Jamming it all in: Part 5

For the second time I taught with Rhys, I chose a smaller, more reasonable length block to teach - the Hip Hop block from BJ55, which consists of two tracks, one of which is just over a minute long.

Despite it being such a short block, I scripted in detail. Right down to every single rep, and eight count, like I had been doing for RPM. For a block that was only maybe 3 or 4 minutes in total, I had 7 pages of script. In my mind, I thought that was my coaching sorted.

Wrong. When I got up on that stage, I had given myself far too much to remember and I once again, I was like a deer in the headlights. The chorey was easier to remember, so overall I felt it went better than the previous time, but both myself, and Rhys knew that my method of scripting had to change.

The feedback this time was that there was some techinque that could be refined, but the focus shifted more to coaching. I showed him my script, and he laid out a way of trimming it down and simplifying it. I had written down 'push your left arm out to the corner', and he suggested making the same cue more concise and saying 'left arm, push' while demonstrating the move.

It was the first time I went away with feedback where I felt, "Yeah. Sweet. I can do that." It was the first hurdle that didn't feel insurmountable.

At that stage, teaching with a large number of instructors and as much as I could wasn't really an option. At my sponsor club, I could only teach once I had passed the module, which I hadn't (and to be clear, I got a withheld, which is different from a pass withheld which is an outcome in non LMNZ agencies), and the only other gyms that I were exposed to were Les Mills gyms. Initially the first gym I approached for sponsorship was a Les Mills gym and their response immediately was a No You Can't Train With Us. Teaching with Rhys was all I could do.

So when I got an opportunity to cover RPM for 6 weeks at a gym that coincided with the time I was teaching with Rhys, I'll admit there was a bit of conflict. How could I turn down 6 weeks of covering, though? At this stage I didn't even have my own RPM class at my sponsor club so 6 weeks of covering was a great opportunity. I would have been stupid to turn it down.

This gym wasn't too far in distance from the gym I had been teaching at with Rhys, so I had a suggestion to keep things going. I would teach the RPM class, change into my Jam gear, and run in and shadow the remainder of the class with Rhys.

It was exactly the fitness training I needed. After being pre-fatigued from the RPM, launching straight into a Jam class where I could just focus on the fitness was challenging, but prepared me really well for when I would teach again. Throughout these times when I was shadowing, I had to control myself from not being sick - that's how much it took out of me. It was scary thinking that I still wasn't coaching, but this time, it didn't feel like it was too far away from getting it right.

It also gave me an opportunity to do something else... and that was to get to know Rhys on a more personal level. I was relaxed, and I wasn't bracing myself for any feedback - particularly, feedback that highlighted what I needed to work on. I saw, and understood, that he was someone who didn't take any crap from anyone, and was happy to help if he felt that they deserved it. I still scratch my head over why he considers me as someone who 'deserves it', but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It also cemented the realisation that any feedback he gave was not personal, and never delivered with an intention to hurt. It may hurt hearing that I wasn't the most awesome Jammer in the world, but you know what? He was right. He was right about everything he told me. If I was to get the most out of his feedback, I needed to harden up.