No Brown Belt Left Behind

Two of my adult aikido students (brown belts) are up for testing this fall. They are going for the 2nd level of brown belt. What that means, of course, is that the instructors are being evaluated based on how the students perform. Sensei has implemented a "mentorship" program so that if the testing candidates screw up, he can yell at their instructors. Since both of them attend my class more than others, I will likely be their chosen mentor.

I am generally fine with that. I have one student I know will do well. I have another, though, who does not attend class regularly. I try to correct some of his techniques, but he doesn't practice enough to change his habits. Then he gets yelled at in Sensei's class and Sensei asks me, "Why haven't you corrected this?" I don't want to be blamed for this guy's rough edges! Actually, if he doesn't attend much more than he has, he will not test. He has about 5 weeks to work on it.

Incidentally, the technique demonstrated in this icon is one of the throws on the test. I hope they perform it better than these guys in the animation. (Damn! I am picky! Maybe that's why I get to be a mentor...)