First, an adult MTC student shared with us that she had a realization. She was not only not enjoying the process of her work in TKD, she was not even fully living it, by constantly thinking forward to the next task she needed to perform. Consequently she was not fully present on the mat and disappointed with herself for underperforming.
For all of us the lesson is: Come to Taekwondo (and all things in life) fully prepared to give your undivided attention and full energy to the task at hand, so that you may enjoy the full benefit of what life is offering up to you. Otherwise you will walk through Taekwondo and life without truly discovering your potential.
Second, a MTC parent said to me: "My child is bad at Poomse." When truly analyzed from our perspective this student is amazing at all aspects of Taekwondo, including Poomse. Every class he gives his all and excels at whatever he tries. It is true that he makes at least 90% of his classes which meet 2 days per week, and that when it is time to perform Poomse for a test or tournament he still struggles. What is the disconnect?
For all of us the lesson is: Poomse (a set pattern of self defense against imaginary attackers) needs to be performed on a regular basis to be committed to memory). The method we recommend is to define a time, of 15 minutes or less each day, (like right before TV time) to dedicate to doing Poomse.
Recently we have worked on Poomse in each class, then asked students to perform them in the Sept. Tip Tests. Every student experienced a marked improvement. We watched them all enjoy the feelings of accomplishment and ask all MTC families to carve out a small amount of practice time so we can continue this beneficial trend.
from the desk of Mrs. Rosbarsky
