Should've just jumped in a pool instead

While today is a lovely fall day, around the 60s with quite the breeze, my workout today was such that I ended up looking almost as if I had jumped in the pool with my clothes on.

Drew and I had made the agreement last week that Saturday classes would be limited to sparring and forms. Now, we know how much I love sparring, but since I'm trying to lose weight, and that's the most cardio class of all, I decided I'd take it with him. We got there, I got his gear on, then mine, and I was paired up with RG, whom I've mentioned before. He's a kid that I'm guessing is about 12 years old, and while the lights are on, nobody's home. Seriously. I know Pen knows whom I'm talking about, because we've wondered if he AND his brother JG don't have it all together, but RG is MUCH worse. He's one of those kids that you wonder if he's really a special needs kid whose parents are in huge denial. Seriously. (And I'm speaking as a parent of a special needs kid!) Anyway, RG's big problem is he doesn't do what he's told for the exercise, and he uses all power, no control. So for the drill, all we were supposed to do is do a round kick that the other person would block, and then it would be reversed, so the other person would do it. Simple enough. Now granted, it was an agility drill, but he just kept kicking me and kicking me. I couldn't block fast enough. And the kicks were twisted front kicks (that's not a legitimate kick), not a round kick in any sense of the word, and he was kicking too damn hard. I mean, even in a tournament situation or anything that we do, yes you can make contact, and sometimes it can even be hard contact, but it's not supposed to be "injure the other person because you're too rough and don't know control" time. Part of the whole exercise is control. I kept telling him that to fix the kick and not do it so hard, and he'd listen for about 5 seconds, and then it was back to what he was doing. There finally was a moment when I wasn't ready, and he walloped me in the arm. I did block, but I don't have forearm pads (nobody does), but I could feel that it was going to probably result in a really nasty bruise completely up and down my forearm. It was right on the bone. (And while no bruise has appeared yet, my whole forearm is still sore to the touch.) I said something to RA, that somebody was being a little too rough, and he assured me that we would switch partners soon enough. Thank you! I'm going to tell them in the future to not pair me up with this kid again. I lose my patience with him, and he's too rough. I don't need to deal with that. My next partner was WU, who is 13 and a sweetie pie kid from Leadership. Now, here's a kid who's a lot easier to work with, because he'll keep you moving and watching, but he has CONTROL, which is the whole key. He was patient with me, which he always is, and he was more interested in getting the sequences down than power. Hello, that was the whole idea! I'm glad at least ONE kid understood what was going on. Thank you WU! Next, I had little Joshua, who's Drew's age but has been doing this longer because he started a few cycles earlier, and he hasn't stopped on and off like Drew. He's my little buddy, but we had fun having to spar each other, even though he's 6. He's fast!

In the meantime, during class, Drew stopped and walked out of class, and he refused to join in. Bleeh. He stepped out, and then when he'd sit on the side still in his gear after a while, I told him he had to either get back in class, or take his gear off and put it away. He chose the latter. {SIGH} Later in talking to him, and naturally, I had to pull it out of him, he said Joshua, who was his partner, was being too rough. Rather than tell an instructor, he just walked out instead. He now understands that it's okay to say that the other person is being too rough, because while you are supposed to be learning power and control and the moves, safety is first, and I don't want him to feel that he's uncomfortable or unsafe.

It was then time for forms class. I wasn't going to take it because I know the form VERY well. And if I were to work on it, I would've had to have gone to the early morning classes for the 1BRs and 1BDs. He refused. Just flat out refused. GRR. I asked him, and again with some prompting, he said he felt uncomfortable in that class too, that he actually preferred being in the bigger classes. There were about 9-11 kids there, and he felt that was too small a group. Whatever. Maybe a forms-only class is too intimidating for him. I suspect that's part of the problem too. He said the class was too hard. So rather than force him and make a scene, I listened to what he had to say, and we packed up our things and left. Due to the busy weekly schedule we have, I had to make him choose an extra day instead of Saturday to go to classes, and he chose Mondays. So he has classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I have classes on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tuesdays he has something else, and Fridays he has Cub Scouts. I think that accounts for a fairly busy weekly schedule, for him AND me.

In talking to Drew later, I think he's not feeling that confident yet about being back in class, and that's okay. The instructors are being pretty patient with him so far, especially SW. I've explained to Drew that it's perfectly okay for him to tell them it's hard, and that he's having trouble, because that's why they are there. If they are going too fast, then he has to tell them that, etc. I *know* they would take extra time to help him. I asked Drew if he'd want to come in the mornings with me on Saturday, and he could get a one-on-one lesson by himself with one of the teachers while I took my class, and he said no. He wanted to take classes with lots of kids. I think it's because it's easier to copy LOTS of kids than just a handful. I also reminded him it's his first week back, so it's going to take some time and practice. Practice is something that Drew really doesn't like to do. He likes everything to come to him instantly. I think that's an ADHD thing, because at his age, I was like that too. (Still am to some degree like that.) I know he's pretty good at this when he puts his mind to it, and I don't want him to feel as forced as before. I am trying to see how I can pull out what he's thinking more, have him articulate his thoughts better so we can help him succeed and progress. We'll get there, I'm sure.

So, Mondays and Wednesdays it is for Drew. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, so why did I title this post as needing to jump in the pool instead? Because when sparring class was done, I was soaked. I had sweat dripping off my nose. My hair was so wet (and it's not long, but it's not real short like the guys either) that it looked completely wet. Even Drew noticed as I got off my gear how hot and wet I was. It was almost like I jumped in the pool, except my clothes, for the most part, still appeared dry. Now that's a workout! And something Becky would appreciate-- I was the only girl in the class. ;-) Hmm. Guess I should get used to that. I think the only reason I'll continue sparring classes, if at all if Drew isn't taking them anymore, is to get that good of a workout. I AM trying to lose weight, after all.