bushido_man96

On Feb 11, '17, we went to the Ellsworth County Kids Open. It was a small tournament, and both the boys only had two matches in their brackets. Kendall went 2-0, wrestling a first year gal from our club, who he beat by tech fall at the beginning of the second period. The second match was against a kid we hadn't wrestled yet, which was a good thing, but Kendall pinned him in the first period after a quick takedown. I didn't get to see the first period of the first match because Kenneth was wrestling his first match. Kenneth was in the 70 lb bracket, and had a 67 lber and a 73 lber in the bracket. His first match was against the 73 lber, and Kenneth pretty much got picked up and slammed, and then spent the rest of his time in the first trying to avoid the pin. He did so in the first, but got pinned in the second. His last match was against a pretty inexperienced 67 lber, and Kenneth took him down and pinned him. It was a small tournament, and a short day, which was ok. Kendall took first, and Kenneth took second. The next week we took off, and we will be heading to Salina this coming Sunday for 6U State for Kenneth, and Elementary Duels for Kendall.

There are a lot of good points already made here. As mentioned, it can be very beneficial to work on fine-tuning something that you've been struggling with in class, or help you sharpen some things up prior to competition. The instructor also gets a better idea of seeing things he/she thinks you should work on to improve. If you have the time for it, then it can be a great help.

If you've taught thousands, and they've all caught on, and one doesn't, I don't know that its the CI. But, what a good instructor does is learn as much as he/she can about not only what to teach, but how to teach it in different ways. Sometimes, with a particularly tricky student, it may behoove the instructor to talk the parents and close friends of the student to find out what they are interested in, what their other hobbies might be, and things like this. This could lead one to finding out the student learns well through watching videos or some such aspect. From there, the CI can adjust his approach to better help the student.

I'm interested in what exactly he is going to file suit for?

Welcome to KF!

2/14/2017 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x, 185x5, 205x5, 3. Press: 95x5, 115x5, 5

You're doing great, Bob! Keep it up!

At our school, I don't think training is all that modernized, so to say. Basics, forms, one-steps, sparring. Stretching is done on our own before or after class (or both). Now, with that said, I think TDK (or whatever style you practice) class should be for TKD, and the rest should be handled elsewhere. If anything else, conditioning should be slotted in for 20 to 30 minutes of the end of class (probably should be extra time as opposed to taking up class time). Strength training, if it is going to be done right, should be done 3 days a week to start out, focusing on barbell training. When the novice effect wears off, switching to 4 days a week would probably be a good idea. These session should be kept far enough apart from the MA lessons in order to allow recovery to occur, so planning the training days is important, too. Now, as far as "modernizing" training goes, what would that include? Should that mean we should shed the dobok and train in more athletic-appropriate attire? Should we train in shoes? Should basics be replaced with partner drills of basic techniques? These are all good questions that I think deserve a good honest look in order to maximize training time.

Good to hear you are back in training! I'm on a hiatus right now, and it sucks, to say the least. But in time, I hope to get back to it as well.

Ah, a very good topic for discussion. This would be tough, especially with the NGBs out there. I believe with TKD, especially Olympic, a black belt rank is required for competition. This would have to be written out somehow to get rid of rank. Do I think an evaluation system is necessary? No, I don't think so, but you need some other way of determining skill level, ability, etc. In wrestling, this is done through competition. If you do away with ranks, what will the evaluation criteria? Also, does this change when and how you learn or teach certain material? I don't think it would be a bad thing, but I think it would end up meaning a lot of people wouldn't be able to feel as important as they would like to in regards to their ranks and positions (not everyone is like this, but I've seen a fair share of it in the MA world).

Feb 3 has come and gone, so can you fill us in on what transpired, Bob?

Sounds like you have hit some smooth sailing there. Congrats on the new position and being able to really do the job you want to do in your organization.

I think not having a website of some form of social media page these days is akin to not having a spot in the Yellow Pages 30 years ago. If someone only wants 2 students, then no, its not likely a big deal. But, if one wants to have a shot at being noticed by prospective students, then it is a necessity. Having a web presence is also important because more and more people today are checking their social media pages for updates, postponements, cancellations, etc. Its not just advertising, but communication in general with current students. I do think it is an important tool to have today.

