Building a human pyramid (made of children)!

This week in our 4’s and 5’s class at The Academy, students reviewed various ways to handle an unexpected incoming strike (from an imaginary arm-swinging classmate) with blocking, absorbing and evading [stepping, ducking and jumping]. Students are encouraged to utilize good double-frame [head covers] at all times, and to keep their awareness out. New material included learning how to allow a large padded bat to make light contact with the body, and then yielding to allow it to roll past the torso or shoulders. Finally, we worked to tighten our bellies and project our voices with a good, strong Ki-Ai.

We have likewise been focusing on form and practicing contracting our core in executing conditioning exercises with squats, push-ups and mountain-climbers. As students have become more familiar with the concept of strength, we finished off this week’s class with a simple partner acrobatics exercise with building a human pyramid! Everyone rotated through and got to experience being either a strong “base” or a gentle “flyer!”