all by myself

I led an introductory class all by myself tonight. When Grandmaster asked me to do it, I thought I could handle it. Walking into the classroom with 18 people staring at me....well....a bit of stage fright set in.

Stupid things I messed up:

• Counting to 10 in Korean.  I got 2 of the numbers mixed up (7 and 8). This is literally something I can do backwards and forwards in my sleep. Yeah....I dream in a little Korean.
• The bow-out procedure.
• Correcting the kid standing right next to me when he was doing back leg round houses instead of a front leg round house.
• Doing a cross punch incorrectly with my left hand (it was rotated the wrong way). I had a parent point it out to me afterwards.
• Showing the protocol for returning to ready stance after an exercise.
• A little too much explaining of korean terms.

The few things I did right:

• Enthusiasm: I made myself hoarse, lots of high fives, lots of energy.
• Cheesey: I laid on the enthusiasm a bit thick and made sure I was a little goofy at times to get the kids attention.
• Lots of pointing out to kids giving them praise for doing technique correctly.

I have to say that that I wasn't completely alone. Another black belt was in the room reminding me how to do things right when I had my momentary lapse of reason. She was a life saver.

What you lack in experience, make up in enthusiasm.