The Martial Artist

8-11-09

Today was a bit of a mixed day for me. Jennifer went to the West Branch with me which was wonderful, I honestly can not recall the last time she joined me at the West Branch for class. When we arrived I headed to the gym to help out with the beginner class, but before I walked in I noticed that they only had 2 students so I ended up not helping out. When there is a big class, of mixed levels I will step in and help out when needed, but on days like today I would really not be that useful.

About 20 minutes before the advanced class I went to the program studio and dust mopped in then spent some time just relaxing and even a few moments in meditation like I used to do before class. I walked into the studio aka the dojans about 5 minutes before class and realized that Jr. Master Peshca would not be in class tonight which meant that class would either start 15 minutes late or on time if I started leading stretching and basic kicks. Normally when this happens I am given some notice to start things out but since I missed class on Thursday I was not given a heads up. I weighted the options and took the imitative and started class. Mrs. Mundt looked happy that I did so and when she hit the dojans told me to continue so she could prepare for class. Our class times are in different locations and they overlap which is the issue on this type of day. Normally as soon as she enters the dojans I pass class over to her, so it was nice to have her watch me for about 10 minutes and to watch my “potential” teaching style. I am at least a year away until I am at the lowest level for a teaching position but with the number of people who want to teach trust me I am very low on the list! It is nice to step up and take the lead when I can though and this does give me little pieces of experience only the way.

Well in any event we had a great basics class. Our pretest day is Thursday so this was our last class before the pretest so Mrs. Mundt spent some time working on common things brought up on tests and “perfecting” techniques that will most likely be called. The class was not as cardio as normal but honestly the class before the pretest is normally a bit more mild. A mild class is always a welcomed change from time to time at the West Branch.