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....