Life lessons from the dojo
Mar. 3rd, 2014 11:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassI got to play with bludgeoning weapons today! And I didn't even kill anyone or anything! Yay!
#210: The waiting is the hardest part
So, our big exam was last Wednesday. But at this dojo, you don't find out your results right away. In this case, we need to wait until this Wednesday, which means we've got another two days to find out if we passed to our next belt. In fairness, I'm not particularly worried about whether I got my orange belt or not. I'm fairly certain I did (though not 100% certain, lest I tempt the gods or any senseis who might be reading this journal). And if I didn't, well, there will be another chance in a month or two.
On the flip side, I'm still waiting to hear what happened with my job interview last week. They asked for my references, and I know they checked at least one of them, and they said they'd get back to me "early this week." And yet, still no word. Let me tell you, waiting to find out about a job is far more difficult than waiting to find out about a karate belt. Because if I didn't get the job, I'm back to square one. Again.
#211: Take care of your newcomers
One problem that's been common to just about every group I've ever been part of is the recruiting and retention of new members. Our karate dojo is no exception. Many people start, only to stop after a class or two. Tonight we had two brand-new white belts, both women. I didn't see most of what they were doing because I was busy doing my own thing, but towards the end I got to work with both of them during some end-of-class kumite, i.e. free sparring. The sensei made it clear that we senior belts (I can call myself "senior" in comparison to white belts, anyway) needed to take into account who we were fighting with and work at an appropriate level so as not to scare them off. Could I have completely overwhelmed them with my technical superiority, such as it is? Sure. Would that have accomplished anything? No. They would have been intimidated and maybe deterred from coming back. Instead, I made sure to give them plenty of opportunities, let them attack first, and didn't throw any crazy attacks their way. It just makes sense. (Of course, when I was paired up with one of our black belts a few minutes later, I'm sure he was doing the same for me...)
#212: Someone's gotta sit out of the fun stuff
In tonight's class, everyone from yellow belt up got to play with bo staffs. This made me very happy, because we only do it once every few months, and I love working with the bo. Of course, when I say "everyone," that's not 100% true. As you might realize from the phrasing "yellow belt up," the white belts were not included in the bo training. And that meant that someone had to teach those white belts while the rest of us had fun with our weapon training. Today, the task fell to one of our green belts. I'm sure he was disappointed that he didn't get a chance to work with the rest of us. On the other hand, someone's gotta do it. As with so many things in life, if most people are having a good time, someone's gotta be behind the scenes making it all happen. This is one of the fundamental tenets of a volunteer society like the SCA or an essential service like ambulances. (Someone's gotta take care of Great-Uncle Nelson's heart attack while everyone else is having Thanksgiving dinner.) Let me take a moment now to thank all of you for doing the selfless work like teaching the white belts while you would most likely be doing something fun for yourself, like hitting people with a long piece of wood.
#213: Some things are more instinctive than others
Because we train with the bo so rarely, we don't really have much chance to hone our skills. It's almost like re-learning from scratch every time we do it. Moreover, we go pretty fast, so if you don't get something the first or second time, you're gonna have to wait a few months before you can try again. Well, there are a few moves that I figured out pretty quickly, but some others... not so much. I tried, really I did, but I just couldn't figure out how to make my bo move like everybody else's bo, and there wasn't really a chance to ask anyone how to do it. I suspect that over the next few days, I'm gonna find my trusty broom and attempt to figure it out with that; otherwise I'll just be in the same situation in a few months when we go at it again. Because the corollary to something not being instinctive is that you've gotta practice it a lot more.
#210: The waiting is the hardest part
So, our big exam was last Wednesday. But at this dojo, you don't find out your results right away. In this case, we need to wait until this Wednesday, which means we've got another two days to find out if we passed to our next belt. In fairness, I'm not particularly worried about whether I got my orange belt or not. I'm fairly certain I did (though not 100% certain, lest I tempt the gods or any senseis who might be reading this journal). And if I didn't, well, there will be another chance in a month or two.
On the flip side, I'm still waiting to hear what happened with my job interview last week. They asked for my references, and I know they checked at least one of them, and they said they'd get back to me "early this week." And yet, still no word. Let me tell you, waiting to find out about a job is far more difficult than waiting to find out about a karate belt. Because if I didn't get the job, I'm back to square one. Again.
#211: Take care of your newcomers
One problem that's been common to just about every group I've ever been part of is the recruiting and retention of new members. Our karate dojo is no exception. Many people start, only to stop after a class or two. Tonight we had two brand-new white belts, both women. I didn't see most of what they were doing because I was busy doing my own thing, but towards the end I got to work with both of them during some end-of-class kumite, i.e. free sparring. The sensei made it clear that we senior belts (I can call myself "senior" in comparison to white belts, anyway) needed to take into account who we were fighting with and work at an appropriate level so as not to scare them off. Could I have completely overwhelmed them with my technical superiority, such as it is? Sure. Would that have accomplished anything? No. They would have been intimidated and maybe deterred from coming back. Instead, I made sure to give them plenty of opportunities, let them attack first, and didn't throw any crazy attacks their way. It just makes sense. (Of course, when I was paired up with one of our black belts a few minutes later, I'm sure he was doing the same for me...)
#212: Someone's gotta sit out of the fun stuff
In tonight's class, everyone from yellow belt up got to play with bo staffs. This made me very happy, because we only do it once every few months, and I love working with the bo. Of course, when I say "everyone," that's not 100% true. As you might realize from the phrasing "yellow belt up," the white belts were not included in the bo training. And that meant that someone had to teach those white belts while the rest of us had fun with our weapon training. Today, the task fell to one of our green belts. I'm sure he was disappointed that he didn't get a chance to work with the rest of us. On the other hand, someone's gotta do it. As with so many things in life, if most people are having a good time, someone's gotta be behind the scenes making it all happen. This is one of the fundamental tenets of a volunteer society like the SCA or an essential service like ambulances. (Someone's gotta take care of Great-Uncle Nelson's heart attack while everyone else is having Thanksgiving dinner.) Let me take a moment now to thank all of you for doing the selfless work like teaching the white belts while you would most likely be doing something fun for yourself, like hitting people with a long piece of wood.
#213: Some things are more instinctive than others
Because we train with the bo so rarely, we don't really have much chance to hone our skills. It's almost like re-learning from scratch every time we do it. Moreover, we go pretty fast, so if you don't get something the first or second time, you're gonna have to wait a few months before you can try again. Well, there are a few moves that I figured out pretty quickly, but some others... not so much. I tried, really I did, but I just couldn't figure out how to make my bo move like everybody else's bo, and there wasn't really a chance to ask anyone how to do it. I suspect that over the next few days, I'm gonna find my trusty broom and attempt to figure it out with that; otherwise I'll just be in the same situation in a few months when we go at it again. Because the corollary to something not being instinctive is that you've gotta practice it a lot more.
