Besides the school play that she's been practicing for all year, Lorelai has also been busy with another project over the last couple of months. She signed up for a beginning karate class at the local community center!
It's been a little difficult to come up with a sport for Lorelai to do lately; she loved playing soccer for a couple of years, and then she tried a season of baseball, but she hasn't done anything since. She has been interested in trying karate for a while, though, and Nathan and I have wanted to give her the chance. Since karate is a more "individualized" sport, she could progress at her own pace, without feeling the pressure to perform for a team. Also, she is still an energetic, hyper gal who doesn't always know her own strength. Several times lately, Lorelai has started jumping around happily and then accidentally whacked me (or another family member) and injured us in her excitement. Right now, she's all elbows and knees and sharp corners that have become hazards to the rest of the family! Hopefully, taking karate lessons will help her channel her energy and learn to better coordinate and control her body.
The beginner's course was six weeks long, running every Saturday morning in January and the first part of February. It was held at the local rec center in Anamax Park, not far from our old church building. The instructor was Mr. Filep. He was tall, tough, and talked in a loud, deep, very confident voice. He reminded us a little bit of "Rex Kwan Do" from the movie Napoleon Dynamite, though much less ridiculous of course!!
Lorelai, being a little shy of new adults, was pretty intimidated by Mr. Filep at first. He insisted that the kids all stand up straight, hold still, and respond to all his remarks with "yes, sir" or "no, sir." After a lesson or two, though, the kids got more comfortable with his routine, and it was neat to see how much more disciplined and responsive they became over that time. There were only three kids in the class, which turned out to be a great benefit. It meant that each kid got a lot of personalized attention from the instructor, and got to participate in all the clean-up and set-up drills.
Due to the short duration of the class, the kids didn't get to learn a ton of unique moves. However, they learned a lot of basic poses, punches, kicks, thrusts, and the like. Mr. Filep encouraged the kids to practice them at home (although I'm not sure Lorelai ever followed up on that...oops). However, she was always eager to come home afterwards and tell her sisters about what she'd learned.
The class ended all too soon. At least we got to keep a T-shirt, and the memories! We put Lorelai on the waiting list for a spot in the actual martial arts studio (the classes are always full and waits of several months are common; however, Lorelai's participation in this beginner class should help her move more quickly up the queue). In addition, a friend of ours is hoping to start his own karate studio next year, possibly in a friend's garage; that may be another option for us to consider.
Unfortunately, we're not sure when exactly we'll be ready to put Lorelai back into karate; our budget might not allow it in the short term, especially with Aurora's preschool costs looming this fall. But it's something we can definitely see Lorelai doing in the future; she was excited by it and eagerly looked forward to each week. Here's hoping we get our very own "karate kid" before too long.
No comments:
Post a Comment