Level up?

The crew from the last class of the winter 2023
kickboxing session.

There've been some things I've noticed this session in kickboxing. I think I've leveled up somehow.

I like the start of the session because there's a little more "back to basics," a chance for me to refocus on things like body mechanics and stance. We go back to breaking down the warmup drills and checking our technique: sparring goes back to "one attacks / one defends" and you can really think about combinations, blocks, and moving defensively. 

And also, there's that chance to help introduce new people to this new level, to say "hey, welcome, this is fun." I feel like I got a crash course in sparring and getting hit with the guys in Siling Labuyo Arnis, and that means that I can be the one that says, "hey, look: aim for my face, you're not going hard and it's my job not to get hit, honest to god, I'm okay with it." I'm willing to take a kick, or a punch. I've been knocked down, I've been hit in the head, I've been hit with sticks and shillelaghs, I've been taught how to fall. 

Early in the session, for our opening drills I paired up with one of the new students: she'd studied capoeira before and had come up through the beginner class but hadn't really had to aim her fists at anyone's face yet. "It's so scary!" she said after I told her to aim for my face. 

And then there's a weird thing I have been feeling in class lately. Maybe it was the effect of having some new intermediates in the class, but when we started through a round of "everyone spars with everyone else" - in a simple "one person attacks, one person defends" format, I started to see what I had learned in the last couple of sessions.

I've learned some things about range: there's that one girl who's tall and has really long legs, but wasn't using them enough (I told her that, though, and she took it to heart, so damn, there goes my advantage). There's another little, intense one who is naturally great at coming in low and ducking back out. The senior student has great combinations, so when I work with her I focus on reading them. Almost all of them have learned that if they do a big ol' haymaker I will get inside it, clinch, and either sweep their leg or knee them. 

I have started learning to read an opponent. I've started being able to think beyond punch, punch, crap I just got hit, back off, block, block. And I've started being able to decide "okay, this round I want to work on chaining up kicks" or "this round I'm going to slip, dodge, and weave" or "this round I'm going to think footwork."

I love it. It feels like a level up. I feel, right now, like I'm learning something in every single bout.