The Video Game Generation
I’ve known over the years that nearly all of my younger students play video games. Minecraft is one popular game among the video game generation. Among popular games with my younger students (ranging from 8 to 15 years of age) are Super Mario, Fortnite, Street…
Changes in Private Lessons
As previously mentioned, I have transitioned from teaching group classes to private lessons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last few months, the tenor and format of the private lessons have changed quite a bit compared to the pre-pandemic private lessons. Before the pandemic,…
Forget About Winning or Losing
When folks roll on the mat or do stick free play, why do so many focus on “winning” or “losing?” The fact of the matter is that you’re going to win some and lose some. Instead of getting hung up on who prevailed, just focus…
Martial Arts Zoom Classes
Over the last few months, I’ve been teaching five Zoom classes per week. The attendees consist mostly of students from the 6Tigers Academy and occasionally Bamboo Spirit students. The seeds of my Zoom class experiences are due to a group of siblings, originally from Ottawa…
Killer Concepts!
I recently posted on Facebook that I had updated my “Bamboo Spirit Concepts” list to include two more, expanding the list from 20 to 22. I also reordered the list so that it makes more sense. Surprisingly, the response was robust; many requested a copy of…
COVID-19 Transition
I know that it’s been a while since I posted. I don’t have much in the way of excuses. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have transitioned from group classes to private lessons in the past couple of months. As we all know, we are…
Attacking Combinations
The story of how I came up with the “Attacking Combinations” video! While I miss teaching classes and private lessons, one of the upsides of the lockdown is that I have had mucho time on my hands to figure out variations of solo workouts. Hence,…
Solo Training
Many of us cannot train with our martial arts classmates and friends during these extraordinary times. Since I have confined myself at home, I have done a fair bit of solo training, including, but not limited to, bodyweight and martial exercises, solo stick exercises, Shotokan…
Under Lockdown, Part 2
Earlier this month, I published a post entitled “Under Lockdown.” I have to confess that it was a thought exercise and I honestly did not think we would be in the situation we are in today. Since that post, Ontario has imposed social distancing and…
Tribute To Alan
I learned on Saturday morning that one of my favourite private clients, Alan, passed away at 84. I first met him through a senior citizens’ self-defence course I taught for the City of Oshawa in 2008. The classes were held at the Legends Community Centre….
