Classes are few and far between. It is hard to help the students keep up their energy, and review their knowledge, but at the same time introduce basic concepts to support their learning in karate.  I find that the heat makes things more complicated also.  For instance, I had the unpleasant experience of having one of my students needing to rush out of the room to the washroom to vomit.  This is a first for me as a Sensei. I've seen it happen before, but now I felt a certain responsibility for this.  I wondered what it was that I had guided the class to do which would have triggered this result. I honestly felt that I had adjusted the class demand for the temperature of the room. I was carefully gauging how much effort we were putting out, and giving many rest periods.   After speaking with the student, I found out that he was overheated, and dehydrated due to the fact that he had not drank much water throughout the day.  It is true that the average person drinks less than a day's requirement. It would be necessary for an athlete to drink a little more especially when training in heat. I gave my student advice as to how to avoid dehydration and vomiting in the future.

Summer classes have focused on basic arm releases that are found within the student's kata.  I found that there are many advantages to looking at kata in this way:

a) The student becomes more aware that kata isn't just a prescribed series of movements, which motivates them to look more deeply into the mysteries of what they are doing, and why they are doing it.  Greater understanding helps them to enjoy the performance of the kata more, and to get more benefit from it.

b) The student becomes more familiar with close distance self defence movements, rather than always training with far reaching strikes, and attacks.

c) The student become more aware of the mental position one needs to have when faced with a serious self-defence moment. This is a great opportunity to learn to control the laughter, and smiles that one can break into when the technique just doesn't go the way it's supposed to go. This kind of emotional self-control is necessary for a Martial artist.

d) The student learns to work closely with a partner in a mutually respectful, and co-operative manner. No longer is the goal to "catch" their partner with a strike as in kumite, but more the goal is to understand the balance, direction, and technique needed to achieve success. It's still partner work, but at such a different level.

I've been encouraging creative bunkai focusing mainly on releases among my students, and one of my green belts rose to the challenge. She looked at the opening three moves of Heian Sandan. She suggested that there were three people crowding around her to try to grab her and take her away.  One person grabbed her right arm with a cross grab, which she released using an inside block left hand. The following double inside block/down block combinations effectively hit the other two opponents in the mouth, and groin simultaneously. In my opinion, that was great thinking outside of the box for that little 10 year old.  I wondered to myself what other thoughts could the new generation come up with as they struggled with learning the path of Karate? 

I keep reminding myself that each student that I face could become a future sensei themselves, so my goal is to make them better than I am if I want the art to progress.