Some people are just more naturally acclimated to picking up certain things than others. For me, its math; can't stand it, and never liked it, and it was always my toughest subject. I could learn, but I had to work a lot longer and a lot harder than it seemed like everyone else did. Now, its not something I would intentionally subject myself to. I think everyone has their "thing" that just seems to come to them. They probably also have something that doesn't come to them easily, and requires more work on their part.

Welcome aboard, TeamAlphaBeast! I'm an LEO as well, and have two kids that wrestle. Look forward to hearing from you!

A belated welcome to KF!

I think everyone can learn, but I also think that some people will top out at a certain level, and some people will learn quicker than others. Everyone is different, and in the end, so are their capabilities. As an instructor, what's important is maximizing the student to the best of your ability, and hope the student keeps on trying along the way.

2/7/2017 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x5, 205x3. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5. Trying to work back in slowly.

Glad to hear it all went well, Bob! Keep at it, and keep us posted!

Its great that you have pushed yourself through it. It would be easy to just not do it, thinking of how bad it would be, but pushing through it at a time like this is better. Good on you!

Thanks for the kind words, Bob. I'll have to see if I can upload a few of the videos from the camera we've been using now. Now, to get caught up. On 2/4/2017, we went to Mulvane for the Battle of the Belt tournament hosted by the Maize Wrestling Club. Its a big tourney in KS, attracting kids from several states. As the name says, first place takes home a Championship belt, so having an award like that attracts kids, for sure. Kendall competed in the open, and Kenneth competed in the Novice. The tournament was run on a split format, and Kenneth went in the morning, so I'll summarize his day first. He had a three-man round-robin, and although he went 0-2, he was in both of his matches. In his first match, he got pinned in the third period, but the score was 8-6 at the time, with Kenneth down by 2. The kid he wrestled was pretty good, had his technique down really good, but Kenneth gave him all he wanted. Kenneth could get reversed or stand-up when the kid was on top, but when he would shoot takedowns, the weren't clean, and he often ended up falling on his hip, and giving up good position. That really cost him in both matches. His second match was more of the same, but he did not get pinned, losing 14-10. He got some takedowns, but would eventually let the kid up and out, and in the third period, he stopped being as aggressive, and waited more instead of trying to get takedowns, and gave up too many points. But, he held his own really well, and I was proud of his efforts. Although he went 0-2, he was awarded 3rd place. Kendall went in the afternoon session, posting a 2-2 record, and I feel that he realistically could have been 3-1. He had a 5-man round-robin, and his first match was against the kid he beat in the finals at Salina the week before. In the first period, they tied up, and the bigger kid tried to put Kendall in a headlock, but Kendall was able to counter it and get a takedown, but from there he couldn't get the kid turned to gain any back points or get a pin. In the second period, Kendall started on bottom, and he wasn't able to get out from under the kid. He got caught in a bad spot, and ended up getting pinned in the second period. So, he opens up with a loss to a kid he knows he can beat, which he was really upset about. He won his second match with a pin in the first period, where he pretty much dominated the kid. The third match was against a bulldozer of a kid who was from Oklahoma, and was a multiple state champion in folk, Greco, and freestyle. This kid rolled over everyone, charging in, locking up, and then pinning his opponents. We told Kendall that he would have to shoot on this kid, and not hesitate, and Kendall did, but he made a few errors: 1, he had both knees on the ground, and 2, his right arm flared out a bit, and the kid underhooked it, took him over, and pinned him. Kendall shot hard, but just didn't have the clean shot to get the job done. But again, a very tough opponent. Kendall came out in his fourth match, and pinned the kid in the second period, and ended up taking 3 place, going 2-2, which I felt was very respectable at a tournament that tough. Now, I'm all caught up, and we have a tournament in Ellsworth this coming weekend, one that our club hasn't been to before. Looking forward to it!

