Details Reveal the Bigger Picture

Next week we're gearing up for stripe testing which means students will be testing for their red stripes and this is an important milestone as it marks another step towards your next rank. At the red stripe level, we expect students to be able to start to refine their technique and pay attention to the smaller details within the form.

When we think of curriculum, we like to break it into three components: learn, perfect, and perform. As we learn our movements, we want to spend some time memorizing what technique goes where, which direction to travel, and how the movements work from one to the next. From here we will then move into our perfection phase, which is what we're trying to target next week. This means you are looking for a little more sharpness within the form, proper alignment, good posture, great stances, and cleaner technique.

As March approaches we will expect to then get to that performance level, which means we're looking for confidence and intensity as you perform. We want our students to be able to perform at 110%, give it their all and put on a display that impresses not only their audience but themselves as well. This will take lots of practice which means you will need to develop a discipline for repetition. Performing something repeatedly will give you the confidence to be able to do it better, with better technique and greater confidence.

This will also mean that you will need to be focused as sometimes repetition can break concentration if you're not 100% in the zone. Having a good perspective on why and how will ultimately get you where you want to go and give you the endurance you will need to be able to perform many repetitions many times. With that discipline in hand, you will find that your technique will not only improve but you will reach newer and greater heights and be a better student than you were before.

So, let’s take this week, continue to practice and remember we are open Family Day weekend on both Saturday and Sunday, so get those classes in. As well we encourage you to go online either to our YouTube page or through the website and review your curriculum so that you are in the best possible position for next week’s stripe test.

Good luck and we are cheering for you!

Sensei Chris