My niece just graduated from high school and she's staying with us for a few weeks before heading off to her freshman year of college. Really enjoy having her, she's a neat person.
As it happens, she has done some martial arts training some years back. A bit of TKD, a bit of kick-boxing. So I asked her if she wanted to stop by the dojo where I train and give it a shot. She seemed excited to try it out, so last night she stopped by when the adult class started.
First thing, we did some warmup stretches and calisthenics, and she's in pretty good physical condition, so no problems there. Then we did some bag work. She was really throwing some powerful punches and kicks, she went all out. Not the same technique we use, much wider and lower stance, but strong. However, she tore up her hands and quickly gassed and had to sit down for awhile.
Hey, no problem, it happens a lot when people first start training, even if they have trained before.
Then we took a break and came back to work on some specific self-defense techniques, counters to punches and grabs. She was amazed to find out that we actually hit each other. Not full force of course, but we do hit and get hit. She liked it!
So on the drive home, she told me she really liked our dojo and what we do. She was shocked to see that we have men and women, young and old, many ethnic groups and even differently-abled students. She said they never did self-defense techniques in her previous training, only forms and air-punching. We do kata and punch air also, but we spar and do self-defense techniques as well.
I felt pretty good knowing that she was impressed by our training. She wants to keep coming to the dojo while she is staying with us. Super happy about that.
As it happens, she has done some martial arts training some years back. A bit of TKD, a bit of kick-boxing. So I asked her if she wanted to stop by the dojo where I train and give it a shot. She seemed excited to try it out, so last night she stopped by when the adult class started.
First thing, we did some warmup stretches and calisthenics, and she's in pretty good physical condition, so no problems there. Then we did some bag work. She was really throwing some powerful punches and kicks, she went all out. Not the same technique we use, much wider and lower stance, but strong. However, she tore up her hands and quickly gassed and had to sit down for awhile.
Hey, no problem, it happens a lot when people first start training, even if they have trained before.
Then we took a break and came back to work on some specific self-defense techniques, counters to punches and grabs. She was amazed to find out that we actually hit each other. Not full force of course, but we do hit and get hit. She liked it!
So on the drive home, she told me she really liked our dojo and what we do. She was shocked to see that we have men and women, young and old, many ethnic groups and even differently-abled students. She said they never did self-defense techniques in her previous training, only forms and air-punching. We do kata and punch air also, but we spar and do self-defense techniques as well.
I felt pretty good knowing that she was impressed by our training. She wants to keep coming to the dojo while she is staying with us. Super happy about that.
