April Review!

 

Even though April was filled with spring holidays there were still tons of opportunities to expand our martial training at the dojo this month!

JUNIOR MAGNUS PARENTS’ WEEK

We started April with our Junior Magnus Parents’ Week. This quarterly offering allows Junior Magnus families to come in for a parent and me style class. Throughout the weeks we had many parents join us to take part in our obstacle course, pre-frame drills, and act as their child’s partner for pad drills. It is always a fun week at the dojo when moms and dads join in on the Junior Magnus fun.

GRAPPLING

This month’s beginner/intermediate grappling intensive had a large attendance of Leadership members as assists. Every student who attended this session had a leader or teaching team member as a one-on-one coach. The session was taught by Sensei and 3 teaching team members. They worked on attacks and escapes from turtle position then finished up the class with reaction drilling and games.

Our advanced grappling session was taught by teaching team this month. They focused mainly on attack sequences from turtle. This group also spent a good deal of this session drilling and rolling. We’re looking forward to introducing more techniques and building their grappling knowledge next month!

LEADERSHIP

The Leadership Team gathered for their 8th all levels training this month. This training featured 4 Teaching Team members who each taught multiple sections of the training. During this session the Leadership Team students worked on voice projection, one-on-one support coaching for intermediate protection, and learned how to support pre-frame instruction in Junior Magnus.

Our Leadership Team coaching workshop was taught by Sensei, Mr. Lippiatt-Cook, and Mr. Wark this month. They focused on how to coach clinch ups for grappling and protection and support strategies for Junior Magnus. Mr. Lippiatt-Cook and Mr. Wark worked on the Junior Magnus coaching section providing insight into their experiences working with our age 4-6 students and gave their recommendations for coaching that group.

WEAPONS

April also featured weapons workshops! Our beginner group worked on eskrima, nunchaku, tonfa, and bo – while our experienced/advanced students practiced double stick eskrima, sai, tonfa, and bo. Both sessions featured solo & partner training drills. We are looking forward to expanding upon everyone’s weapons skills at our next session.

QUARTERLY BELT TEST

We closed out the month with our largest quarterly group belt test ever held in all 13 years of Magnus Karate! It was such an excellent test; Sensei is incredibly proud of all of the students who were in attendance. This test also featured more than 20 Leadership Team members who volunteered their time to hold bags and demonstrate and 10 Teaching Team members who assisted in leading sections.

Following this belt test we now have a large group of beginner students who are moving into intermediate level classes and a second large group of students who, post test, are now youth black belt candidates. Congratulations to all!