Feedback/Comments: Intersession 08

[Jen]

In a couple weeks I'll forget the details: so I'm going to try
posting random thoughts about intersession here. If anyone else has
comments about how intersession worked this year, or ideas for
improving it, please post them here. We can get some feedback
together so Amanda, Dean and Cynthia (and anyone else who helps plan
intersession next year) can have a record of everyone's thoughts.


Now, these are my opinions so far. Add to them, counter them,
challenge them, do whatever you want with them: but I hope they're
somewhat helpful. I'll add more as I think of them. Also, I'm sorry
this is so long. I didn't intend it to be.



Setup:
Worked very well. The warmups and kihon together, and rotations on
T,W,Th overcomes the lack of one on one teaching in such a big class.
It also gives each instructor time to emphasize something in each
section that they find important. But this is nothing new or
enlightening, so I'll move on.



Stretches:
Too quick. By the time most students got in the position for the
stretch, there were only 5 counts left. That isn't because anyone was
being lazy and moving slow: I wasn't getting the full 10 counts of
stretching either, and so I didn't get any time to relax into the
stretch. I realize we don't want to spend forever on stretching, and
for a lot of stretches it was fine. But for wide/left/right/v and
butt stretches to calf stretches, the transitions between the
stretches especially were a bit too short. If we could wait a couple
seconds before the first count I personally would really appreciate
it. I also think the counts on neck stretches and "touch toes/lean
back" were too fast. The stretching we did may help prevent injury,
but it doesn't really give the option to improve flexibility.



Pizza:
Well, next year if we do order pizza let's get it from somewhere
closer, and preferrably not with random toppings.
However, another option that Amanda brought up and I had considered
when Dr. Dave mentioned getting take-out Chinese instead of going to
the restaurant is:
Replacing the pizza with Chinese takeout.
- We don't get to go off campus.
+ The students pay less in total (they already spend a bit on gear)
+ We don't take up another evening.
I personally like this option.



Visitors: Master Bruce Gunderson was absolutely amazing. I really
think that his demonstrations, and more than anything, his words, were
exactly what was missing from karate intersession last year. He
reawakened my need for martial arts, and I'm pretty sure he affected
some of the students similarly. I don't know if he or someone else
can come next year, but if so there are a couple changes I'd suggest:

~Don't ignore the seeming contradictions in what visitors say and how
we practice. You may not even consider them contradictions, but (as
an example) to beginning students who have just been told by a
visiting sensei that fluid blocks and counters are quicker and just as
effective, practicing closed fisted striking blocks may seem silly.
And it is possible that some students will think that you are merely
ignoring or don't know how to incorporate the advice given by the
visiting sensei when you do not address or even recognize in class
that the visiting sensei's style was different than the one we
practice.

Also it might be good to take 10 minutes before the 'seminar' (for
lack of a better name) and mention basic etiquette to visiting Senseis
and the honor of being 'picked on' or anything else you think could
make the visit even better for both the Sensei and the students.


Kumite:
First day we did some footwork: side to side, front/back, switch
feet, jab/punch, jab/uppercut.
None of the students I have ever worked with ever throw uppercuts.
But they do throw kicks. I think it would be a good use of time to go
over ideas of how to use kicks in sparring (throwing kicks with the
front leg for speed and distance, stepping in after a kick...).
We didn't do one-one sparring, where each pair exchanges hits in
turns. But I didn't see any problems with this. In fact, I think it
might have encouraged more people to use combos. Then again, I was
working with Peter, who had prior experience. So please respond if
you witnessed a different situation.

Second day: Pulling aside groups for advice was great. It makes
utilizing the advice against your partner more of a game. Also, even
if the particular advice on how to utilize/overcome height difference
didn't sink in, being forced to practice against someone built
significantly different from you was very helpful. I also liked that
Dean asked each group afterwards

Third day: Going over pt. sparring in the morning makes this
afternoon go a lot smoother and more quickly. I wish, however, that
they had a bit more practice and advice sparring by this time.
Students seemed to be inspired by point sparring to ask more
questions, which was good.

