Last Tuesday, I was surprised to find that I was one of the few black belts that showed up.
We were having a really good time, with one half of the class entirely brown belts (we’re lousy with them nowadays) and the other half largely white and yellow belts. Sensei Brewer showed up about 20 minutes into the class and I was surprised that he let us continue on for the entire first class. There were a few times in there where I had to invent things as I stood, so there was a few breaks in the action but it wasn’t too bad. Mike-san helped out with supplying a few ideas for calisthenics when I was running short, and he also provided some of the counting as my voice was failing by the end. Sensei Brewer gave me a bit of a hard time about it in between classes, but that’s OK, he’s entitled. 🙂
I really enjoy that format, a horrible beast of my own creation, largely because it provides two somewhat opposite types of exertion all at the same time. On one side of the room you have the people doing their kata, struggling to learn the techniques, remember the techniques, or perfect the techniques depending on skill level.
On the other side of the room the other group is being forced to watch kata, in true Ludovico Technique style (“A Clockwork Orange”, people, seriously), all the while struggling with their own burdens. It’s classical conditioning — guts, plain and simple. I like guts.
At the end of it all, Sensei Brewer called the idea “interesting” and complimented me again on it the following workout. I suppose that means it gave him something to think about or he liked it, either way I had fun.
The second class was sparring drills, where we paired off with partners and did basic one time attack. This grew up and out into three to five time attack and by the end we were all having a great time. I don’t remember anything specifically, save for a few good shots administered by Trent-san. It’s pretty neat that he is coming back so strongly after such a long absence.
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