sandy

Wednesday night Tai Chi Class was well attended.  It was good to see Max there with his friend James and some old faces I haven't seen in a while.  The energy was good and fun, we started with our warm up and then went right into working in groups.   Max helped me out with Jack and James as they were both in the beginning our Part One Solo Form, Mike worked with Mary Colleen and Doug with me in the back drop for questions, I observed and they all did quite well.  I worked with Scott and Thomas.  They were a pleasure to work with, they are both at the end of part 3.  They had good questions and good work ethics, we repeated sequence from Hid Pat Horse to the end of the form many times to get the sequence enbedded in the mind.  They both did quite well.  We finished with the form with the newest members in the middle of the group to follow accordingly with foot work.  It was a wonderful class and a great group of people.  Phil and Luke also joined us the last half hour or more of class it was wonderful seeing them and having them join us.  Thank you, Sandy

Youth Karate Rank Testing - Thursday Sept. 20, 2012

Youth Karate - Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Three students today with Jack assisting. After the ten, we pulled out the "over the fence" sidekick drill. We then practiced those defensive sidekicks to body shields. I think it really helped getting the pivoting and the initial knee position in there, but there was still a bit of roundhouse energy in some of the kicks.

The students wanted a balancing challenge, so we practiced roundhouse kicks to pads from the balance boards. Even with the kicking partner holding on to the bar, it was tricky. After a quick water break, we worked on forms. Everyone was still in the sequence-learning phase, and got a few more moves for their rank form.

We ended class with another student favorite - rolls. I was still seeing quite a bit of over the top somersaulting, but assisting them with the momentum by flipping their feet seemed to help. We even did a few backwards rolls.

Very fun class!

Adult Karate class notes - Monday 9/24/12 - Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 9-24-12
Angus Reid leading,  Ron Milcarek and Scott Miner assisting, plus four
other students attending

Had a nice class with a great level of energy and enthusiasm from all
present. Warmed up with the 10, 5x kicks and hip-mobilizing kicking
stretches. Went right into forms, per request, and took turns leading.
Dylan did a good job leading Wan Su for us. I taught new blue belt
Hannah the next piece of Seiunchin kata while Mr. Milcarek led the
rest of the class through the weapon forms.

We then did some sparring padwork, first a crescent-roundhouse combo,
then a defensive roundhouse/sidekick/hook/whatever from moving
footwork, the goal being to maneuver defensively while kicking at
maximum leg extension.

We then pulled out the mats for groundwork, and finished off with 10
minutes of static/passive stretching.

It's great to be in the room training with such dedicated people (and
the floor looks great!)

T'ai Chi class notes - Saturday 9/22/12 - Sandy

Saturday mornings Tai Chi class was fun and energetic, it was good to see Phil! There were eight of us, we began with our warm ups, worked with the exercise that we have been working on in class rolling the ball, palms facing each other first stationary then with full body movement and then finished with the Grand Circulation exercise. We then proceeded to do partner work. Nancy and Karen worked on the dance, Phil and Wes worked together on the dance also with Mike in tow. Phil alternated with Wes and Mike, helping Mike with the beginning of part one of the dance on the chopping side. I worked with Jean in part two of the solo form (Jean works very well independently), alternating with Suzanne who is refreshing her memory on the first part of the solo form. Suzanne explained to me that she follows very well but can not do the form independently so we worked on the first few moves. I encouraged her to say the names of the postures to help guide her through. I had her repeated the first few moves over and over then jumped in once in a while to do the form with her. She was doing well by the end of class and felt that she could go home and work on this portion of the form on her own. I also gave her a little note with the first few moves written down so she can say them and remember them. She is frustrated with her memory, I told her...me too we just have to work at it. As you know the class finished with the form. It was an enjoyable class. Thank you, Sandy

Adult Karate Class Report Monday 9-17-12 - Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 9-17-12
Angus Reid leading, four other students attending

Had a really great class with three high ranks, one yellow belt, and
Sensei Kratz dropping by for a while to assist and take part. I
introduced the principles of active/dynamic versus passive/static
stretching for those who weren't familiar, and we dove right in with a
fast run through the 10 exercises, 5x kicks, and a series of
stretching-by-kicking warm-ups. We did a bit of arm/core work on the
floor and using the benches and wall, and though the inversion
exercise was a bit difficult for some, they seemed entertained by my
enthusiasm for it.

