Don't try to make me keep up with the kids

I went to class tonight. I used to go on Thursdays often, and it was always a small class, but then I got my day classes back, and went to those instead. Of course, if and when I get my new job, I'll probably have to go back to going on Thursday nights, but that's fine.

It was another quiet night for the most part. It's funny how I'm starting to get impatient with lower ranked belts. That's not nice, I know. I would not have appreciated it if a higher rank was like that with me. But what can I say? The 9 year old green belt had it together more than the 3 -15 year old white belt boys. All three of them didn't seem that bright. :-S Believe it or not, I actually some of the other color belt teenagers that were higher color belt ranked! (Even the troublemakers!) At least the worked and listen better. It made for a somewhat dull class. This is not to say that what Nikki was teaching was boring. Part of the problem was that I was old enough to be the mother of any of these children, including the instructor, and I was expected to run and jump as well as them, and that just ain't going to happen. This is not to say that I wouldn't work at what I was doing-- I'd still try, even though my muscles just don't work as fast, nor do my asthmatic lungs, and my knees (yes, both, although the bad one was worse, naturally) didn't want to cooperate. But c'mon-- I just can't keep up. Oh well. The things that got me too was that Nikki and Jodi would go over the directions for these drills a few times, and none of those teenagers would get it. Only E (the green belt boy) and I would get it. Oy.

E and I got to practice our forms. I know it, but I am having problems with hand stuff. I shouldn't, but I think I got a few things straightened out. Mostly, it's stuff like open vs. closed hands, and with one section, just getting started on the correct hand, then I can get the correct ones going. Tonight was the first time that I was not getting nit-picked about the details, and just allowed to work on the form itself. I still have balance issues, which again, I shouldn't have, and I need to work on that. At least if I practice at home (when my knees and time are cooperating), I have a flat, hard floor vs. soft mats at school, so I can be more prepared for how it'll be like at tournament. After all, it's just a week or so away! :-S

I think I'm getting the hang of the sword. As I said to SW tonight (since neither Nikki or Jodi could help me on the sword form), well, I think I have the main gist of it, and it'll be close enough that it'll look okay, because it's a freestyle after all, right? Can't goof it up too much. Of course, Jodi was suggesting that I could always go to Gumdo. I would if I had the time! I can't take almost all day off to do TKD and Gumdo every Saturday. The occasional Saturday seminar, sure, but almost every other Saturday, literally? Nope, just have too many things going on at home.

We did a few sparring drills, but no sparring. I was paired up with one of the white belts who's in Masters, and he tried, so I'll give him credit for trying. I think I would've been better off with E, even though he was smaller. I did my best to be patient and help D (the white belt) learn the purpose of the drill, etc. I think he was starting to get the hang of it a little bit.

When it came time for board breaking, it was mostly just E and I. E was working on an elbow break, and I was working on the elbow and RJSK. I worked that RJSK with the wood again. I was surprised that I didn't get the elbow when I tried to break, but got the RJSK. I was told I didn't rotate enough on the elbow, which was easy to fix. And I'm pretty sure that I broke that RJSK with the ball of my foot rather than the heel of my foot, although I was told that only my heel could've broken it. Nope, I don't think so-- I'm pretty sure that it was the ball of my foot. But, who am I to question a higher rank, and as long as it broke, who cares?

At least I'm feeling a little better about the board breaks. And the rest, well, it's just practice. I'm still feeling a little sore from Monday's class. In talking to SW about it, she could understand, and said that Sr. Cabrera's methods, vs. the way she does it is VERY different. She says that those classes over at Pennington, unless she's teaching them, don't learn much about forms at all! My gosh, forms and sparring, especially for most color belt levels, are essential for promotions, so how can they get away with not teaching forms? You have to learn it all, and the earlier, the better! I thought it was crazy, but SW corrected me that it was just different. Then I clarified that it was crazy to ME. (I think she thinks it's a little nuts too, but as she said, different people have different ways of teaching the material, after all, as long as the material is taught.)

So, the class went by quickly, but I guess, since the white belt boys were not exactly too swift (and I don't think it's because they were white belts, if you catch my drift), it was a little dull. I guess the only "highlight" was that since I was leadership, during stretching I got to lead the class in stretches while Nikki asked Ma'am something, which was fine. If I could have, I would have been up and fixing all those kids stretches, because quite frankly they were pathetic. I think when I'm a black belt, I can probably get away with that more. But I am still the "lowly" red belt, and despite being in Leadership, I'm not really in a position that the other kids would take me that seriously. Or at least I wouldn't take a color belt leader as seriously as I would a black belt one, I don't think. So, I didn't push it. Sometimes I know, like tonight, I would be a much stricter instructor. Directions weren't being listened to, and it wasn't that it was complicated stuff. If you are supposed to be doing a leg swing kick for warmup, you shouldn't be doing a front kick with the snap in it. HELLO! And like I said, they don't have to have their heads on their knees when stretching, but they should at least TRY. Geez. In this way, the old lady is doing it right. I might not be able to do all of it, but I DO try.

No more TKD until next week, and next week is rather critical. After all, I have a tourney to prepare for! I'm going to do my best, of course, but I'm most concerned about the weapons part, and I do need to practice my ssahng nat routine, since that's what I'm doing. I never do well in sparring, so I hope I'm out early like the last time with that. And forms, well, if I do okay, then I do okay. It's the weapons stuff I'm after. Graduation is the week after that. But if I have it ready for tourney, then I'm set.

OK, I'm going to relax for the next few days. Happy Easter to all! (We're visiting the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA tomorrow! Woo hoo!)