My trip to Thunder Bay

During the holidays I was in Thunder Bay and my sister-in-law, Shihan Susan Baldassi, invited me to her testing of a few students.  There were two children, one teenager, and an adult who were testing for different kyu ranks.  As you know, I do not teach kids but I sure do enjoy their energy in the class.  I love how they try so hard and how their kicks are so effortless.  Shihan Susan creates a great atmosphere of learning for her kids class, something that I could never achieve.   It was good to experience how others run a testing.   One thing that I liked was the self-defence portion in which students have to respond to random attacks.   I can only imagine the injuries that would be sustained if done in our dojo without establishing some ground rules such as: no striking, stop after someone does fake a hit that would have stopped you, do not go psycho and show restraint and control.  We will try this in class on Sunday and I will report back.

Happy New Year Toshikai!