Make it fit

Things should just fit, but they don’t.

Jiu-Jitsu is changing over the summer. It is moving to a new location where the mats don't have to be set up and taken down every evening. There will also be more room, which will be nice.

Currently, classes are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, but nobody much attends on Saturday.

It will soon be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday there will be an open-mat time, and another on Saturday morning.

Some weeks I'll be going five days in a row.

For most families this wouldn't work. We have no kids, so I'm not going to be neglecting them.

My wife, Helen, has a pretty full schedule of her own. She goes to ukulele on Tuesday, folk music on Fridays, and often is playing somewhere on Saturdays and Sundays.

Karate is changing, too. Unlike Jiu-Jitsu where none of the decisions are mine, I’m the center of the Karate club.

Can’t have class when I’m working, although it would be cool if we could. I’m also unwilling to miss out on Jiu-Jitsu.

This means our two adult classes a week have to fit into Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Friday is possible, but would rather not, as it would cost me an open-mat class.

This means in practise that we have to meet Saturday and Monday. That’s what we do now.

We are starting a kids’ class. I’m not crazy about the idea, but have turned it around. I’ve agreed to teach one time per week if my senior students will step up and teach another. They seem keen.

Now we have to fit a couple of kids’ classes in someplace. I can do anytime Monday, hopefully back-to-back with the adults. If that can’t happen, I can do any other afternoon at 4:00pm. Such won’t work for adults, but maybe will for kids.

We’re all sitting down this week to try and hammer it all out. Then somebody, likely Cody, will have to try and get us space.

This all makes me realize how lucky I’ve been in the past. When I’d set up clubs before I always got the first location I went after, and the times and days. Once set up, there was never a reason to change and they ran consistently like this for years and years.

I’m sure it will all work somehow.