Class Attended: Westminster Lodge Basic Class
Instructor: Kevin Archibald
Date: 17 Jan 13
Subjects covered: Stances, punching jodan and chudan, soto uke and age uke backwards and forwards. Also, Tekki Shodan and partner work. Bunkai of Tekki Shodan’s beginning of block, strike; block, strike.
Drills used:
Basics as above up and down the room, partner work punching jodan and chudan and learning Basai Dai.
How I would teach or improve in my class:
I would have taught this class the same. The level of the class / subjects were both interesting and challenging to both “newbies” and longer serving members. It was beneficial to go through each stance in detail and the partner work with getting distance and punching was informative in club etiquette as well as showing the need for rules in the dojo and the importance of control when punching the same place over and over – especially at someone’s face while they stand unmoving in front of you.
The other basics were good as they were tiring so there was a good element of cardio in that part of the class. Learning Tekki Shodan at the end and doing it slowly in a very respective way made it very easy to learn. The bunkai made it very interesting and took the class from a ‘karate fitness class’ to a ‘self-defence’ class which was beneficial and interesting for all.
Intended Outcome of session and was it achieved?
One of the intended outcomes of the session was to try to interest the new attendees and also to give them an accurate picture of what the class entails. This was definitely achieved by the basics we did as well as Tekki Shodan, which is quite an interesting yet easy kata to learn.
Another intended outcome was to make the class ‘fitness’ oriented i.e. – keep heart rate up like any other gym class. This was also achieved as everyone was suitably tired by the end.
Write-up by Karly West