Well I guess its update time again as it has been a month or so. The summer sunshine is gradually starting to appear amid the dark clouds and rain we have been having and the temperature has started to increase which has prompted the beginning of shorts, t-shirts and barbeques. The past two weeks has been host to the years first beach party which was held in our familiar dune location. The weather was pretty good and we managed to have a roaring fire (courtesy of some industrial estate pallet thievery), music and some guitar playing coupled with a midnight stroll down to the beach, armed with beer and a rugby ball. The following weekend was our instructors birthday and a covert operation was organised via the almighty ‘Facebook’ for a surprise birthday party on the Saturday night. There must have been suspicions, but I think we managed to keep it under wraps fairly well, although our cover must have been blown when he saw our cars parked outside. After training the following day we headed to the north cliffs side of Tehidy Woods and had a barbeque until the sun went down to finish off a great weekend.The bank holiday weekend was exactly what I needed, as I have been extremely busy at work having had two members of staff leave recently and have not found replacements which has left three of us in total, going down to two on each of our respective days off. It just means we are rushed off our feet every day and there have been times when we simply haven’t been able to cope trying to deal with all the customers alongside deliveries and service work, which has left me feeling drained and very tired. The worst thing is that I can’t see how any of us are going to be able to book any holiday until we get it resolved, which is going to be a big issue if any important seminars or gradings come up. That’s my only real moan I suppose, I prefer to be kept busy all day just not rushed of my feet!
Training has been firing on all cylinders recently, especially our competition team which managed to bring home 20 medals and trophies at the annual S-Factor regional championships. It was held at Polkyth leisure centre as usual, but the numbers were significantly lower than previous years (probably due to the extortionate category prices) which left doubts over the future of the event. It is a shame as it is the only local championship which is worth entering so I really hope they manage to sort it out for next year. Nevertheless, we were clearly the best team on the day for the third year running and I managed to pick up two 4th place medals for point stop and continuous sparring and my first ever 1st place trophy for traditional Kata (Hyung).
The new Kids Kickboxing program has really taken off too following a highly successful promotional day in a local primary school, where we ran martial arts classes throughout the day teaching all of the various age groups. It was so successful we managed to gain just under twenty five students for the opening few lessons which we hope are going to enrol permanently at the end of the month as they all seem to be really enjoying themselves. I have really warmed to my new role as ‘Kids Coach’ and have found it very challenging but also very rewarding. It is my first real experience in teaching martial arts (although it is more like guidance than teaching) and will require a lot more focus when we split the class up and I get my own team of students in the coming months. I have got one or two ‘boisterous’ lads in my group which have started to get a little rowdy in class, so if they sign up and remain in my group the next challenge will be trying to maintain their discipline.
There are two gradings on the horizon, one I will be taking part in the other I will not. The first should be the second adults Kickboxing grading which for most of the regular group will be aiming for Orange belt. We have been working on the syllabus requirements and training will probably start getting very intense over the next few lessons. The second grading will be the next traditional Tang Soo Do grading which is the first one I will not be involved in due to the increased time scale between my current grade. Although it will be nice to experience a grading knowing that I am not there to get destroyed and will only be assisting and having the odd fight or two, I just can’t seem to shift the feeling of being ‘left out‘ if that makes sense. I understand that I need a lot longer to prepare for my gradings now but I always want to be involved in big events so being on the sidelines watching will be almost as hard as grading itself (almost). Hopefully I will be able to help some of the lower grades with their syllabus requirements which I really enjoy doing as it gives me a chance to test myself too. A terminology/beer night at my house is definitely in order!
