Stick with it

Kids kung fu this morning, didn't feel much like going especially since my two were not around, but dragged myself down there anyway. Turned out to be not too bad - couple of new kids in the tinies class who were trying really hard and having lots of fun, then the new style combined over 8s class which was fairly well behaved.

Also D turned up to use a bit of the hall to practice his stuff because he struggles to get to the weeknight classes, which meant I got to spend a little bit of the time helping him with choy li fut.

Went through the start of nam chuan towards the end, which I'm keen to get sorted - it was actually the first kung fu form I learnt all those years ago (coming up for 10 years soon!) - I'd been doing some lightweight tai chi for a few weeks when someone persuaded me to go along to a seminar with the head of our school where I got thrown in at the deep end with nam chuan which is a very bold and energetic form, very unlike the internal stuff I was used to - but I was instantly hooked!

Didn't stay for too long afterwards because both T and I are still recovering from a virus, but did manage to revise the second stick set and the 2 person mantis set ("Mantis grasps Cicada"). Slowly but surely getting back into shape....

Ahem

Two and a half hours of "projecting" (i.e. shouting) to make myself heard by the graders tonight, which has caused quite a relapse in my sore throat. I can hardly speak, but chances are I will improve enough to have to go to work tomorrow. Interestingly I found out that T has also been poorly while I've been away with very similar symptoms to me - so maybe its not something I picked up on the plane but something I was already incubating before I left.

As the man at the front T took plenty of opportunity to stand and watch tonight, unfortunately I couldn't really do the same so had to work hard even though it wasn't me who was grading....generally the standard was pretty good although some of the younger ones were struggling a bit with the kwok sau thay and chum ku.

T has decided we're going to go back to the old syllabus (the one that I did!) which I think is a good decision. He's also given me a copy of the chinese names and flowery translations of everything on the syllabus (like "mantis grasps cicada", "white crane demonstrates wings" and "spiritual tiger presenting claw" (that's the one that I rather more prosaically think of as "that one where you rip their face off")). How enigmatic I will sound once I've learnt all the new names...

Slight Return

Finally felt up to training today after a slow recovery from the virus I picked up on holiday. Lovely autumn sunshine for a swift half hour of kung fu at lunchtime. Felt reasonably OK afterwards, a good omen for tomorrow, when it's the adult's beginner/intermediate grading, which means a busy evening for me.

Grand Rewards for Special Occasions

Thursday night was the last class for a while as me and the girls are off on our holidays to the land where they grow Maltesers (at least that's what my youngest thinks - she's going to be a bit disappointed when we get there and can't find any malteser trees - maybe I should tell her we've missed the harvest?). Very busy class, probably because the grading is coming up. Tried to go through kwok sau thay with about 12 people which is not easy. Also taught a bit of pole (in kung fu, not tai chi this time!) and some chang chuan.

After the class T had to get straight off, but N and I hung around to go through a few things. Then down to tai chi which was almost entirely straight sword work - again a relatively busy class, so not much room to really go for it unfortunately.

No classes for me for a while now, and I'm missing it already. Hope the terrace of our apartment is big enough for some practice.

I don't need to think, I only need to do it

Unfortunately in this case the results aren't always perfect. Tried to learn a new kick last night (well, a new variation on an old one, anyway)- a flying turning kick from a standing start. I can do a flying turning kick with a bit of forward motion reasonably well, but doing it from a standstill is really tricky - instead of thinking about kicking I'm just thinking about how to get some height and then how I'm going to land without falling over. Needs plenty of practice I think. Wish I knew the secret of how to get some real height in my jumps fullstop really.

Junior Grading

Grading for around 30 of the "juniors" yesterday. Frantic and hard work (especially for me and T!). It went pretty smoothly on the whole, the kids all rose to the occasion and weren't too intimidated by the parents all turning up to watch their forms at the end. Some of the older ones are getting quite accomplished. My youngest did well and got the badge she was aiming for - halfway to her green belt now! The older one wasn't grading this time as she hasn't got very far in to the straight sword form she's learning yet.

After 2 hours of grading we then did a seminar on the broadsword "Butcher" set, which it was nice to revisit, although we only did the first section. Interesting to see how tired all the kids were by that point though - even the teens were definitely fading both mentally and physically by the end of 3 hours. Lightweights!

Crane Spreads Wings

More kids than ever on Thursday night, they're virtually outnumbering the adults now which gives a very different feel to the whole session. Trying to manage 2 groups doing siu lim tao and one doing chang chuan all at the same time was something of a challenge, but fortunately it didn't last too long and I then got to do the single person and two person choy li fut sets. After the class S, J and me went through biu jeet with T, then J and I went over it a couple more times. It's starting to feel quite powerful now for the main part, although there's still a couple of sections I need to work on some more.

