Adult Karate class - Monday 5/20/13 - Sensei Chaisson

Monday's night classes went well.  The arnis class had 5 in attendance including myself.  We started out with some warm ups and twirling while walking in a circle.  We then moved on the the locking series to warm the wrists up further and spent a good deal of time on tappi tappi.  We ended the class with the 6/8/10/12 count drills.  The energy was excellent overall.
 
The karate class had 8 in attendance including myself.  I named the class "the science of the sidekick".  We spent the entire class working on different aspects of the sidekick, after the warm ups and stretching of course.  We started off with using our partner to put pressure on the kick as we extended and retracted and gave feedback back and forth.  We then had our partners hold a stick to kick over, focusing on knee position throughout the kick, the pivot, and how to carry momentum throughout the kick.  From there we went to defensive sidekicks to a body shield, focusing on the correct hip alignment and then tested it with our partners moving in on the kickers while the kickers had to work distancing to stop them.  We moved on to kicking a focus pad.  We used control and retraction at first, but then worked on kicking through the pad and getting the proper energy to penetrate, by making the pad move straight away from the kick.  The energy was good overall, though towards the end of class, it was getting difficult for some not to throw in some of the more fun aspects of the kick, such as shuffling and moving in large distances.  I had purposely tried to stay away from these things so that the focus was more so on the principles of the kick and not the application.  In all fariness though, it is not easy focusing on one technique for an entire class.  Great job by all.

Youth Karate class notes - Saturday 5/25/13 - Thomas

Scott led and I walked around to make corrections when we were lined up. The first class had a good amount of basics with the class in line. After that, it was some footwork for sparring, along with training hands up and combinations. After those drills, we had people do the jab-cross-duck- punch drill, which went really well. During the second class, we went through Scott's abdominal workout, then trained triple kicks. We had the perfect numbers to do the triple kicks to bodyshields. That took a good amount of time, and we finished with about 15 minutes on the defensive position for the haymaker, moving 

on to the mobility throw.

Adult Karate class notes - Monday 5/13/13 - Sensei Milcarek

Scott, Thomas, Angus, Hannah, Colleen, Jack, and Cherie were present. We started with the ten, with stretching and strength mixed in. Next we did some basic foot work/ stance review, especially movement, step versus shuffle. We did basic hands then kicks. Angus did his special brand of leg/pelvis/hip stretching with great explanations. A few times up and down the floor with partners, mixing up kicks for some cardio. After a break we came back and did open hand strikes to bags, elbows to bags then same with care to a partner. I explained why I think the basic hands up guard, or "high guard" or "kick boxing guard" or "modern guard" or "boxing guard", is so good for real self defense. It should not be confused with the hands up "passive position" or what some people call "post position" where we still are trying to avoid or de escalate a bad encounter. Guard up means we think we have gone past that point. Of course it is not the only "fighting position." I mentioned some others, especially from Arnis.  We tried a couple things, one a push from behind, and reacting to go into the guard. These "scenario type" drills, which by their nature are so much looser than technique drills, only work because of the effort, mutual respect, and willingness of participants to try something new. On those things, the crew in class was just outstanding. And Thomas, Scott, Jack and I really amped it up to generate some self defense emotional content. You can only do that dangerous stuff with the best of people, with great attitude, otherwise someone would have been hurt. Lastly I was very impressed with Hannah's ability to hang with us, keep herself solid.

Jack Fox Katas 425.13

Thomas and Jack testing line work

Adult Karate Class Report - Monday 5-6-13 - Sensei Angus Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 5-6-13

Angus Reid leading, Ron Milcarek assisting, 6 other students present

Following up from Jeff's excellent class last Monday in which we reviewed basic strikes focusing on the upper body and front snap kicks, I wanted to continue in that vein, with the emphasis this time on the roundhouse kick. 

We warmed up with the 10 (interspersing reverse punches and blocks), standing kicks, side leg lifts, and a sideways sit-up meant to to strengthen the side of the torso for good kicking posture. 

With partners and focus pads, we drilled various kick combos, with multiple kicks thrown from the same leg, to train tightness and control in the core and side. The beginners did simpler versions of the same drills, keeping it to just a single kick. 

We then put on gear and sparred for 6 rounds, before stretching together to cool down. 

New student Cherie was in class tonight, and she did quite well. Thomas helped her with the punches and blocks at the beginning. She doesn't have her own gear for sparring yet. We introduced her to harmony sparring, for which she wore hand and foot pads from the bin, and I told her to get at least a mouthpiece as soon as she could. 

Saturday Youth Karate classes - 5/4/13 - Thomas Perham

I was in the dojo today and with some help from Jack, taught the classes without any problems. First class started with some basics intermitted by sets of push-ups, because I noticed many people don't have a good push-up yet. The two new students from last week were in again, and both did really well. We stretched some and then ended with fifteen minutes of SD, I tried to get some of the new yellows a few more techniques, but we only had time for about two new ones. Simon also stepped up to help, he and Scott Grote did a great job working on the sd with the new students. The second class went well also, Sailor was the only yellow belt to stay. After the ten, we did some line work. I had everyone gear up, we did a couple sparring drills then a few rounds of free sparring. After that, we took off the gear and ran through the katas. Overall, both classes were good in my opinion. There was a lot of work between upper and lower ranks. Hannah did a very good job working with Seth, as he can be somewhat difficult to handle.

Modern Arnis and Adult Karate - Monday April 29 - Sensei Jeff Chaisson

Monday night classes went well.  The arnis class only had three plus myself.  We started with a little twirling as a warm up, took a quick run through the stick and empty hand forms and then spent the majority of the class working on tapi tapi.  
     The karate class had seven plus myself.  Cheri came in and was able to participate.  I had her fill out a liability waver, though she said that she would only be able to make Monday nights and not be able to make it to Thursdays.  We started off with the 10 exersises followed by some floor stretches and the wallace roundhouse exercise.  We spent a good deal of time on some basic padwork, mainly backfist and snap kick.  We ended the class running through each form twice.  Once for detail and once at performance speeds.  Angus, Colleen, and myself split our time working with Cheri throughout the class.

Adult Karate - Thursday May 2 - Sensei Ron Milcarek

There were eleven of us for class. After a short warm up with shadow boxing, we did the ten exercises with stretching and conditioning mixed in. Next we moved to the bar for kick up dynamic stretching and tension kicks for form and strength. We did some line work with kicking, then kicking to the pads for power. After a break we ran through all forms, once for detail all together, then independently. Just enough time left for self defense against haymaker punch, and stick/bat attack. Great class. Lots of sweat too.