Tournament: With such a big group two rings isn't a luxury: it's a
necessity.
-the winners of the divisions had to sit around doing nothing for
about 1/2 hour for a sparring match that wasn't even watched by their
fellow students or mentioned at the award session.
+ But on the other hand, the actual 'grand champion' bracket was a
good idea. It'd be even cooler to include the three head
instructors. Nobody got a chance to see you guys spar!

-Yes, the head is off-limits. But unfortunately that means that most
of them got into the habit of not guarding their head. I don't know
if there's a way to prevent this, but if you come up with one I think
it'd be worthwhile.



Kata:
first day: basic run-through. Can't really do anything terribly
ingenious on this day, since they're not yet comfortable with the
kata. Definitely helped that they'd run through the kata as a group
already.

second day: By this time most of them were starting to be pretty
comfortable, so mentioning "eyes, feet, hands" as we run through was
good. Might be interesting to have them run through the kata focusing
on one thing each time: stances, breathing,..., or have them run
through and pause the count, have them try and self-correct each
move. On the other hand, it's probably best just to run through over
and over at this point, because they are still learning the moves.

Thursday: I really liked doing the different counts/ styles during
the big group session. It was a fun way of both learning and varying
the kata. In sessions we did small group katas. Would be better,
though more time consuming, to do individual katas with commentary
from everyone, since having students pay attention and find flaws/
positives gives them comparison for their kata as well. Unfortunately
that takes a long time. Perhaps splitting in 2 groups within the
small group would allow us to do it.

Demoing katas is a good idea. We did this Thursday a bit in small
groups. Would take up less time and have same effect if we did it for
the big group instead of each small group.

Also, Amanda's kata rocks.

This is way too long for now, so I'll come back and add more some
other time. I hope someone else has added by then...

Anyway, it was awesome seeing everyone. Thanks for the great week.
You guys are pretty amazing. Except for my sister. And maybe Dean.
--JenJen

[Dean]

I have a long one too--Sorry! We'll have to compile these at some
point, but for now I'm not opposed to just throwing it all out there.
Before any of you think Intersession is all I do, I may have just been
stuck in Chicago/O'Hare for the past couple days...

My format is slightly different from Jen's, since I was an instructor
and thus only got to see the days when I taught Kata, Kumite, and
Drills.


Monday

I know we used to do a kata demonstration here--this might be a good
idea to resume. I know the kids probably get a kick out of watching
us do our higher katas, and it will give them a good idea that there's
much more to it than just practicing Fukyugata I--it gives them a bit
of a lofty goal, for which FK1 is the first step.

I think we might be able to streamline the group learning process a
bit more, but I was happy with what we were able to cover on the first
day. As mentioned in the email calling for feedback, I think Brian
raised an excellent point about the fact that we never tried to convey
the spirit of the martial arts to the students before we got started.
Master Bruce covered this for us (as Jen mentioned), but we should
really give them a better foundation ourselves rather than getting
lucky and having someone else do it.


Tuesday

I thought the group intro to sidekick went well, and the kids did a
good job of getting used to moving with foundations. Not much more to
add than that--since all my stuff is from an instructor standpoint.

From an instructor's standpoint, I was really glad we had high belts
with our white belts. Something different to consider might be
pairing up instructors and high belts, just so they can understand
what the instructors are trying to do--for instance, when I was going
through Kata, my goal was to get the turns and footwork correct, and
the high belts with me didn't necessarily know that.


Wednesday

Wednesday warm-ups went fine (I felt), but somehow we ended up falling
behind again--maybe the warm-ups went a little too long--again,
something we can address in the future (or something I can address,
since I think I was explaining/running them). Wednesday I had Kumite,
and I tried to give the kids an idea of how to deal with unexpected
situations (like a mismatch in size between opponents). The
inspiration came from watching how kids dealt with the tournament,
when we might have a smaller girl versus a larger, more powerful guy.
The kids generally responded well, and I got some valuable feedback
from the higher belts. I'm not sure how much of it carried over into
the tournament matches, but at least on Wednesday my students were
active, responsive, and sharing with each other what they learned.


