day 264: setting directions for Saturday class

this post relates back to the previous weekend of Feb. 7. i didn't attend class Saturday morning, and so i have nothing to post for Feb. 6. Feb. 7 was the Sunday class, i managed to make that. thing is, nobody else did, and it ended up just being me and Phunsak with Sifu.

we decided to not cover anything new, since we figured that even if we did, we'd have to go back and redo everything for everyone else who showed up next time. instead, Sunday turned into a discussion as to plans for classes going forward.

the general plan appears to be that we're going to start having a "fundamentals class" that precedes each Saturday morning class. i'm using the quotes, because this isn't going to be a formal class, in the sense that people are going to pay and Sifu is going to teach. rather, the "fundamentals class" is going to just be about a 60-90 minute session run by Phunsak and Kieun every Saturday morning before Sifu's formal class. Phunsak and Kieun are going to teach on alternating Saturdays, with the "fundamentals class" focusing more on basic fight fundamentals (e.g., strategy, principles, body mechanics, etc. at an introductory level--basically, for people who've never been in, much less seen, a fight in their entire life).

Phunsak and Kieun have argued before that much of what Sifu teaches assumes a pre-existing level of understanding regarding fighting. unfortunately, most of the people in the class don't have this, simply because they've never actually been involved in a fight of any kind on any level. Sifu concurred, noting that in the modern era people "have become too civilized." he was joking, but he was making the point that people just don't have the basic grounding that most martial arts students in the past would have had regarding what actually happens when you get caught in a fight and find yourself hitting and getting hit by a hostile opponent entirely intent on doing you harm.

the plan is to start on Feb. 13, and to continue from there. attendance isn't mandatory, but simply available for anyone interested. Phunsak and Kieun already have an idea as to who is going to attend and who isn't, but they're not saying. i guess we'll see.