My friend Yuka invited Shuto Karate Club to give a class for a group of children that meets at her house periodically to learn about Japan and the Japanese language. The name of the group is 日本語で遊ぼう, or, roughly translated, “Let’s have fun using Japanese (language)”. We had about 14-15 children participate, with ages ranging from about 5 to 10, and some of their parents.
I decided to combine karate instruction and demonstration into one class, and I took along Josh, ‘Axel’, Alex and ‘Big E’, part of our crack demo team, to help. We performed some of the components of our September 16 demo, and the boys also helped with the instructional part.
The class was a great success: both the Shuto crew and the children and parents of Yuka’s group had a great time, and I think we wowed them with our team kata, board breaking, and acrobatic rolling. We taught them straight punching, rising blocks, and stepping with those techniques. We also did rolling and played “Log-Branch-Cheetah” at the end.
Lots of smiles and laughing all around. And once again, the weather cooperated: in contrast to the rather gloomy, wet days we’d been coping with, for our class in Weingartner Park, the sun was clearly seen and felt overhead and the grass under our feet was dry.
Thanks to the boys and their parents for donating most of a Sunday afternoon, and to Yuka for organizing the event. The Shuto team really rose to the occasion.
