By Elisabet H. Bjarkmann, Shishó, 1.Dan SR. Yakami Shinsei-ryu, 3rd Dan Kodosoku-kai Gensei-ryu
It's Friday, the nerves are showing and the expectations for the SB TLUS X-MAS camp 2012 are once again sky high. This time is even quite extraordinary – all questions that the participants have in mind will be answered by Kimu Sensei. And no effort is spared, a total of 74 questions are asked from the total of 15 participants. The questions range from organization-oriented "What will the shindenkan look like in 10 years?" to more individual "where will we/I be in 10-15 years?". After this session of ryugi where all questions were gallantly answered and everyone satisfied, we move on to the ryuha part.
"Why not learn it right from the start?"
Every time we do Ryuha, I'm always surprised. It may be such "simple" movements that we are asked to perform, but it is always a struggle to get them performed correctly. It can therefore become frustrating when Kimu Sensei is asked if he doesn't just want to show the movements, that he performs it with the greatest ease, as if it were nothing - but you learn over time not to have to take that get off.
On the camp day, the atmosphere was full of high spirits and Christmas spirit. Nisse Gangnam Style, accompanied by Søren Renshi and Martin Renshi for warm-up, was a mood spreader throughout the camp that even got the adults' smiles on their faces. Everyone was happy. However, the participants from the black belt were also tired after many hours of training the day before and in the morning. I was tired too. After so many hours of training and lack of sleep, it was almost impossible not to be. As always, and one of the parts that I like the most, I also got to help teach. I had the privilege of being on a team with Jens Hanshi-dai and Karsten Shishu, but I have to admit that I was about to pee my pants when I heard that we were to train 10 kyu children and that Karsten and I would be assigned a team of jokokidz each. Normally I would actually say that it is a pleasure to be challenged and that I take it with a smile, but sometimes I am thankful that I have completed Shindenkan's instructor course modules, as they dress up an instructor well. I also can't help but smile at myself and others who have attended these instructor courses, as almost all of us declared that they were unrealistic and one instructor never came across such things.
But .. well they do and it's much worse!. Let me explain a quite ordinary instructor's "workday" during a Shindenkan event - well, an assistant instructor's workday, which is actually quite protected, since the responsible instructor has already planned and delegated the tasks, according to Kimu Sensei's overall plan for the event.
30 pcs. 10 kyu jokokidz aged 5-11 years alone for the summer meeting 2012, became my responsibility. My goal was to engage the children, teach them the curriculum and give them a sense of success. So I start the lesson by gathering the children and saying various "yeah" and "yi and yo" and whatever else I can come up with, to spread a good atmosphere and make them feel that the lesson and karate are fun. It seems to have the right effect and I think it just works for me!
I think so until I have to stop some boys from playing Luke Starwalker and Obi wan and train karate instead, but I don't take that too seriously because at least I've motivated the kids to raise their hands frequently - because that makes every trainer happy – but only to hear if they can go to the toilet or when there is a break.
I continue training and when I finally feel I have it under control, a parent wades into the middle of my lesson, taps me on the shoulder and tells me that he has now been watching his son's partner throughout the process and that he thinks he should be replaced with someone else because he prevents the son from showing his true talents in martial arts. After assuring the parent that I have it under control and that he is asked not to come in and disrupt the lesson again, I turn around to continue the lesson where I left off, and only meet approx. half the team, as the other half have all gone over to one corner to pick their noses.
When I finally get them together again and once again try to motivate them and cheer them up and finally think I have it under control, I can turn into a girl who stands and screams in the corner, a boy who runs around the room and plays the ground is poisonous and a whole third who tugs at my sleeve and asks me when he will be like spiderman.
Collection again. Enthusiasm, enthusiasm, enthusiasm! THEN I have it under control again and everything runs smoothly until I look to the left and see a boy making worms on the floor. I was very tired after that training camp 🙂 But I chose to look at it positively and take it as an experience (perhaps not at the moment). I had been told that you develop when you are challenged - which I hope for, because it is something I want to try my hand at again. To my amazement, the rumor was true and things went much better at the XMAS convention. I had learned a lot and got to deal with a lot of situations that I had difficulty dealing with last time. Although it was a rough experience, and quite an experience, I'm glad to have witnessed it now because, in addition to giving me hope that it will never (7-9-13) get worse than that at a convention, so I know that I have learned a lot in that area. And then I was also happy that I actually got praise for both events 🙂 And my advice is, Shindenkan's instructor courses are worth their weight in gold and extremely realistic, so for your own sake, be open and trust that this is reality for an instructor – because it is!, and you end up being much stronger and better from it when you take it with a smile and the right attitude.
