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Book Review: The Tao of Gung Fu

Ideas for theme classes

This year I plan to do a themed class roughly every four weeks.  That may be too frequent: we'll see how it goes.

Where a regular class follows a standard format, allowing for repetition and reinforcement of foundational skills, with a couple of blocks where the instructor goes into a bit more depth, a themed class goes more in depth more most of the class.

The approach I'm taking this year is a bit different from theme of the month, which I ran in 2009, in which the discretionary blocks for a whole month were on a unified theme, which also seeped into the rest of the class.

Here's a list off the top of my head:

Throws
  1. Kuzushi
  2. Leg throws
  3. Hip throws
  4. Hand throws
  5. Hidari class (everything left-handed)
  6. Throwing with movement
  7. Combination throws
  8. Counter throws
Restraint and Control
  1. Come-alongs
  2. Reflexive self-defence
  3. R&C throws
  4. Standard escapes
Groundwork
  1. Immobilizations
  2. Groundwork randori skills
  3. Arm locks and leg locks
  4. Strangles
  5. Combination locks: such a good title!
Advanced
  1. Sacrifice throws
  2. Stick defences -- hmm: will need sticks
  3. Nage no Kata (kata of throws)
  4. Katame no Kata (groundwork)
  5. Gonosen no Kata (counters)
Requests and reactions welcome.

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