Back to TKD Monday night

I realize as I'm driving over that it's been exactly 2 weeks since I've been to TKD class. I wonder if I'll remember anything.

As I pull in to the parking lot I see Ms. Pryor's little red Vibe. I'm glad her reappearance was not just temporary! I dash up the stairs and see her in the dojang. She's wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, not her uniform; apparently she's had some surgery and is taking it easy.

But she leads the class today with her relentless energy, high demands, new moves. We do our warm-up kicks in circles rather than rows, and then we move on to some new sparring techniques, a fake-then-roundhouse combination that's tricky but fun.

About half-way through, she's getting worn out. We are given time to "work on whatever you need to work on." Brian and I agree to go through forms, but Tyler asks if we can help him with step sparring. Mindy and Jessica want help, too. "I don't know any of them," says Jessica, a young junior black belt.

So Brian and I teach step sparring, which is cool because it's something I actually know pretty well! I work with Jessica, and he helps the older students.

At the end of class (after flying side kicks! my favorite!), Ms. Pryor says that she had been gone because she thought she needed a change, but had come back because she loved teaching. I'm glad for her dedication, and I understand how teaching can have such a pull. It's nice to be able to teach something you know, which is what I did with step sparring this evening. But for me, I need to be learning, too; I wouldn't want to JUST teach. I can see how it would be hard for black belts to keep feeling challenged.

It'll be Saturday before I'm back, but at least I have ballet twice before then.