The Elite Team..Day One and Day Two

Day one
 Stated the rules of Elite Team 
Basic rules are:
1.  No Whining or complaining, No making whiney noises or faces
2.  Nothing is 'Fair' In the elite team.  We study combat.  Nothing is 'fair' in combat.
3.  You will do your best.  You are not qualified to determine what  your best is.  So, I will set the bar on what I beleive you can do and you will do it.
4.  You are NOT allowed to talk negative to any student for any reason.  You can only offer encouragement.
5.  Rank has no place on this team.  Students are to wear uniform pants and a shirt of their choosing.
6.  NEVER be late.
7  We are a team.  We earn games as a team.  We get punished as a team.

We started the Big Three Exercises- 50 push ups, 50 sit ups and 50 jump--n-Jacks....all synchronized.  The students struggled with this.  On day one the performed approximately 270 pushups, 160 sit ups and 300 jump-n-Jacks.  

These excercises are designed to cause frustration due to the difficulty of performing them in a synchronized manner.  Every time a student gets out of synch, we start over at zero.  Students must count out loud and perform the exercises a certain way.  Any deviation earns the group a free 'start over'.  This is done to build cohesiveness in the group.  Everyone MUST focus on what is going on every second of the Elite Team in order to perform correctly.  This level of focus becomes a habit by the end of the Elite Team.  The exercise improves very rapidly.  By the second day, students reduce the number of mistakes and the amount of time it takes to complete the 'big three' is reduced.

After successful completition of 'the big three', students move to the wall for wall kicks.  Normally our first night quota of kicks is 700.  On this Elite Team's first night, they completed only 100.  This year's Elite Team has a lot of new students.  That means that improvement will be much more noticeable.  

Wall kicks are designed to strengthen their core...mainly their hips, upper thighs and lower backs.  Strong hips are a requirement to perform the techniuqes that will be taught in this class.

Students CAN earn a 'get out of kicks' night.  Anyone that can demonstrate the full side splits (that couldn't perform them previously), gets out of kicks for the night.  This is set up to encourage the kids to 'want' to improve their flexibility.  Kicks on the wall are NOT comfortable....especially the numbers of kicks that we are going to do in a single night before this class is over.

The first day, all we did was complete 'the big three' exercises and 100 kicks.  The actual number of kicks was around 300-400 due to all the 'start overs' that were earned.  Four kids cried during this exercise.

Day Two

We did a recap of the rules and began 'the big three' exercises.
The students did approximately 250 Jump-n-Jacks, 50 pushups and 100 sit ups.

We moved to the wall for wall kicks.  The kids did 400 kicks today.  Only 2 kids cried during this exercise.  At the end of the day, I pointed out that:
1st day we did 100 kicks.....day two we did 400
1st day 4 people cried.....day two, 2 people cried
Why?  What was the difference?
1st day...more kids struggled with 'the big three'
2nd day....less kids struggles with 'the big three'
Why?  What changed?   Did your muscles get stronger in 16 hours?  Or did your mind get stronger?

We talked about the weaknesses of the human body and how to protect them.  We sparred using only hands and only making contact to the stomach and chest area.  We talked about human nature and how we have to re-program our nature in order to be effective in the Elite Team and the study of combat.

Human nature dictates that when someone is walking towards us attacking us, we should back up.  We demonstrated to the students that moving forward is more effective.  Others back away from the threat....we move towards it....we are the Elite Team.

The Elite Team

The Elite Team, by design, motivates students to redefine what their personal best is.  The course is difficult.  None of the students have ever been pushed so hard or for such a long duration (2 hours).  The Elite Team gets students to the point where they perform their best because they want to and not because a teacher or coach is pushing them to.  The students will be able to focus for longer periods and will learn more effectively.  

The course only lasts for 8-10 weeks but the rewards for participation far excede that time period.

Again, we use martial arts as a tool to enhance behavior and teach students 'Life Skills' that will help them succeed later in life.  We build 'frames of reference' the students can use when they are faced with difficult tasks.  These 'frames of reference' help students break down difficult things into smaller more manageable peices that are easier to overcome.

I plan to bog about the successes of the students every week after the Elite Team class.