Self Defense Class. the first night.

Tonight was the first Self Defense class that I taught. Remember there are 2 classes. One at 7:30 for the Ladies, and one at 8:30 open to everyone.

I know there is an 18yo. who wants to take the class, but she works Wednesday nights. She's going to request them off so she can come to both classes though. I'll wait and see what happens. She works security for the complex, and was checking people's identification when they came into the building.

I spent the first 45 minutes standing around barefoot and just talking to the group that gathered outside the class room. The group was some guy there just to hang out watching tv in the common area of the club house. The finger printing lady, the security lady, my boss (the co-coordinator who showed up to check in on me) and someone there for finger printing. It was all good, about 8:15 a guy showed up for the mixed class. The coordinator didn't really mind, she knew it was going to be dead, and I got to learn more about the complex, and the way some things work. She also got a copy of my waiver and let me know she needs a copy of my sign in sheet. Which I'm going to convert to a spread sheet.

The finger printing lady when and got changed after she got off work, and there wasn't a lot she could do in 15 minutes. I feel bad I wanted to do better but there was just so little time to actually do any thing. Nothing got practiced, just showed her how to stand and gave her an idea of how to make a fist, block and punch.

The one guy that showed up for the 8:30 class. Pretty cool. He's in to a lot of different things. He's studied fighting before, but never took a class. He liked to be ready for anything. Not a dooms day guy, just a modern day Renascence man. He picked things up quickly. We did jumping jacks, burpees, Range of Motion, a shuffle drill. I taught him how to make a fist, what to strike with, did basic punches and kicks, and how to break free of a grab. We did knuckle push ups (only 5) to re-enforce which knuckles to punch with.

He was surprised to see it on the Calendar and in the news letter (which came you yesterday), and was worried it was going to be about making lots of noise and running away. I said no I will teach you to fight, you should already know how to make a lot of noise and try to avoid those situations. But we'll cover that too. My goal is to teach you enough to keep you from becoming a statistic.

So I have one die hard student already. It'll be great to get more. I have a good feeling. Now I could only focus and not be so nervous. It wasn't a case of I don't know where to start, it was a case of what to do next. I have so much stuff I've learned over 23 years (checked my test papers and certs, I started December 1985), that I don't know what to teach next. Next week a quick review on breaking away from a grab, and I'll show a couple of different ways to get out of a choke.

*Cross posted between here and my live journal