A Case for Class

I am a Jedi, with the power to influence the minds of those around me. OK, Ok, I can’t use THE FORCE to choke you out in a grappling match Darth Vader style, or distract you by planting a Village People song in your head while sparring.

The kind of influence I believe we all have is much more subtle, and it comes in the form of attendance.  I am not going to win a student attendance record anytime soon, and feel a little hypocritical for writing about this.  I float from place to place in the province, mostly last minute, travelling like a gypsy on the account of my career.  One thing that always concerns me, is the optics of this.  As a Sihing, and a member of the I Ho Chuan team I feel it important to lay out a good example to my fellow training partners, and showing regular attendance is important. Coming to San Shou class this past week was a bit disheartening, as the attendance was really low. 

I take partial blame for the poor attendance this past week in the San Shou class as I have not been there for a couple weeks while working in Medicine Hat. I think every student should notice that there decisions to miss class will ALWAYS have an effect on their training partners.  Maybe it is as simple as a missed opportunity to try a technique on a particular partner, or maybe as influential as your attendance is driving the motivation of another student. In any case, every student has influence and contributes synergy to that class!

I want to help motivate the San Shou group through a couple points on why I think the San Shou class is critical to my training.

 

1.       I am 0.001% of the population that has the opportunity to spar with black belts in a controlled learning environment.  I say take advantage of this rare opportunity whenever possible!

2.       I am learning very functional self-defence techniques by taking things progressively.

3.       I enjoy how the class can push my comfort to the next level without going beyond my ability.  This is teaching me to deal with fear and adrenaline and learn to overcome with calm and control.

4.       I have never come out of a San Shou class without a sense of accomplishment.  (Quite often that accomplishment comes in the form of a stiff dose of humility!)

5.       I admire that I can learn so much from every student at any belt level.


So be sure to think of your training mates next time you face the decision of attending class.


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