World T'ai Chi Day 2014

We didn't have the best of weather for this years World Tai Chi Day event at the Franklin County Fairgrounds. But we did have 25 or so hearty T'ai Chi players and a few beginners show up for the 10am practice/demo. I was also pleased to see a few students for other T'ai Chi groups, notably a couple of students from Marcia Gobiel's Wendell group and several from Debra Pell Yaffee group too!

Many personal thanks to Phil Ringwood, of Dial/Self for co-sponsoring the World T'ai Chi Day event again this year and for all the effort they put into making this event happen.....Even in the rain! The little tent was a nice touch Phil;^)
Dial/Self = Awesome!!
Please donate to Dial/Self. They are truly one of the things that makes the quality of life in Franklin County what it is.

Photo credit to Phil Tomlinson

Adult Karate Class Report 4-21-14 - Sensei Reid

Angus Reid leading, four other students attending

It feels like Spring has finally come to the dojo- a month late, but it felt great to have the windows open and the warm air and smell of buds drifting through. Had a small but very energetic class, starting with some warm-up shadow sparring, the 10, standing kicks, and stretching. I led through some of my favorite sparring drills, first the every-useful crescent-roundhouse combo, and then a series of combos that strike to both sides unexpectedly. Also did a quick spell of padwork, striking the pad 10 times as quickly as possible with a succession of strikes, with as little repositioning as possible. 

Thoroughly warm, we ran through the katas together, then did trapping hands and freestyle joint locking, eventually opening it up into slow, gentle sparring, trying to work in some of the techniques from earlier. I forgot to mention WTCD during the cooldown, but I'm certain all four people present were aware of it. 

SD class 4/15

Colleen and I teaching Pat and Jean
We demonstrated the Da Lu, using it as a next step from the overhead armbar technique we had worked on previously. Pat already knew the drill so Colleen helped her with details while I introduced it to Jean. I had her start with the steps to better understand the pattern then adding the rest of the body. We switched partners and continued practicing the Da Lu. The main thing I saw which needed attention was bringing the hand to the partner's elbow during their shoulder technique. I practiced with Pat focusing on that and then we did some of the Tai Chi dance, where I pointed out the places with the same sensing hand at the elbow. We ended by going back to the overhead to armbar technique from the SD list. I think everyone got a better understanding of how to use their whole body to make the armbar most effective. It was also productive to focus on developing sensitivity up the arm. 

DA t'ai chi class 4/13

We had 4 students in the room today.  1 was a regular and the other 3 brand new students.  We went through the warm ups and did some light meditation.  We spent the majority of the class working on the form.  Announcements about world t'ai chi day went out as well.

Saturday 4/12 kids karate classes

We went through the warm ups and some stretching during the first class, but mainly focused on self defense techniques.  We tried to lighten things up at the end by doing some rolls and ended with a couple of runs through the forms.


The second class was smaller, though still had good energy.  We ran through some warm ups and strengthening drills as well as some partner stretching.  We worked arm bar and backwards throw off of straight punches.


Sensei was in the room to provide a great deal of guidance.  Scott and Jack were also present and helping to teach.

SD class 4/8

Colleen and I instructed Pat, Jean, and Giana.
We began with a review of tai chi form applications from the last class for Jean and Pat, mainly focusing on how to make the form work in an application and using the whole body with the movements. When Giana arrived we split off to work her trapping hands. I made sure she had switch both sides then drilled the single handed variation. The other group trained applications up to roll back. Colleen then worked with Giana further on trapping hands and then locks. I had the rest of us do the defense against single handed wrist grab for a while. Then we practiced the overhead to arm bar technique until the end. Overall a productive class for everyone 

Adult Karate 4/7

8 people total with Angus and Colleen assisting
Began with a review of Nihanchi Kata followed by the 10 exercises.
We moved right into partner work, starting with a drill to develop the initial "check" of trapping hands. We worked up to the basic drill back and forth for a few minutes and then I introduced the bong sao variation, showing the arm bar follow up. We then spent time on an arm bar drill up and down the room, with similar sensitivity skill building from the trapping hands drills. We transitioned to techniques from pushes-single handed and two handed. The single handed went to the triangle shaped arm bar- again training the ability to find the right spots on the arm.
Towards the end of class we did a few partner rotations of 4 count drill. Then we went up and down the room with one person feeding freestyle sparring techniques at their partner who worked their distancing moving back. This exercise was meant to get our bodies in the right place for static stretching at the end. Great effort by everyone. 

William C.C. Chen Teaches Tai Chi

Monday night arnis and adult karate, 3/31/14 - Sensei Chaisson

We had 5 in the room for the arnis class.  Jack led through some warm ups and sinawallee drills for the start of the class. We moved on to some knife work, working on checking and grabbing to start with.  We moved on to some variations from the #1 and 2 disarms I watched from the professor.  We ended with forms.  Phil, Jack, and myself were in the room for staff.


7 total for the karate class.  We started with the warm ups and ran through the ba gi stances.  We worked a few drills focusing on relaxation and applied them to some punching.  We moved on to some pad work for kicking and ended with Scott leading through some ground work with the majority of the class and myself working with Karen on forms and SD.  Angus, Scott, Jack, and myself were all teaching.