Last Sunday, at Sensei's dojo in Bethel, the orange belts asked if there was going to be class on Easter. Sensei told them that she was visiting family. She asked how many people wanted to come in and just about all of them raised their hands. I did too. So she announced that there would be a class. Said that if she couldnt find a black belt, that I would teach. I don't think Sensei even asked anyone else.
Thusday she sent me a list of things she wanted me to work on with a huge gap of time for me to teach whatever I wanted. I went over to K4L and asked for games and drills. I watched countless videos on youtube. I browsed many martial arts sites. I made a list of drills and games. I so wanted to make sure that everyone had fun.
Sunday came, I arrived early and practiced my kata for the upcoming tournament. Ray was the first to arrive, 10 minutes early. Ray was the only one to arrive. sigh.
Ray asked if Sensei found a black belt and I told him that she hadn't. I think he was disappointed. He told me that it would be okay if we didn't have a 2 hour class, that we could leave early.
We lined up, bowed in and did our stretching and kihon. We went through the strikes and block. We then did our kicks while moving. Then in zenkusu dachi, moving, we did a block and reverse punch, trying to get the block and counter to flow naturally.
Kata was up next. Ray wanted to learn Sigogi Ichi but I was told that I should teach juji kata becasue they all needed to learn it and we haven't gone over it yet. Looking at the clock, I was speeding through every thing. So I decided that we would do all of the required katas. We took our time going over sigogi Ichi. Then we did juji kata. I taught him juji kata and he did well. Then I was having him do it without a count. He was going through it without kiai so he could concentrate on which way to go. Sometimes he would forget or he would have to think for a few seconds. Then I had him do it again. This time I insisted that he kiai. So weird, because his mind was on trying to remember to kiai, he did the kata totally correct.
On to the bag work. During kihon I noticed that his side kicks and round house kicks were off. His whole body would not only go back when he kicked but his torso would tilt forward as well. So out went all the drills I had and in came a half hour of kicks.
We practiced in front of the mirror going very slow. I wanted him to get the technique. He was struggling to get his kick high. I made him do the kick to the knee. Told him that in time he will get height but technique is more important. So he asked "I thought we weren't supposed to kick to the knee in the dojo?"
"Well yeah", I said. "Take out my knee and I can train anymore but kyokushin is not about the tournaments, it is about the real world. Take out a drunk muscle head's knee and the bar fight is over before it started."
I got the kick shield and still had him work slow for a 20 count, then I made him speed up. Now that he was all warmed up and the technique was better, I had him kick to the stomach, but I made him do it fast. No time to think and his kicks were so much better. No longer was he falling over.
The two hours was up before I knew it. and hopefully I did well. I wont know until Sensei talks to Ray. I hope I am asked to do it again.