Down to tai chi to find them playing "guess the application" with a section of the yang short form. I was able to contribute the Crane Spreads Wings throw that we've learnt in kung fu. Led through the pole a couple of times, then we did a lot of rows of Hsing-I "pi" practice with P.

After the class I had a long talk with D about whether his "Tai Chi on Prescription" class would be suitable for my little brother - sounds quite promising....

Two Lunchtimes

I'm a little behind on my blogging, so just a quick one to log two lunchtime practice sessions at work - the first dedicated to wing chun and the second running over the kids syllabus in preparation for the grading this Saturday. I just have to hope that T doesn't ask me to lead through the Nam Chuan because I can't remember it at all!

Sick List update

The patient has taken a distinct turn for the better today - to the extent that a few minutes ago she asked if we could do some kung fu practice for her grading this weekend! I think she'll be back to school tomorrow

Sick List

Monday morning started early being woken by the youngest arriving by my bedside to tell me she was about to be sick....so one very quick dash for the bathroom later it was obvious that one of us was going to have to stay at home with her as she wouldn't be going to school. And it was my turn. After a fairly long day of cleaning up (although to be fair she is pretty good at getting to the bucket in time!), I was happier than usual for the other half to arrive home after work to take over while I slopped off to kickboxing and kung fu.

Having done next to nothing except sit by a sick bed all day I had plenty of energy to burn off through both sessions and through the sparring at the end. Taught siu lim tao, biu jeet and stick, then the first mantis 2 person set that I can't remember the name of.

Afterwards went through char chuan and bokken vs pole, then had a long conversation with the hall caretaker about iceroad truckers, which although I've never seen it is probably going to get much more relevant to me when I get sent out to the frozen far north of Canada next winter for work....

While the outside is moving, the inside is silent

Probably never been as happy to set out for a run as I was this morning - a houseful of pre-teen girls is hard work, especially the seemingly constant shrieking, which went on 'til at least 1:30 in the morning and started again at about 5:30. So leaving them with my other half to reconstruct the wreckage of the bedroom and sort out which particular bit of clothing/jewelry/make-up belonged in which suitcase while I went for my constitutional felt like heaven. Why is it exactly that they scream so much, either in laughter or mock distress (or at any other excuse)? I'm sure I wasn't like that (but then again I was always an odd child).

3.5 miles in very pleasant clear cold conditions, thinking about Master Wu's calligraphy which I think says something about being still and silent inside even when engaged in battle.

And home just as the mothers started arriving to pick them up. Ideal.

Baby Remember My Name

Last kids class before the junior grading, so lots of form practice - and my work on yang fan chuan at lunchtimes paid off - I remembered it better than T I think. We've decided to move the senior juniors (!) on to the adult syllabus once they've finished the straight sword, so started teaching some siu lim tao to the older ones.

Afterwards we went through bokken vs pole again, both sides all the way through, it's starting to fit together in my head now. I suspect we looked fairly good going through it because I noticed at one point that we'd gathered a bit of an audience, since we were in the sports hall with a viewing gallery above. Good job we're not paranoid about people stealing our secrets! We also went over biu jeet, then some more of the wing chun 2 person sets, including one that teaches the way to escape from one of the chin na wrist locks, which is something I've been wondering about for a while.

After class home to the un-mitigated joy of my 10 year old's sleepover birthday party, part of which featured a visit to the cinema to watch "Fame". I was struck mostly by the dance sequences, and in particular the dance classes, which have more than a little similarity to martial arts training (but with less bruises? Or maybe not)

More lunchtime fun

Got a good 45 minutes in today, followed by some stretching. If I'm not mistaken, I think I've actually managed to get my side kick a little higher. Still can't do full box splits though.

Later got in a couple of miles brisk walk, so don't have to feel too bad about not running today. Must go out on Sunday though.

Upper Class

Managed to get out at lunchtime and do some practice - quite an intense session with quite a bit of wing chun and a couple of more open forms.

Then Thursday night kung fu - I got to teach the senior students, first taking everyone through choy li fut, then splitting them up and rotating round the different groups. I think I handled it fairly well, the trickiest bit was teaching part of the biu jeet that's really hard to explain (although physically not the hardest part to do, strangely enough). Then afterwards more bokken vs pole with T, this time with me trying the pole part - quite tricky!

Down to tai chi, went through a small section of the sword in fine detail, then practised the

relevant applications. Went through the 2 person pa kua set too. D slipped in the promise of some revision of the tai chi fan in the near future which I'm looking forward to.