Thread: slow progress
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Old 06-09-2011, 02:19 PM   #9
Diana Frese
Dojo: Aikikai of S.W. Conn. (formerly)
Location: Stamford Connecticut
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 386
United_States
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Re: slow progress

I seem to remember Fire Marshall Bob (Jim Carrey, sorry I can't spell) saying "Somebody stop me" even though I just caught a glimpse of that skit the line stuck with me....

Well, here goes, I'm devil's advocate. I had a little YMCA dojo for a few years in my home town and had a student who was already almost shodan in I think it was shorinji kenpo, but who wanted to try Aikido, so he became my assistant because he attended almost all the classes.

Another student was a rugby player and liked a lot of exercise (I think he ran four miles on the upperstory indoor track before he could calm down enough to take class)

I had them help with the beginners and their reward was they got to "bash" (what they called freestyle) each other the last portion of each class. Fortunately it was a two hour per nite class Monday thru Thursday. (However, Steve usually missed Mondays, recovering from rugby on the weekends)

One day Steve said that while he felt it was important to help the beginners he wanted to "bash Larry so bad...." They had a great time practicing with each other and each was lucky to have found a great training partner. But helping the others was part of the deal and they did it well....

I could tell you more about our little group, but I guess my suggestions might be -- maybe your teacher sees you have a talent and wants to develop it by having you help others. I know that although it was great to have Larry and Steve in the class, I as the teacher, learned a lot from working with beginners also,it really is a learning experience.

It was great having Larry and Steve, great for me to have partners to work on the homework I got from my own teachers with.... so I was lucky to have both kinds in our little dojo.

Maybe you have a friend you could bring to class, maybe someone from another sport or martial art who might be able to catch up a bit more so you would be helping beginners and having a training partner you enjoy working with.

These are just guesses, but I'm posting them in case something might ring a bell...

Last edited by Diana Frese : 06-09-2011 at 02:22 PM. Reason: added a word for clarification
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