Okay, so I teased my mom that the next post would be entitled 'Wooden Spoons and Foam Balls' but I changed my mind. I will explain that title though, since they were some fun training bits and pieces.
The wooden spoon bit happened at home when my mom asked me to help her run through the white belt self defenses. Since I had no interest in holding a real knife (even of the butter variety) at my mother, I grabbed a wooden spoon and held it by the business end so that the handle jutted out like a knife blade. Of course, being who we are, we both ended up dissolving into laughter several times at my choice of fake 'knife.' (It could also be the fake scaredy cat face she makes whilst DOING the knife defense that was causing the larger part of my own laughter...)
As for the foam balls, that was a blocking exercise courtesy of Mr Saxton. It was a little like dodge ball, TKD style! We each took turns standing basically against or very close to the wall while two foam balls were thrown at us in strategic places. Ideally, we were meant to use our blocking techniques to deflect the balls as though they were fists. I believe the exercise was meant to not only improve technique, but also speed. I particularly enjoyed this drill! Then again, I always enjoyed regular dodge ball as well.
Friday evenings are our weekly sparring sessions. According to Mr Saxton, he thinks getting beaten up is the best way to start one's weekend. I'm inclined to agree, even though these sessions actually fall in the middle of my own work week. It's nice to go and sweat/work off any lingering frustrations and tire myself out in a good way. I might have mentioned it before, but I'm really pleasantly surprised at just how much I actually enjoy sparring now. I can even tell that I'm slowly but surely improving! I got some nice compliments last night, which was awesome. Even my stamina seemed vastly better than the last sparring session I went to.
Later today, we're going to march in a local parade. We're going to be representing the school; wearing our uniforms and practicing punches, kicks, and blocks. It should be fun. I'm glad to be able to do it, since I missed our big picnic event on Memorial Day due to work. Now I just have to figure out when I'm going to get some sleep... :-/
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