I am pleased to say that we have all been showing a great attitude towards our training of late. That’s not to say we couldn’t train harder or more often. I will explain below.
On Thursday 12 April we tried our hand at the ‘gentle art’ that is jiu jitsu under the guidance of Peter Marsh, 4th Dan. Peter is John’s instructor in that art with even more years training than me. It was great to see that we welcomed him to our club with genuine friendship and a positive, ‘let’s give it our best effort’ approach.
We started off with a warm up that was very similar to our own but without the running around like madmen which appeals to the children so much. I suppose there are only so many muscles and tendons in your body and therefore only so many ways to stretch them.
After that he weighed us up by getting us to do various rolls and break falls. For some of us that was scarily new but for others, a little longer in the tooth perhaps, something we managed quite competently. I thought we all coped very well with that. Peter must have thought the same as he had confidence that we could handle some of the unfamiliar techniques he had in mind for us.
Throws, locks and nerve holds rapidly followed one after the other in a blur. Hopefully between us we will be able to remember what we did and be able to practice the techniques at the club in the future. I am pleased to say that many of the techniques we tried, or variations of them, have been practiced at the club before. No doubt borrowed by us after our experiences at seminars and also from the teachings of Tony Caitlyn, a local aikido sensei, who used to visit the club regularly.
We survived the experience, rosy checked and a little bruised but mostly with an enthusiastic smile on our faces. Peter enjoyed the opportunity to train with us, revelling in an eager audience for his techniques, and I am sure he will be back sometime when he has recovered.
Two students in particular have been displaying a great attitude of late, Kevin and Ivan Liu. They experienced a set back at the club grading late last year and didn’t get their yellow belts. They took the disappointment very stoically for young children and continued to train, normally with a smile on their faces. At the grading I said I would give them their yellow belts if they trained hard for another ten lessons. I am very pleased to say that last Monday was their tenth lesson after the grading and they are now wearing their well earned yellow belts. Well done to them.
Thank you everyone for your excellent attitude towards training at the club.
Stacy
