So with two days notice I had to try to come up with something, not ever having done anything like it before. Clearly there was no time to rehearse so it was just going to be stuff we've done regularly in class, provided I could beg a student to help out.
Next, the planning. With no previous experience in putting on a demo and no idea (really) of what I should do I decided the best option would be to build a loose plan of what I could include and then basically wing it using that as a starting point. Not so different from many of my classes really
Anyhow the Jujitsu and Arnis guys were on before me. The Jujitsu guys basically did a short class with three students as their demo and the Arnis guys just seemed to spend their time practicing. Afterward they said it made it feel less formal and also less stressful. Probably not a bad idea.
So this was my plan:
- A short warmup since we do a variety of basic drills as part of the regular warmup
- A "pushing hands" drill
- Demo a kata
- Walk through the kata with the student as you might when teaching it for the first time (I found someone to help with the demo)
- Show and practice a couple of applications from the kata
- Demo another, more visually "exciting" kata, then walk through it with the student
- Run through some kumite drills since these can be interesting to watch, especially since we increase the pace once both partners are clear what they're doing
- Finish with a demo of a bo kata. People always like to watch weapons demos.
It seemed to go ok. Now I just have to wait to get copies of the photos and see what it might have looked like.
Any comments or advice for the next time something like this might come up?
Mick
ps It was the same club anniversary as mentioned in the News section.
)
D'OH! Thanks, Susan. They fixeded now.
