Testing for the Winter term is coming up on Thursday March 29th. If you\u2019ve ever gone through the process at the club before, you\u2019ll know that we promote a low-pressure, informal atmosphere, much like at our classes. The curriculum at maelstr\u00f8m is taught around a quarterly term schedule, with roughly a theme for each of the seasons. Meant to guide the overall consistency of instruction, you\u2019ll find on the white board in the class a list of forms and techniques that may be taught in the term. Instructors, of course, may not get through everything or may add material they find relevant. At the end of the term, the students have the opportunity to show what they\u2019ve learned at testing<\/p>\n
Many students find testing intimidating, but it\u2019s designed to be anything but. The format is this: an instructor will give you a task for you to perform \u2013 alone or with a partner \u2013 on camera. The testing is made up of as many tasks that the time will allow for all the students to complete. It may be doing the 64-form, or the lock flow with a takedown, or any number of things covered during the term. No one cares if you can execute a technique perfectly; indeed, props are given for those who merely show up and give it their best. You\u2019ll have a few minutes prior to being filmed to practice the technique. The entire thing could not be more relaxed as the instructors go around to film each of the students. If you hate being on the spot, don\u2019t worry \u2013 other students are barely watching, since they\u2019re concentrating on practicing for their own turn. Whether it\u2019s your first class (we\u2019ve literally had new students show up for testing unknowingly as their first class and still participate) or your hundredth, testing offers something for you. That\u2019s why we stress that everybody should come out.<\/p>\n
The purpose of testing is to document your progress. On the one hand, it gives our instructors a better idea of where you\u2019re at. But the main goal is to give the student an idea of what they\u2019ve learned. Capturing techniques on film is an excellent way to remember them years later, or to gain new insights on what you\u2019re doing. The material is so rich that there may be certain techniques you literally will not see again for years. And for the ones that we practice all the time, you can see how much better you\u2019ve gotten at them. The film is only available for you \u2013 you can ask the instructors at anytime for a copy of the footage.<\/p>\n
You can also expect to be set some tasks that you may not have practiced, strictly speaking, in the term. This is to shift the focus away from memorizing and regurgitating techniques to the actual, applicable things you\u2019ve learned. So you may be filmed just \u2018playing\u2019 (light sparring) with a partner, or to show some potential finishes mid-drilling cycle. Again, if you\u2019re confused \u2013 we encourage improvising. That\u2019s often when what you\u2019ve really learned comes out!<\/p>\n
Another purpose of testing is obviously ranking. Ranking in Pekiti-Tirisia really doesn\u2019t matter until you get to Lakan Guro (student instructor) or Guro (instructor), and it\u2019s never emphasized. n case I haven\u2019t said it enough, our club is quite informal. But we know that students like to know where they\u2019re at, and ranking is a handy way to measure it. If you have more questions about ranking in Pekiti-Tirisia, you can find it here (members only area \u2013 ask us for the password!). And you only really get to move up if you come out to the testing. Some people care a lot about this, some people not at all. It all goes back to why you are training.<\/p>\n
If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. There are some tips below to help you prepare. Otherwise, see you at testing!<\/p>\n
Preparing for Testing<\/p>\n
\u2013Review the list of techniques that roughly form the term\u2019s curriculum (find it here, or on the white board at the club). If you\u2019re unsure about any, ask!
\n\u2013Go over the techniques at home. Or do it in your mind on the bus. We also like practicing footwork at the bus stop.
\n\u2013Remember that we all started somewhere. Be forgiving to yourself if you can\u2019t get something right.
\n\u2013Learn from your partners. Most of Pekiti-Tirisia involves drilling with a partner to get a particular concept ingrained in body memory. Since everyone has different body mechanics, it helps a lot to train with as many different partners as possible and to learn from them so that you can execute the technique with anyone.
\n\u2013Ask questions in class! And don\u2019t be surprised if there isn\u2019t \u2018one right answer\u2019. In particular, ask \u2018why?\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s always a good idea to understand the intention and rationale behind why we do things a certain way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Testing for the Winter term is coming up on Thursday March 29th. If you\u2019ve ever gone through the process at the club before, you\u2019ll know that we promote a low-pressure, informal atmosphere, much like at our classes. The curriculum at maelstr\u00f8m is taught around a quarterly term schedule, with roughly a theme for each of the seasons. Meant to guide the overall consistency of instruction, you\u2019ll find on the white board in the class a list of forms and techniques that may be taught in the term. Instructors, of course, Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7285"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7286,"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7285\/revisions\/7286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maelstromcore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}