Rebooting The Blog
I know that it’s been a while since I’ve done a blog post. It’s been a busy few months. For one thing, the website has been going through a re-design, complete with a new logo that I hope reflects my martial arts business personality. More…
A New Beginning
Welcome to the new revamped Bamboo Spirit Website and a new beginning! First, I would like to thank Jason Fletcher for his original Bamboo Spirit logo design. It was a great design that served Bamboo Spirit well for nearly a decade. However, as the martial…
Taking Advantage of Technology
A year ago, my MacBook needed to be repaired at the local Best Buy. To keep my social media efforts going, I ordered a Chromebook from Amazon. This was delivered within a couple of days. The purchase came with one terabyte of free memory on…
Breakout Groups Or Not?
I’ve been experimenting with teaching classes with and without breakout groups. I think that breakout groups arranged by rank/skill level can be beneficial in a class setting. However, lately, I’ve begun to reconsider whether breakout groups are all that beneficial from an instructor’s perspective. Teaching…
Downsizing
Recently, my wife and I downsized from our house in Oshawa to a townhouse in Ajax. The new place has half the square footage of our former house. This entailed a massive amount of purging before the move, starting in October and we are still going…
How Hard Do You Really Train?
I taught the inaugural class at the Harmony Martial Arts Center in Pickering on Friday night. For a Friday night time slot of 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, I had a turnout of 7. Not bad at all. After getting some housekeeping out of the way,…
Teaching the Centerline
Many martial arts incorporate the concept of centerline. Wing Chun is well known for its emphasis on the centerline theory. As seen in the phenomenal video below, even boxing incorporates this as well. Teaching the centerline is often easy and difficult at the same time. If you…
The Challenge of Teaching Footwork to Kids
The biggest challenge in teaching kids is footwork. Good footwork is crucial to self-defence and particularly so for Filipino Martial Arts. Want to avoid getting hit, slashed or stabbed? Move your feet. At the most basic level, one should be able to step up at a…
7 Ways I Teach Children Filipino Martial Arts
Some believe children should not be taught a “violent” activity like Filipino Martial Arts. I’ve encountered those who believe FMAs are inappropriate for children because they involve swinging a stick or two. Ahem. While risks are inherent in swinging sticks, many age-appropriate ways to teach Filipino…
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
Regarding kids and martial arts, a fair bit of time is spent differentiating between the good and bad guys. It seems pretty easy since we’re dealing with schoolyard bullies, various stranger scenarios, and practicing self-defence moves. It all seems pretty cut and dried until you…