Wham, Bam, thank you Ma'am

It was a really quick class tonight in most respects, as it was only three students in class, myself being one of those three. It left us to whip through everything we had to do. My other classmates were Malachi, the troublemaker, who was on better behavior tonight, and Matthew, one of the Downs' kids. We reviewed the form and the new section again, so that went pretty quickly for Malachi and I. Then we did our sparring. First I went up against one of the punching bags, then I sparred Matthew, then Malachi. Malachi behaved himself and didn't get too rough, so that was good. I actually got a nice compliment from Mr. A tonight regarding my sparring, which was that I was not afraid to be aggressive/assertive when sparring, as most women I guess kinda hold back when they spar, or don't show much power. The girls go at it, if you watch them in the tournaments, but otherwise, they are not as aggressive as guys. Testoterone factor, I'm sure. ;-) But, hopefully that will work in my favor in the tournament, that I won't be afraid to go for the gusto. We did board breaks next, and I don't know if I wasn't concentrating, but it didn't break right away. My practice kicks were good though. Maybe I was hesitating because of my holders, or specifically one. Matthew offered to hold. It was so cute. I don't think he's ever held, being that he's a Special Abilities student (obviously due to his Downs), so I told him to ask Mr. A first. Mr. A said he could help him. So, Mr. A showed him how to hold once I had done my practices, and he did a good job for a first time. It was so adorable to watch him-- he was so excited that he had helped. Weapons was last, and I just got some pointers on how to make the transitions into the new parts that I learned last night. We bowed out as Matthew is only supposed to have a 45 minute class, but Malachi and I stayed on for the rest of our hour class to work on other stuff. I worked some more on the weapons, and then asked Mr. A to help me remember the next section of the form that we haven't officially learned. I had remembered most of it, it was directional and finer points in getting the moves. I'll have it ready for next week with no problem. ;-)

After class, Malachi's mother was asking me questions about the regional tournament, as Malachi hadn't even done an interschool tournament, and I think he's interested in competing in weapons, but not form and sparring. So, I just explained my experiences, and how it's better to stay for the WHOLE tournament, especially since this is Ma'am's tournament, and it's good experience, even if he only ends up coming as a spectator, so that he can see ATA Xtreme, how higher belts compete, etc. So, I think he and his parents have something to think about. It IS a long day, but you learn so much. Tiny Tigers aren't expected to stay all day, but I'll be there all day simply due to me helping, and I'll be there early because TT start at 8:30 AM, and that's Drew's category. I think Ma'am's schedule is set up to keep things moving all day.