Thursday

Thursday was the first day we really got it. We started at about 8:31
with running, and warm-ups were done by 8:15. If I remember right, we
blasted through foundations in Jigotai. From there we easily had our
half hour rotations, and a full half-hour at the end to work on kata
as a group--I'm not sure how to get to this point on the other days, as
I wasn't paying close enough attention to the clock until Thursday,
but I don't see any reason why we can't do what we did Thursday on the
other days of the week =)

Doing drills was fun, since the kids seemed to really pick up on using
hand and foot techniques together on the bag--I don't know if this is
because the other instructors did a good job of prepping them, or
because we didn't exclusively practice *just* hand or *just* foot
techniques during IS (that I was aware of). We also briefly ran
through two basic partner exercises, and by this point the kids really
seemed to absorb the information--I don't know how good their
retention was, but at least while we were doing the drill they picked
up on the ideas of moving and blocking and closing the opponent's body
(to block his/her counter punch). With the high belts I also threw in
a gyaku-zuki (reverse punch) counter, which seemed generally well-
received, even if it took a bit of time to incorporate fluidly.

I had fun with the various counts of Kata, and I'm glad Jen enjoyed
it--thoughts on mixing it up like this? I know it's kind of different
from how we all trained in Club, but we're not really changing the
Kata themselves, just the way they are practiced (hopefully to
increase retention and disguise repetition).


Friday

I think the tournament went well, but I'm not sure we should have gone
down to one ring when we did. I'm also not sure that we need to have
all the highest ranked judges in one ring for the championship
matches. It's a cool touch, but it means we can't be running two
divisions to completion at once--as it was we ended up finishing around
12:30 PM, which in my mind is pretty late, even given the large number
of students we had participating.

The pizza place was kind of far--if we continue to order from them, we
should pick a deadline for placing the order (say, no later than
11:30, even if someone has to run and do it while we're wrapping up
the tourney). The other alternative is to phone an order in to a
closer location, which also avoids any limits on order value (such as
the one that required us to call in the breadsticks order).

I know we always have a lot to remember, but I bet we could do better
on certificates too. I think we were all happier that we didn't have
to rush to make copies of all the Nagamine readings because they were
in the course packet--if we could have remembered the certificates
sooner, we could have had that done as well. It occurred to me that
we don't even have to be at Intersession to print the certificates, so
why not try and do that before hand, and have them ready with the
course packets to avoid any last minute stressing (great job on the
certificates at the last minute, by the way (Amanda, Brian, and
Cynthia, and, of course, Dr. Dave as well)).


Visitors/Seminars

As I may have mentioned to some or all of you, I called Master Bruce
to apologize for not attending his class on Thursday--he was kind of
rushed at the time (having to go to a birthday party for one of his
students), but expressed that he was glad to come out, and would
happily do it again next year. I don't know if this should stay on
Monday, as that's kind of the first day and it's pretty intense
already, but it's a decent thought.

I agree with Jen that we should have dealt with inconsistencies
between Master Bruce's style and our own, especially the rationale
between the techniques we teach (the hard, traditional-style blocks as
well as horizontal Seiken). This will be easier next year, since we
have an idea of what he'll be doing--I expected a little deviation, but
it was unprofessional for us to not address the inconsistencies
immediately afterwards (the next morning).

I also agree that we should have had a longer talk about etiquette--it
seems that after watching the higher ranks work with Master Bruce, the
white belts 'got it,' but it would be good to help them understand
what an honor it is for them to be able to work with him, and how
awesome it is when you get picked on (even if it means you limp the
next day).

Also! Next year we need to take a big group picture with Master
Bruce. It might also be a good idea to get a camera from ITL and just
set it up in a corner to record what he has to say and demo at the
front, and maybe have a wandering camera (amanda's), just so we have
insurance on footage (there were a couple blank spots in the video due
to battery, moving position, etc.).


