First Training Day: Assessments

I hardly know what to say about today. In some ways it wasn't as hard as I expected. In others it pushed me to my limit. Class started at 8:45 sharp this morning with a pretty standard name game, the one where you toss a ball around the circle in a pattern repeating the name of the person you're receiving from and passing to, then add more balls, then do the pattern backwards, etc. It was useful, but honestly I already knew everyone's names from a couple of months of Facebook stalking them before we even got here. So maybe I had an advantage. Or maybe I just have too much time on my hands...

After that we did some basic stretching, then moved on to the main focus of the day, Assessments. For a little more than an hour we worked with partners and as a whole group to chart how many pulls up we could do (me, 5), push ups in a minute (me, 21), handstand against the wall (only a minute and 15 seconds!?), various fabric climbs, trapeze holds, and wall squats (I thought my 2 minutes was pretty good, but Morgan and Ellen totally showed me up by staying in their squats for 5 minutes!). I was pretty happy with my results, fairly even across the board. It will be interesting to see how much I improve in strength throughout the year.

Next, Serenity worked with us on proper alignment. We did an interesting excursive where we walked around the room just noticing how we naturally hold our bodies. Then we laid down on the floor while she instructed us in how to tweak everything back into it's proper place, followed by another walk around to notice what, if anything, had changed or felt different about our postures. It was useful.

One thing I've noticed and really like about the NECCA program is that it's very holistic. We'll get the traditional learn the tricks and apparatus training, but they are also planning to bring in a nutritionist to talk to us about food, they have a gyro-tonics specialist on staff, a massage therapist who is a circus performer herself, dance classes, running classes, theater classes, and membership to a gym that has a sauna (whoop-whoop!). Basically, this appears to be paradise.

Ended the day in the sauna (right next to the school and a five minute walk from my house) with three new friends from the program. Tomorrow more training at school and a shift at the restaurant.