One year already !

Wow, it's already been more than a year. I actually gave a first class on February 3rd to a few karate guys, but it really started April 16th. At that time, I had a couple of semi-interested karate guys, and some very excited "warrior-type" guys with much MA experience. They had pretty much hunted me down and were very insistent on joining a class ("don't worry, at least 6 of us will always be at practice" was the quote). First class was attended by about 10 people, which turned to 8 after 1 week, 6 after 2 weeks and 3 after 1 month. Fortunately around the same time, 3 old dudes showed up saying they had learned Kendo 15 years ago from a Japanese expat who had stayed here for a few years. So they joined with much enthousiasm, only to be told (by me) that they had to start from scratch. That pissed off one of them, and the two others are still regulars today. Out of the original group of 10, only one remains, that's K. The brothers from down south had purchased armours on a trip to the states, but so far have only attend about 25 classes. Every time they show up (last time was about 3/4 months ago) it gets harder and harder, since they have to relearn everything, so it seems to me that they're goners.

Since the excitement of the first months, things have been up and down, many practices with only me and K, most of the times 3-4 people at best. But to me it was expected, since I did little or no promo. And our dojo at the time was located a bit far from where most people live. I took the necessary time to setup things properly and am quite proud of the result. In addition to the original practice local (Saturdays) we now practice in a nice, cheap and central dojo. Since we started there I've seen a steady increase in participation, and more importantly, less dropouts. So things have stabilized quite a lot since the beginning of the year. 6-10 consistently show up for classes, and there's a nice variety in levels so it makes it interesting and motivating to say the least.

Time to celebrate !