Week back

Spent Spring Break visiting with family in Victoria. Now we are home, and it's going to be a busy martial-arts week.

It starts on Tuesday with Jiu-Jitsu. My normal week is three classes. I am adding a private lesson on Wednesday to make up for some of the training I missed while in Victoria.

Saturday is the start of my new Karate Club in Davis Bay. That brings the total to 5 martial arts classes.

I will get Monday and Friday off.

For a guy who loves his recliner-chair evenings I sure do a lot of other stuff.

The coolest day will be Saturday. In the morning I have Jiu-Jitsu from 9-10, and later from 3:30-5 it's Karate. I wonder if there will be time in between for a jolly lunch out.

Pad

Being a geek has its challenges.

The new iPad went on sale today. Can't get one where I live, and I was at work anyway.

Had a friend in a city who was waiting in line in the early morning offer to get me one. That would mean I would have one, but that it would be 500km away.

How do I get one into my hands? Well, we'll be in Victoria for a few days soon. Perhaps I can just walk in and pick one up.

Fat chance. They'll be sold out.

I could order one from Apple. That should arrive in 2-3 weeks.

The short answer is that I can't get one faster than that. Would I like one sooner? Yes. Can I wait a few weeks? Yes, again.

No real rush.

Sweet September

Helen and I used to do vacations during the week of Spring Break. They were lovely, but not really cost effective. We only have so many holiday dollars to spend, and can get more bang for our buck by doing our travelling in the summer.

Instead of going for a week, we for longer periods.

We have been summer travellers.

Now that his changing again. After this summer I will be entering my last year before retirement. The following summer we won't travel much at all, will and move our holiday to September.

Travel in September is a dream to this old teacher. Rates drop, and crowds vanish. It has long been Helen's dream to head out on the first day of the school year. They go back to work and we go play.

We will do it.

I don't know where we will go that first September.

It could be California. That is always a trip we enjoy. We have driven there many times. I'll be ready to visit San Francisco, and the LA area. Tacking on Las Vegas works nicely, too.

Maybe it will be Florida. Just today Helen said she loves Florida and whenever we go there she feels that she could live there. That's quite an endorsement. I like the feel of Miami Beach a lot, and love Disneyworld in Central Florida.

Maybe something more exotic. We've only barely scratched the surface of Europe. I've always wanted to do it properly.

Or somewhere else.

Season

It's going to be a pretty concentrated martial arts season around here.

Next Saturday I'm off to watch part of the Canadian Karate Championship. Top notch competition.

Then I'm starting a new Karate club up on at the very end of March.

In the middle of May I start the month-long process of testing for a Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt.

At the end of May I will be attending a seminar given by Sakurai Sensei and Oishi Sensei. Sakurai Sensei is by far the best instructor I've ever seen, and Oishi Sensei is the just-retired head of the most successful University Karate program ever.

Once summer hits, my Karate club will be shutting down for a bit, and I will be rarely able to train in Jiu-Jitsu. I will be able to train with the University of Victoria Karate Club and with the Victoria Judo Club quite a bit.

...and I get to go on a cruise.

Memory

I'm feeling really good about my Jiu-Jitsu progress right now.

I continue to train hard and attend every class I can. There is one change I've made that seems small, but really isn't.

At my high school I've got my students doing 30-day Challenges. They pick something and do it at home every day for a month. Some exercise, some draw, some take photos, and some walk to school. They can pick almost anything.

I am also doing a 30-day Challenge. Every day I study for my Jiu-Jitsu exam. I go over the lists of testing techniques, and review the sample videos. It is making a huge difference.

At today's class I knew everything we were drilling in. The people I was training with wasted no time looking up the sequence, as I already knew it. Less time wasted.

I also find that I can concentrate on improving the actual techniques when I'm not trying to figure out what is going on. When one memorizes the test, one also memorizes all the technique clues and tricky bits.

I highly recommend it.

Bay

I bet I'm considered a traitor.



I am about to start up a new Karate club in the small community of Davis Bay. That's about 10km from the gym where the West Sechelt group trains. About a year and a half ago I helped get that group started, and was the instructor for several months. One of the other Black Belts who always wanted to be a Sensei took it over with my blessing.

Since then, my schedule has changed so much that I find myself rarely able to attend any of their classes. I've also been having thoughts about teaching a less body-stressful version of Karate.

I've finally decided to take the plunge and do it.

It looks like there are already about half a dozen people ready to become members.

All are former Karate people.

Some were my students over a decade ago. They seem to both want me as their teacher, and to do my gentler Karate. All have injuries and such.

Some were members of the West Sechelt club. Some were there when I was the instructor, and never successfully made the transition to the other instructor. Having a Sensei can be a very personal thing. I guess I fit them, and the other instructor didn't. All had quit training until they heard of my new club, and are eager to get started again.

I have no intention of trying to lure current members from the other club. Nothing would make me happier than if they continue for many years with a healthy enrolment of students.

I do not believe in the zero-sum concept of Karate club membership. That is the mistaken belief that there are only so many students to go around. My club is already proof in the fallacy of that theory. I will have half a dozen students. If I do not set up a club to handle them, none will seek out and train in another club. In effect, I have created a club without harming any existing group. Karate around here is up by six, and no club is down in membership.

However, I will not refuse to accept members from other clubs. I will welcome everybody who wants to train with me. I believe people should make up their own minds about things like that. If any of my students choose to go elsewhere, they will do so with my blessing and encouragement.

I am getting great support from the martial arts community. I notified the head of the JKA in the province, and I sense he would be happy to drop by and teach a session. The Sensei at the local Shitu-Ryu style Karate club is a Facebook friend, and also wants to come and visit. One of the Jiu-Jitsu instructors is a facebook friend and also wants to come by. I am also going to try and get a local 5th Dan to visit once in a while.

I’m pretty happy about how things are going, and they haven’t even started.

Test season

Spring Break is great. It's a chance to connect with family, but it does scramble up my Jiu-Jitsu progress. This is not a complaint, just a statement.

Over the time of the break, the club will be doing two evening combatives classes and two Saturday reflex classes.

If the attendance is good, they'll roll on through combatives classes 19 and 20. I've already done an extra #20, and I'll make up the missed session with a private lesson when I get back.

It attendance is weak, they won't push on but will do other training. It that case I won't be behind at all.

I'm still on track to test for Blue Belt starting in mid-May.

It will be a season of martial arts tests.

I should have a bunch of my Karate students grading at the end of April, and more tests at the end of June.

If everything goes well, that should be the end of exams until Christmas time.