I still have shin splints from yesterday.
This morning, I got up to attend Sensei’s Zoom karate class. I slept as late as I dared, fed the cats and made myself coffee. The extra sleep, I’d hoped, would help with soreness.
N, one of my son’s buddies, lead the warm-up. She’s a green stripe, but I see her in every Zoom karate class. Afterwards, TF lead kihon. TF had not led in a while, so she was rusty at first. However, she was just fine once she settled into it. She has actually studied Japanese, and she has been an ichi kyu much longer than me. Many of my best fighting tips came from her. Due to her influence–both her suggestions and her brutal punches, I learned to block better, and also started wearing arm guards.
After kihon, Sensei went over the nunchuck kata he’d taught us last night. He also showed a video of it on-line, posted by Ryoji Okamoto on YouTube:
These guys are amazing.
The kata Sensei taught us was a more simple kata, but this was his inspiration. It will take us a significant amount of practice to reach their level!
So yesterday evening, while we learned part of the nunchuck kata, F and S helped me follow the kata. Today I avoided being completely lost because we reviewed much of what Sensei had taught last night.
Working with weapons is a lot of fun. Previously, when the dojo building was functioning, we also had a fencing instructor who taught on some Saturdays. Hopefully, the new club will be able to bring him back to teach.
I wrapped up the remaining things I needed to do regarding the Temple’s teacher appreciation gifts. I also set up a Zoom meeting parents, Rabbi and the teachers to talk.
Yesterday Jessica texted that she’d been feeling anxious, but she’s better today. That was good to hear. I’d been anxious, myself, during the past week: my lead had been told he will be on hiatus starting Monday. Once Thursday evening rolled around, however, and I was able to sit and watch “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with the kids, I was happy.
