Class

Today we had class in civic.

It was a new type of class that we've been thinking of incorporating. A Technical Applicaiton Class (TAC). The point of it is to get students training without the direction of the instructors. Get them into the mindset of training outside of classes. That they don't need the classes to train.

So we strated the class in Glebe park. Went througha bit of a warm up of dynamic stretches.

Then we moved to noise wall, where we played around for a bit. I just messed around with different things, balanced the garden rail, did some precisions, some standing cat passes over the rail, and got a really big cat pass over the wall.

From there we moved to toast. I just played around with differnt things there as well. Found some new big precisions, did some running precisions over water and practiced moving in general. We got the group playing parkour tag and fololw the leader. I also got my head around some high speed vaults and cat passes. The speed vaults felt really good, as you had a lot of air time before actually using your hand to get over the rail. It was all about committment.

While we were at toast, Eliot and I went down to customs to film my run. We got there, knowing that we only had a fwe minutes, so we got straight into it. I jumped down to my starting spot, then began the run. Going through it, i focussed my concentration on what movement was directly in front of me, making myself forget about what I would have to be doing after it, just focussing on the first bit. Concentrating the whole time. I'm glad to say i got through the whole run, getting it in the first go. rom there we went straight into the tic tac to arm, that i was also wanting to do. Eliot jumped down to the spot, and we filmed it. I made sure to get it first go. Then we left, just before security arrived! While we were walking away, Eliot looked behind us, to see the security guard arrive, smile and wave, then walk away. The customs scurity guys are awesome! It's like a game we play with them :)

After toast, we made our way back to Glebe park, to warm down.

Overall the class was good, the majority of students made an effort to train. We could have done more to make them train the whole time, but it was really up to them. I think that having smaller groups might be a bit better, as the students will then be more inclined to train the whole time.

Before class, I had lunch with my family at the Botanical Gardens cafe. While I was there, I noticed a young boy. He was probably around 4 years old. What caught my attention, was that he was climbing on a rail, like all normal kids do. It was a two bar rail, so he had his hands on the top bar, and his foot on the lower bar. It was shuffling along it, making sure to watch where he was putting his feet, and going through it carefully and slowly. You could see how he was concentrating on what he was doing.

People have said that when we train, we're just doing what we used to do as kids. Moving around in our environment. That is what I witnessed today. Sure, what we doing is done at a much bigger degree than kids can do, but that idea of moving freely is still there.

As you grow up, you forget about the things that used to be fun. You start looking to other mean, that can sometimes be drugs and alcohol. This shouldn't be the case. You will always find new things that keep you entertained, things that you weren't able to do as a kid, but you should always remember the things that used to be fun, things that you loed doing as a kid.

Parkour has done this for me. My parents used to say that when I was young, I couldn't stay still. I would run around, climb on things, always fidgeting. I just couldn't stop moving. Then i went into a phase of playing computer games and watching TV all the time, being real serious. Since I started parkour, I've found that I barely watch TV or play computer games anymore. I'd rather go out and train, have fun. I've gone back to how I used to be as a kid, always moving and spending time outside.

It good to go back to the things that used to make you happy as a kid, that's where the real fun is.