One Layer At A Time (30th June)

You know, as an instructor there’s nothing better than laying out a structured lesson. Taking a concept from the ground up. You start with something basic then add a little bit to get the students to the next layer/depth of understanding. Then you add another and another and by the Read more…

Back in the room! (April 29th)

And… we’re back!! After a brief leave of absence (for the blog!), what with Easter Bank Holidays and all, but here we are again doing what we love most – Teaching Martial Arts!!! Since we last posted about the cracking grading results from our grading students we have had a Read more…

Take a bow…! (2nd April)

In our sessions this week we saw more great 1-2-1 stuff done with the students of all levels from beginner to black belt, from Karate to sword. It is always rewarding to see students grow as they grasp a new technique or concept, there is that little glint in the Read more…

The ‘Dao’ of teaching! (25th Mar)

Both Monday and Wednesday night was private lessons all the way through with Tim San, Richard San and Tor San polishing up the guys going for gradings. And on Wednesday night even Nick San got in on the act this week, helping Richard San with a new Sword student!! Kevin Read more…

The short end of a stick!(11th Mar)

Another Black Belt Only Session last monday and we continued our Stick and Knife work with a recap of the great work done on the previous months session. It was good to see that everyone had done their homework and were ready for the next level. This type of training Read more…

Kicking it up a gear….(18th Feb)

The sword session on Monday night, proved to be a great opportunity to work on the sword demos and sword patterns for the upcoming ‘Performance night’. Performing in front of people always improves the confidence and skills of the student ready for those big gradings days. And even more important Read more…

Baton down the hatches! (11th Feb)

Monday saw this years second Black Belt session which set a great tempo for the rest of the weeks lessons. Baton fighting, knife defence and some pretty slick self defence patterns were the order of the day for all our Black Belts who were all loving it! The big hits Read more…

Lessons…’a double edged sword!’ (Feb 4th)

Personal training is one of those things you either love or hate. You see, everything revolves around you the student but on the other hand there really is just knowhere to hide!! This weeks training was testament to that with all our private lessons. The students got exactly what they Read more…

Show Us…! (Jan 28th)

With the announcement last week that the National Gradings have come around again we are now actively working toward yet another Grading & Performance Night (Wednesday 26th Feb) Not everyone is grading this time around so this will mainly be a Performance night, which will be a first for many Read more…

The personal touch…(21st Jan)

Second week back in the main classes and we are well and truly back to our regular training formats. This weeks round up of private lessons and small group training at the Cheltenham Dean Close Dojo saw Lucy San squarely landed with a new project to test her new found Read more…