Day 16 - Things to do from a Side Mount

You know how some things are so obvious you completely refuse to believe that they are true until somebody shows you? Well, I had one of those moments yesterday in my 3 hour Ninja Training.

As on most Saturdays, Ninja Training began with a discussion on Ninja Leadership. Ninja Master instructed on the importance of keeping a quality "Inner Circle." While this has only been my second Ninja Leadership lesson, I have had the same progression of attitudes both times. At first, I go in with skepticism and even a bit of resentment that I am having to sit through more leadership lessons (having been saturated with these lessons for most of my life). That skepticism slowly faded, however, as I began to listen to what Ninja Master had to say. The thesis of his speech yesterday was that you need to pick your friends carefully. While he called in an "Inner Circle," I would prefer to call it my "Brain Trust." So Ninja Master suggested (in a nutshell) that the people you allow to be in your Brain Trust need to be individuals who you can count on to look out for your best interests. They can, but may not necessarily include, parents, siblings, significant others, friends. Conversely, those that are close to you, may not necessarily be in the Brain Trust (which proves to be a challenge balancing the relationship with keeping your distance). Listening to some of the Ninja Student comments and stories were interesting too. One Ninja Pupil shared with the class that he was always a follower -- assimilating whatever persona the group he was in had. But since starting the Ninja Training, he was beginning to find himself. I'm not really sure why I am choosing to share that particular story with you, the audience, this evening, except for the fact that it just sorta stuck with me.

Like myself, Ninja Master was not present for lessons last Saturday, so he didn't remember what Ninja Lessons we were supposed to learn. He opted to teach us a counter for when your opponent is trying to lock you into a "closed guard." I had the privilege of having a Ninja Partner who actually knew what he was doing. We'll call him Ninja Stu -- not because his name is necessarily Stu, but because he was a chill and patient guy (like I imagine most people named Stu are). Other than Ninja Stu being a good guy and working with me to get this stuff workable, the second hour of Ninja Lessons was pretty uneventful.

Ninja Sparring (still also known as "Rolling"), was actually alot of fun yesterday. Of my opponents, one was a retired MP (Military Police). He taught me more Ninja Basics which, like I began, were so obvious, there was know way I was going to figure it out on my own. His words were "When in doubt, grab your gi." This was so close to what I had been doing, but just far enough off the mark that the advice was pretty revolutionary. Instead of grabbing my collar like Ninja MP told me, I had been keeping my arms close with some Ninja Karate-Chop Hands. I immediately started applying this technique for the 40 or so minutes that was left and noticed that the number of times I had to tap out declined significantly.

At the end of class, Ninja Master informed me that I would be eligible for my Yellow Belt by Saturday. I'm not sure whether there is a test or anything to go with the promotion, but I did pay my $40 fee and filled out all necessary paperwork. I'm not sure if I deserve the yellow just yet, but it'll be pretty cool to level up...