It must have caught me when the zanshin was low. Sensei Sion emailed me with news of a British Aikido Board instructors course, BAB approved, at Woodford Green. It’s a place I know well so, ‘Yes’ I thought, might be fun, useful even.
The course was a 2 day session split between the Classroom, (day 1) and the Dojo, (day 2). There were about 20 students. A good mix of age and affiliation with some faces I recognised from previous events. Ann and Steve, our instructors, are both very experienced martial artists and had the course planned to a tee.
It is in the physical nature of martial arts to include some level of risk, but all practitioners are entitled to enjoy those hazards in a safe, controlled environment. Day 1 of the course laid the ground rules for ensuring that environment as well as guiding the class through legal and practical aspects of wearing the , “instructor”, hat. There we were twenty of us on the course, whose pleasure was to duck and weave, throw and roll, spending an entire day in the classroom. It is great credit to Ann and Steve that time flew by and I found it very interesting.
Planning and scheduling of the course was already well advanced when I enrolled as a late entrant, so It was toward the end of day one that I wished I had read the introductory paperwork more carefully. It would have told me to arrive at the course clutching a lesson plan and other notes to be used for guidance during the practical of day 2, and as a submission to the course tutors. “Aargh”. There are not many empty tables in a London pub on a Saturday night but I did manage to find a space to do my homework. As it happens I am also writing this with a beer at my elbow.
I was apprehensive about day 2, the practical, but it turned out to be very enjoyable. All the students were to individually run a short aikido session for the others. It was, for me, a daunting prospect. My worries were happily baseless. All of us were in the same boat and there to learn from the course instructors and each other. It was a really good atmosphere. Whatever lesson plan students might have started with was quickly thrown into touch by various carefully engineered events and mishaps designed as a part of the learning process. It was a good day, informative and fun.
At the end of the day the BAB had twenty newly qualified instructors ready to be launched on the dojos of the world. Many thanks to Ann and Steve for a enjoyable weekend. Chris.