We then worked on a series of sparring movement drills, trying to
throw techniques out of unexpected and unpredictable stancework
progressions, while remaining fully in control (no flailing or
lurching). We then did 3-minute freesparring rounds where we tried to
incorporate the techniques we had just practiced. The end of class we
returned to stretching, now doing the passive/static stretches with
relaxation and focus on breathing.

I was really pleased to receive encouraging feedback on the class from
the brown and black belts.

Youth Karate - Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Six students with Jack assisting. I was a little late opening up, so we had a rough start, but we got right on track with the ten exercises. Maybe I was a little disheveled, because for some reason I picked some complicated exercises to try. We started with the jab/backfist/cross drill. We did a little bit to the air, and then some to the pads. Doing them to the pads made it tricky to keep the flow going. Then, to get the legs involved, I suggested a kicking combo of hook/roundhouse. After seeing most of the students (blue belts excepted) struggle with that, we tried to change it to crescent/roundhouse. Hopefully it was a fun challenge, but I'll try to stick with single kicks in the future for the lower ranks.

After some stretching, we had a little self defense discussion about basic SD strikes versus sparring or traditional strikes. We then did a round of the gauntlet. There was a bit of silliness starting to pop up, especially with strange attacks. I saw more confidence in defending against the standard attacks we practice.

To hopefully get rid of some of the excess energy, we did burpee/drop knees. Each partnership shared a body shield, and alternated doing a burpee then a drop knee to the pad. We went full speed for about a minute. Another minute or so of lying down meditation ended off class.

Youth Karate - Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Late post for last Tuesday here.  Three students with Jack assisting.  The students were intrigued hearing Jack and I talk about Mr. Chaisson's "Night of 1000 Kicks", so we decided to do an "Afternoon of 100 Kicks".  I asked each student to pick a kick that they thought they would be tested on, and we did 20 of each (plus the kicks Jack and I picked out). We also worked a little on forms.

Arnis class notes - Monday - Jeff Chaisson

Monday night arnis class - We had 5 in attendance as well as myself.  Three black belts and three blue belts, so the numbers worked out well.  We started with some twirling for warm ups and moved in to tapi tapi. I had Luke, Phil, and myself share one of our favorite techniques to teach in the class.  We ended the class with a run through the forms.

 

Adult Karate class notes - Thursday and Monday night - Sensei Chaisson

Thursday night karate class - Class went well, though low in attendance.  Only four in the room plus myself.  We started off with the 10 and moved on to some core strength and streching drills.  I had wanted to continue on with the snakey feeling from the drill we had been working on prior to class with the ball rolling, so I tried to apply it in to teaching the single arm variations (inside/outside) of trapping hands.  We spent the majority of the class on trapping hands timing and variations.  We ended the class with forward rolls, backward rolls, and kip ups.

  

Monday night karate class - 5 in attendance plus myself.  I decided to try and bring back the "night of 1000 kicks"., though I spent too much time on pad work in the beginning of the class and it ended up only being the night of 780 kicks.  We ran through the 10 and spent some time streching on our own to get the legs ready.  We moved in to the pad work afterward and worked all manner of snap, roundhouse, and cresent kicks.  We then did a drill I used to do in my personal practices all the time.  Each student had 100 kicks to throw, but they could only keep one foot on the ground at any time.  Transitioning from one foot to the other required jumping.  I then had each student come up with a kick combo that involved four kicks each.  After class was over, Colleen, Scott, and myself completed the last 220 kicks.  We did 100 more with only one foot on the ground, 100 after that in a shadow boxing format, and the last 20 being jump kicks.  A row of 10 consecutive butterfly kicks, and a row of 10 consecutive free style jump kicks.

T'ai Chi class notes - Saturday Sept. 7, 2012 - Marty

Small class with Nancy,Jean,and Suzanne and me. We did the usual warm ups also the 21 and the grand circulation.

      Jean and Nancy worked on the form while I worked wth Suzanne.If Nancy and Jean got stuck I would help them out and get them back on track,all went well,then we did a round to end the class.

Daily affirmations - Jhoon Rhee

* I am wise because I learn something new every day.

* I am humanly perfect because I never make mistakes knowingly.

* I like myself because I always take action to make good things happen.

* I am happy because I always choose to be happy.