Man, am I happy or what? I am back in action by teaching private lessons for the first time since December!

As soon as Ontario entered Step One of its re-opening plan, I emailed my clients, offering them the opportunity to start training again. Several responded and requested immediate resumption. A couple wanted to reserve their time slot but deferred the restart date until later. All that said, they’re excited to be back in action!

In any case, I taught five private lessons last week. I have to say that I was pleased that, despite having not trained with me for six months, they showed minimal rust. One would expect they would have regressed after such a long period of inactivity. Any regression that I saw was extremely minimal.

I attribute it to the 20 flow drills I have taught. All of them are easy to remember and execute. A couple of them are semi-funky. Otherwise, once you learn them, it’s hard to forget them. It’s like riding a bicycle. For example, Miguel, a 16-year-old student, remembered 19 out of 20 flow drills. One of the flow drills he fumbled was straightened out within a minute.

Umbrella/Wing with Miguel
Working Flow Drill #1 with Joaquin
With Caiden after our workout
These talented kids are like sponges. So easy to teach them!

In addition to the three kids above, two adults (Troy and Mario) resumed training with me the past week. As with the three kids, Troy and Mario showed very little rust. I was very pleased since I could push them hard to elevate their skill level in the next few months.

Four more students will be resuming their training this week. I hope that either life or work doesn’t get in the way for them! I will then start opening up slots to new students.

Some may ask: “Why are you teaching private lessons instead of group classes?”

Quite frankly, my students have progressed much quicker with one-on-one instruction. Not only that, but I find that I enjoy this mode of instruction more than group classes. I can tailor a lesson according to the student’s rank and skill level. Every student is different. Some of them may have suboptimal footwork. Others leave their centreline exposed. A couple may have some structural issues that need correcting. It all depends. What’s great about my current students is that they are very coachable.

Nearly every lesson involves flow drills.

Remembering and executing the drills correctly is only part of it, though. The fun part is breaking them down and going over the applications. Each move can be applied as a primary move or counter to something else. And it doesn’t necessarily apply to stick vs stick scenarios. Virtually any movement has an empty hand equivalent, which is a lot of fun to teach.

All of this depends on the case numbers in Ontario, which are declining further. Indeed, the rolling 7-day average dropped from 1,033 on June 1st to 334 yesterday (June 21st). There are signs that the Delta variant is on the cusp of becoming the predominant COVID-19 strain in Ontario. This is a much more transmissible variant than either the original virus or the Alpha variant. The good news is that you should be good if you are double vaccinated!

In any case, I hope to open slots for new private clients in the next few weeks. I’m so glad to be back in action!

Additional Reading