Sunday morning Staff Training in Leyden - July 2014

Thursday 7/24 karate classes - Sensei Jeff

The youth class was unattended today.  Colleen practiced during the time frame.


Colleen and I started out the 2-person class with the Arnis drills that had been gone through during the last big gathering in Leyden.  Lilly came in halfway through the class, so we changed gears and had Colleen leading in the basic entrance with Lilly.  We ended with some work on Monkey staff.


We had 6 for the adult karate class.  Colleen, Lilly, Jack R., Giana, and Karen as well as myself.  We started the class with some trapping hands and went in to the empty hand versions of some of the drills from Leyden and the past few karate classes.  The material was new to some, but we added slowly enough that everyone seemed to do well with it.  We had a heavy focus on forms to try and give Lilly something to practice and ended with 10 minutes of open workout time.  The class started out very low key, but ended with good energy in the room.

Adult Karate Class Report Monday 7-21-14 Sensei Angus Reid leading

Adult Karate Class Report 7-21-14

Angus Reid leading, five other students attending

Had a black-belt-heavy class (4 bb's, 2 beginners) on a very warm Monday. After the usual warm ups, we reviewed the first 10 SD techniques from the new master list, with the advanced students going into freestyle SD. We also worked on the unfriendly handshake, which Karen is starting to learn – she's got the first 8 or 9 locks. The senior students (including Lily!) took turns leading kata, and we finished with a little crescent kicking combo to pads. We kept the fans going and the lights off all class. 

Saturday morning classes, 7/19/14

We had a decent turnout for the t'ai chi class.  We started with the usual warm ups and a round of meditation, focusing on relaxation through the shoulders.  We then did some circling drills while trying to keep that focus on the relaxation through the shoulders.  We worked in pairs on the form and ended with a round.


The karate classes were very lightly attended.  We had 5 in the first class and only 3 in the second class.  Sensei had some fun relay drills to get the kids moving and followed up with some great pad work and line work drills.  The second class was more in an open workout format.  There was a good del of sparring as well as some weapons training.


Great energy for such small classes.

Thursday 2-person and adult karate classes, 7/17/14 - Sensei Jeff

The 2-person class started out with a good group of Sensei, Colleen, Jack, Mike, and myself.  We cut the class short to work on brochure and flyer info.  All present participated.


The karate class had 5 total, with Sensei, Colleen, Jack F., Jack R., and myself.  We were able to get through a large portion of the passing drills that we trained on Sunday.  We were able to get the empty hand, staff, and sword versions going.  We ended the class with a review through the karate forms.  Very good energy and participation from all.

Saturday t'ai chi, 7/12/14 - Sensei Jeff

We had a large group today with very good energy in the room.  We started off with the usual set of warm ups and some standing meditation.  We worked some of the push hands drills that we had worked on Wednesday in to the class.  We then moved in to work on the dance or the form, depending on where people were and finished with the round.

Monday night classes, 7/7/14 - Sensei Jeff

The arnis class was a private class with Rob and I.  We spent a small portion of our class time talking about web marketing.  We started out the class working on the forms, but spent the majority of the class on two person work.  We worked a great deal of the basics involved with block/check/counter


We had a semi-private for the karate class with Mike, Simon, and myself.  We did a fair amount of stretching and then moved on to forms.  After identifying some basics that needed attention, we worked some vertical punching and blocking to improve the areas.  We then moved on to SD and ended the class with some kicking drills.


Very focused energy from all.

Saturday open work out, 7/5/14 - Sensei Jeff

Very small classes overall.  The t'ai chi class had 4 total with a couple folks coming in at the end to take part in the round.  We had a productive class, as the t'ai chi group did very well with the open concept.  Great energy from all.


The karate classes were a bit more difficult.  We had small classes, and the students had a very difficult time picking something that they wanted to do without assistance.  Between Sensei, Thomas, and myself, we were able to keep everybody busy.

Loving the posts on the blog! Many thanks to Sensei Jeff, Angus and Thomas.....Keep it coming!

Thursday adult karate, 7/3/14

We had a very small class today with only Colleen, Lana, and myself.  We focused the beginning of the class on stretching since it was so hot and muggy.  We then did a large amount of work on Lana's forms and SD.  We moved on to some ground work and ended with some kicking once things cooled off a bit.  Though a very small group, the energy was still up in the room.

Wednesday t'ai chi and arnis classes, 7/2

We had small classes tonight, mainly because of traveling and bad weather.  The t'ai chi class had 4 total, Colleen, Thomas, Doug, and myself.  We started out with the warm ups and some meditation.  We moved in to some very basic push hands drills, focusing on relaxation and only activating the needed areas.  We moved in to working on the forms and finished with a round.  The energy in the room was very focused.


There were also 4 for the arnis class, Phil, Colleen, Rob, and myself.  We started together as a group working on some basic stick work in double zeroes and switching.  We split up in groups afterwards to work on the forms and some double stick work.  For the last 10 minutes of the class, as something special for showing up on such a bad night, we went over some basic staff drills.  Good energy in the room from all.

Monday 6/30-Thomas

Angus started the class with some shadow sparring and a few leg warm ups before a good stretching session. As it was a fairly advanced group, (just Angus, Dylan, Simon and I) I wanted to work on some locks/takedowns. We spent a while on the unfriendly handshake series, concentrating on bringing the locks to a fully completed place. After that, we moved through some of the more advanced techniques on the SD list that was put together by Jack.