Instructor Behavior

Read the 'Instructor time management.' We never really took a poll of
energy levels in the mornings, and I'm also not sure how well we
portrayed the image of "bright-eyed, bushy-tailed enthusiasm" at 8:30
in the morning--again, this is something we can work on in the
future. More than instructors, we, as high belts, need to be
excellent role models of the benefits of Karate Training (from the
leadership supplement). That might mean anything from asking students
if they have any questions from the day before in downtime, to
practicing our kata individually during a water break or before we
line up to do warm-ups.

Maybe it would be cool to have a class where we all teach each other--
it wouldn't have to be long, but we'd each get a chance to lead the
group of instructors in an activity, and collect feedback on our
methods (as well as practice new teaching methods). This would be a
very quick way to improve both the breadth and depth of instructor
skills each of us has.

Enthusiasm...ENTHUSIASM!


Focus

Brian mentioned to me we never really went over focus with the
intersession students--the result was that on Friday, their moves were
less focused, their breathing less loud, and their power diminished
compared to previous years. I don't know if this was the kids, or us
getting used to teaching in a different format, or what, but it is
something we should address. Maybe a Master Gunderson-esque speech on
the first day about the spirit of martial arts.


Leadership packet

There's a lot in the leadership supplement that may be hard to really
internalize or get a grasp on without supervised practice--what I mean
by that, basically, is that to get the most out of the packet, it
would probably be best to go through it as a group (which we could do
very quickly!). I don't think anyone can master the techniques and
other useful bits of the leadership packet in six months, let alone a
week or a day--but even if each person only picks up one new teaching
technique, that instantly enriches the teaching environment.


Sorry for the lecture!

There we go! More long comments...

[Dean]

From Brian:

Here's the notes I was writing down on the way back:
-Instructors' meeting, which you mentioned in your email
-An early vocab assignment, like the crossword, to make sure they
don't just let their teams answer in the vocab games?
-in the self defense afternoon session, spotlight people to make sure
they're practicing it well enough to execute it
-have a reminder on our schedule to do certificates earlier :)
-list of stuff to buy, like cups/drinks/plates for party, certificate
paper if needed, masking tape, etc - perhaps this way we could get
almost everything at once?
-Dr. Dave suggested dinner & movie at his house one night
-pros & cons of using high belts as instructors at each rotation, or
keeping them with groups
(like Dean, Amanda, & Cynthia getting feedback on what's working)
-talk about spirit and general martial arts principles at the
beginning of the first class - putting your all into each punch! :)

[Amanda]

On Jan 14, 8:12 am, Dean <ddie...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thursday was the first day we really got it. We started at about 8:31
> with running, and warm-ups were done by 8:15.

That's pretty darn impressive, we control time now?

[Dean]

yeah, shush. Jen totally gave me a hard time about it already...

[Jen]

Okay- so, I'd said that I wanted to write things down before they
dulled in my memory. I'm glad I did, because my current thoughts are
influenced by what other people have said: not a bad thing, just
means they aren't my original responses to intersession. I don't have
much to add, but I figured I'd put in my thoughts about pairing up
higher ranked students (forthwith minilum) w/ groups vs. lead
instructors (forthwith megalum*):

I have a few comments to add to the previously mentioned positives/
negatives:
+ Gives more responsibility/ practice teaching to minilum, while still
under megalum control
+ May allow megalum to participate more in the practice (specifically
in kumite), which means that they can offer help/feedback to students
from more than an observational standpoint, and besides, it's more fun
that way.
= Dean mentioned that it was hard to communicate what he was focusing
on to the minilum, so they couldn't help as much by being part of the
rotations. Good point, though there are ways around it (if you happen
to know what you will focus on before we start for the day)
- Don't get the same feedback from minilum in the role of student
- From a purely selfish standpoint, it was fun to be in a group and go
through all the rotations.

[Dean]

FYI, discussion on feedbacks has begun here:
http://groups.google.com/group/imsa-karate-club/web/IS08%20Aftermath.
Click on the links in the outline to dive deeper.