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January Review!

 

January Events Review Header

The first month of the new year was a busy one at the dojo! In true Magnus fashion we started 2023 off with tons of extra martial trainings, belt testings, Leadership events, and fun – on top of our normal weekly class schedule.

GRAPPLING

We kicked off our January extra training opportunities with our grappling for beginners and green/brown belt students. This class saw 15 participants and 12 Leadership Team members who attended as support. The strong Leadership support allowed us the unique opportunity of having the older students serve as partners for the students who attended the class. It was co-taught by Sensei and 4 teaching team members and was our best grappling class yet!

Our advanced grappling class that followed saw 30 participants. It featured members of our Leadership Team and general population students from the advanced ranks. The students worked on a 4 part lesson plan focusing heavily on flow style instruction. They had the opportunity for multiple rounds of “rolling”. The students who are attending these classes really enjoy the grappling content and attend these monthly classes to dive deeper.

Both levels of grappling students also rocked the new Magnus rash guards which came in just before the holidays!

LEADERSHIP

Our first Leadership Team training of the month was our 5th all levels team training for season.  The training was heavily supported by Level 3 members and the Teaching Team. The Teaching Team took the lead in the training which focused on beginner level kata instruction, public speaking, and one-on-one support coaching. This training also allowed for our Teaching Team members to share insight and personal stories from their time assisting in classes.

The second Leadership training for January was a support coaching workshop. Our Level 1, 2, and 3 Leaders worked on one-on-one coaching for 7+ beginner and green/brown. These trainings are specifically designed to help our leaders develop their skills to prepare them to come and assist in our classes.

BELT TESTINGS

January saw 6 students test for their 2nd degree black belt. The testing group had 3 of the 6 candidates who started practicing marital arts as Junior Magnus students and 4 of the 6 students in the group are also members of our Leadership Team. Our 2nd degree black belt test is 3 hours long with minimal breaks. Sensei packed it with content – there were 7 sections total – and over an hour of protection requirements including upright connection & clinch work, take downs and throws, and ground grappling. Teaching Team members Drew and John were in attendance to support during the test.

It was an exciting day and an excellent test. All 6 candidates passed and are set to be promoted to 2nd degree black belt. Sensei is especially proud of all of these students as only 1-2% of participants will make it to this level. These new 2nd degree black belts will continue their journey at Magnus in all black belt & adult level classes.

At our quarterly belt test for our under black belt students we saw over 50 students test across four test group sessions. Our Leadership and Teaching Team students had a strong showing of 39 members to demonstrate, evaluate, and hold pads for the students who were testing. We continue to see progress and improvements amongst all of our students who were test candidates and look forward to belt promotions the first weekend of February.

GUEST INSTRUCTOR VISIT

Coach Shiomos returned to the dojo for his second guest instruction grappling class this month. He joined us for our all black belt and adult level class and expanded on the no gi grappling content that we worked on with him in November. Sensei works on jiu jitsu privately with Zach and enjoys having the opportunity for his students to work with him also!

WEAPON ARTS

This month we launched two new weapon arts training opportunities for our students – an introduction to weapons class and an advanced weapons clinic. The first class opportunity was for our age 7+ beginner and green/brown students who have never learned weapons before. We established a foundation with the 4 primary weapons used at Magnus – bo, eskrima, sai, and nunchuku. The students who attended our intro course can now join us for our other weapons class offerings to advance their training.

We also launched our first advanced weapons clinic which was a Leadership Team only option. This session featured advanced content for our most experienced weapons practicing students. This group worked on 5 different weapons further expanding their knowledge and practice of each.

SPARRING 

Our first monthly sparring class happened this month – it is a new addition to our schedule in 2023! The age 7+ beginner and green/brown students got to expand their sparring practice in a class that focused only on sparring. They received the support of members of our Leadership Team who coached them and participated in drills and activities with younger students!

The beginner class was followed by a sparring class for our advanced students and black belts. This group focused on offensive attack strategies and had the opportunity to practice tournament style sparring.

January Blog Images