Ok, playing catch-up again. Busy busy! On Saturday, 1/28, we went out to Salina for the Salina Tournament of Champions, a really big one in KS. Kendall had been there for the last several years, coming home with a couple of third place finishes, which is very respectable for the level of competition that shows up at that tourney. This year, Kendall had an 8-man double elimination bracket instead of a round-robin with 5 wrestlers. His first opponent was a kid who got slotted in late because he was an 8U kid who was 9 years old, and a heavyweight. This kid was a big kid, a head taller than Kendall and at least 15 lbs heavier I'd guess (Kendall was originally scheduled a bye). There were no other kids in this kids age/weight division, so they bumped him up to the 10U light heavyweight division. Kendall came out and pinned him, and pinned his way through his second match, too. He hit a standup in the second period of the second match, and as he got up and turned, the kid actually fell out from on top of him, and he worked the pin from there, getting into the finals. In the finals, he wrestled a really big kid that was pretty darn good. The kid was a head taller than Kendall, and from talking with his dad over the course of the next tournament, he is every bit of 149 lbs, the limit for that division. Kendall has been averaging weigh-ins at 140 lbs. It was a tough match all around, and went all three periods. He was able to get a takedown on the kid, and at one point, got in front of him to run an Iowa, but he got a bit too high, and didn't set it right. In the third period, he had to get a reversal to go ahead, and he was able to do that, getting the points and then riding him out to win. At the finish of the third period, after the whistle, Kendall was caught in an odd position with his arm behind the kid's head and locked out, and he got wrenched pretty good. He was a bit sore, and doing upper body lifting later in the week was tough for him, so we skipped it. But, through all that, he ended up with a first place finish at a really good tournament. Early on we were looking at the Blue Chip merchandise, and he always looks at the custom singlets. I told him if he won, I'd get him one, so he earned his first custom singlet, too. Kenneth, was a different story, mainly because dad was a screw-up. His first match was against a tough one, and he got taken down and put in a cradle and pinned pretty quick. From there, I looked at the bracket way, way wrong, and thought we had time to go outside to the car. Well, I was wrong, and through my fault alone Kenneth was scratched from his second match. I felt so terrible the rest of the day about that, but he kept reassuring me that it was ok. Still, how I managed to screw that up so bad, I'll never really know. But that's the last time I screw up like that.

Congrats!

A quick update here. We've been to two more tournaments now, one in Norton and one in Salina. The Norton Open was on 1/21. Kendall went 3-0 and got first, and Kenneth went 1-1 in a double elimination bracket, and got second place. Kenneth drew a first round bye, and in his second match, really did pretty well. He hit something of a sweep single in the first period, and was able to keep scoring points through some scrambles. He won 8-2 in the third. In his second match, he tried his sweep single again, but with bad distancing, and got stuffed and pinned by a good wrestler. But, he walked out with 2nd place, his second medal of the year. Kendall won his first match with a pin in the second period, and won his second match with a pin in the first period. He has been doing a good job of finishing his shots off, doubling them off and getting the points. His third match was with the challenging kid he had faced at the last tournament. He did some things better in this match, getting a takedown and able to work some backpoints. He almost got a pin, but not quite enough. What he did struggle with was when they were neutral, the bigger kid would push him backwards, and he got a warning for stalling. That is something we have been working on a bit. He won the match with a score of 6-0 or 6-1, if I recall. He really handled it much better, so he is improving. Another good meet, and I'll fill in on the next soon.

This doesn't happen during a jiu jitsu class. You train grappling and look for the submission only. The slaps you speak of are used when someone wants to fight- that is a no holds barred challenge match. And the slaps are merely a way of saying, "I could be beating the tar out of you right now, but instead, I'm only slapping you, proving my point."I see what TJ is saying about BJJ being tough. Its not tough in that you have to be a tough individual to do it. In fact, if you are working with a good BJJ player, you likely aren't going to get hurt all that much, as long as you know when to tap (the ego comes into play here). The ones who don't show up for the second class are the ones who really have more of a problem with their lack of mental toughness. I've seen this a bunch in Wrestling, too. Athletic kids who are good at other sports come out to try Wrestling, and when they find how tough it is, some of them get discouraged and give it up. I can see this come into play in BJJ as well.