Wow, the week went fast.   I guess work does that sometimes.  

Thursday night training was rather easy, which was good, because I was pretty exhausted.   The Sayoc Kali class got back to the basics of funnel tapping.   It also was the first time I got to do Transition Drills with my friend Andrew, who is new to Sayoc training...  He did well!   It's always interesting to feel the different energy and flow with different people during Transition drills, because they're all unique.   

JKD class assistance went well... I think most of the class is starting to understand 3-count sumbrada.   

Howdy!

So tired... working this new job has its challenges, and I haven't even started doing the real stuff yet...

But managed to make it to tonight's Inosanto Kali class, and worked more sumbrada and stick-switches. Guro Nick has been having us go at the heavy bags lately, which is great for conditioning.

Had a sort of emergency fill-in as an assistant at tonight's JKD class afterwards.... was a bit tricky, since we were trying to teach basic 3-count sumbrada. It tends to fry brain cells for a bit, but they (Phase 1) is starting to get the hang of things.

This day-after habit is starting to become the norm... :P

Last night was Sayoc Kali training. As Guro Nick was away for the weekend to go for his RKC Kettlebell certification, we started with Transition Drills until Guro Agapito arrived. As usual, he had us doing knife-vs.-knife Panantukan combinations while wearing goggles and using mini-trainers for safety. What was a twist was he had us take turns facing off against 3 opponents sequentially, using the same combinations as they attacked. Then he had the instructor-candidates Len and Tom go through the drill, but now it was more dynamic, simulating a multiple attacker "randori" sort of flow, with random attackers performing single attacks with no letup.

Assisting in the JKD class was rewarding as usual, as one woman was saying "You're so encouraging!"... it's my teaching style, and for myself I usually find students respond quicker and stay in a discipline with positive criticism rather than negative.

Oops.

Forgot to post last night... was too tired.

Yesterday's Inosanto Kali was good, with a lot of punyo sumbrada and some advanced trapping drills that came out of it. JKD consisted mostly of TBA 4-count drills, and some wedge trapping.

It's a range that requires some tactile sensitivity, and how long you stay in it is usually momentary... There's also a limited window which you can fire off the technique before the geometry or structure of your opponent changes, so you have to be quick on the trigger.

Didn't train tonight... I have a mini-audition for the Queens Symphony conductor tomorrow (just to see if I can get some sub work occassionally). Didn't want to risk injuring myself beforehand. Tomorrow will be the usual Sayoc and assist at JKD.

Gathering intelligence....

I could have gone training today, but thought that today would be best spent wandering around my future workplace neighborhood and beginning the process of getting familiar with the surrounds and the routes I would take for public transportation.

The neighborhood is bustling and busy, in the area around the mid W. 30s between 7th and 8th avenues. Lots of good places for lunch and the occasional dinner. I'd most likely be coming in the area via the 34th street F line station...

On the way back is where things get dicey. As predicted in previous posts, I'll have a hard time making 7pm classes... I tried out a route today that had me taking the LIRR at Penn Station towards Flushing, then taking the Q17. I left at 6:05 from the workplace door, and passed the bus station that I would have gotten off at around 7:05pm for PMA. That, of course, is being incredibly optimistic, and it's far more likely that I'd end up leaving work around the neighborhood of 6:15 or maybe even 6:30...

So... it looks like I'll have to let Guro Nick know that 7pm classes are going to be impossible for me to make on time, and that I might be a little late, or I might even be really late. Most likely, this will force my emphasis at PMA to Muay Thai classes, at 8pm. There is a Tuesday 8pm JKD class I'll try to make, and I might scrap Inosanto Kali altogether. Sayoc is mandatory for me to attempt, and I also have 8pm training duties on Thursdays. I don't know if the new job will provide me enough energy to make these classes... We'll see next week.

Oh well, no sense fretting too much about it right now. The schedule might even drastically change in the near future.... and I still have all of this week to get some training in on time and in the usual state of mind...

AK

The day didn't start out so great.... early morning drive to drop off the VW for what would eventually be a $769 servicing.... I haven't been sleeping well because of all the nervousness of the oncoming change in life (and it's still more than a week away!).

When I got to the school, I was saying... "Alright, got my rig, got my.... got my... oh shit, I forgot my uniform". Fortunately, I live like a 5 minute drive away from the academy, but it still turned me from being calm and all zen 15 minutes early to being 3 minutes late and rushing to get dressed and set.

I got smacked in the hand with aluminum trainers, actionflex sticks..... got killed on a mass-attack exercise when I tired and got indecisive on the next move.... ugh. But still, a lot of good things came out of the training tonight. The tactics and the training method are top notch. On thinking back to what transpired tonight, I realized that a lot of talk about what a trainer/feeder does in Atienza Kali, I do with my own flute students. It was an interesting self-revelation.

The next meeting for my AK group is the 29th... By then I'm almost guaranteed to be late, but I'll try to prepare myself better beforehand for it all.

Projectiles everywhere, teaching euphoria, and new beginnings coming soon

Today's Sayoc Kali class was rather interesting. After lots of spirited transition drills, we added a bit of training modification. Feeder could back away at any point and throw his blade at the receiver, then drawing another blade and continuing with the drill. Then another round, receiver initiates the backing away and attempts the projectile, which feeder responds. Later on, we executed transition drills where feeder projectiles the blade without drawing back, loading another blade, and continuing with the drill.

It's a miracle no mirrors were broken. :)

Later on, I assisted in tonight's JKD class. Split-entry series was worked, and I think most of the people got it. I worked a lot of one-on-one with this newer student, and things really seemed to start to click and fall into place for him.

That makes my day. :)

What also makes my day is I have a set day to begin my new IT career... February 18th. The hours are 10 to 6, so it makes getting to class on time particularly rough, but I'll try to work the logistics of it in my remaining free week next week.

Ugh....

Recovering from a cold... thank goodness for Theraflu. I was feeling okay during last night's training, but got progressively worse.

Yesterday's kali training was emphasizing knife and stick and dagger. Sumbrada, abcedario, and some disarms, locks and throws were introduced and repped.

Since I missed Monday's training due to a Trio rehearsal, I decided to double up classes Tuesday, so attended JKD immediately after Kali... a new curriculum block is starting, and I don't want to fall behind...

Continuing with last month's block, more Thai Boxing Association material was worked on. TBA four count. This is stuff I've been struggling with throughout my attendance at PMA. Because of my nerve-deafness impairment affect my cochlea, balance is compromised. The Thai kickstance and the shin kick in particular require body timing and balance to help generating its power, especially with its requirement of pivoting on one foot, so much so that the heel of the pivot foot is actually expected to be pointing towards your opponent at its finish.

For this month, I think I'll need to emphasize form over speed. I've learned that I tend to rush into the next motion without properly completing the previous motion... therefore robbing myself of power, accuracy, or defense.

To wit, execute the technique quickly and briskly, but make sure I'm set properly before each technique before pulling the trigger.