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Week Without Walls - Yangshuo

11/16/2013

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Let Me Break It Down for You

Just finished our Week Without Walls trip with this year’s 7th grade students…WHAT A GREAT WEEK! Our days were long but full of good, fun and new experiences.

Day 1 was taken up by an 8 hour bus journey that quickly turned into 10 because of morning traffic in Shenzhen. Luckily, once we found our way out of the city it was a scenic and gorgeous countryside view for the rest of the journey towards Yangshuo. After arriving at 18:00, our bodies were stiff and our stomaches were growling. A little walk later we came close to West Street and ate as a large group, sharing laughs, food and an anticipation for the rest of the week to come. The room was buzzing with energy -- this was going to be a great week!

Day 2 started off with our students getting their blood flowing with some Tai Chi in the morning. Some of them thought of Tai Chi as a slow moving dance that the older generations did in order to stay in shape. Little did they know it was a disciplined form of martial arts; the SWEAT was dripping off of them!

The afternoon kicked off with the middle schoolers organizing themselves for a bit of a camping expedition. After packing a large bag in preparation for a week of activities, they needed to reduce their possessions down to one small backpack: they were going to be hiking in AND out of the campsite over the next 24 hours with it. Some of them didn’t get the hint and had a more difficult (or heavier) walk than others. One of my more favorite quotes was from @NathanLill1, “You pack it, you rack it.” The kids thought he was joking... ha!

After arriving at the campsite the students had some down-time to get acquainted with the surroundings. This time was quickly filled with a game called “Ninja.” Anywhere from two to ten people stand in a circle and take turns trying to hit the other participants below the elbow with only ONE quick strike. If you were being ‘attacked’ you were allowed only ONE move to avoid the attack. I highlight ONE, because of the repeated times they complained, “Mr. K you can’t just keep moving!!” ...my bad. After I decimated each of my challengers (though, not really), it was time to set up tents for the night. 

Observing the tent-setting could have been a favorite highlight of my trip. Even though some students had done it last year, you could tell they had forgotten how! I had to get my camera out and become a ‘close-up’ sniper, taking surreptitious shots of the lost expressions on their faces. They were priceless; it was almost as if we had asked them to figure out them most challenging algorithm known to man. Actually to be fair, some of the kids would probably have enjoyed that much more. 

Several “China-style” BBQs were set up and small groups huddled around them making sure that their meat was cooked just right. The vegetables were left on the table. No falls, burns or miscellaneous fires to report; everyone was fed. [Editor’s Note: I am sure you can imagine a hoard of 8 middle schoolers trying to use and open flame to cook the only food they were going to get that night. ]

We finished up the night with a couple of night games and the third annual EPIC chicken feet eating contest. The ‘Hermanator’ ran away from his competitors. Raw video footage has been taken and the movie will be on YouTube soon enough. I don’t even want to ruin it with any more words!

After “sleeping” in the outdoors our Day 3 started off with a trip to the MUD CAVES. Sixty minutes upon entering the caves using a very old metal boat tugged forward by the driver using a rope, THE KIDS GOT INTO THE MUD! (I used that term “kids” loosely; among the students were teachers as well. No matter who nor how old you are, when mud is involved, EVERYONE becomes a kid at heart. It took us almost an hour to get ourselves “clean” afterwards by swimming in the still water pool at the entrance. Clean may not be the best term here, but it describes the state of being, at least, less muddied.

Mr. Lill gave explicit directions to the kids when he boarded the bus: “we have 20 minutes until we get to the rock climbing site. Maybe it would be a good time for a nap?”  Thanks to the power of his suggestion, I was also able to get 19 minutes of much needed shut-eye (as did ALL of the students). After being woken by the jerking halt of the bus wheels, middle schoolers spilled off the bus looking with NO energy or will to go climbing. 

If it wasn’t for our AWESOME guides pushing our kids towards “Swiss Cheese Mountain,” I don’t know if anyone (other than Alli) would have been into climbing that day. The Aussie guide named Loki got it all started, jumping right in and explaining what was going to happen. There was to be no excuses, no whining, no questions. 

I have never seen such a great climbing result from first time climbers! I am getting the chills just writing this. I saw students bang into jagged rocks, fall from failure to hold on and come to the bottom in full-on muscle convulsion (the kind you get when you spent ALL your energy) AND NOT ONE DID GIVE UP! I was sitting at the base of the cliff face snapping as many photos as possible. I felt like a proud papa in that moment. There was the constant shouting of encouragement, congratulations and the excited sort of energy that you can only feel at the base of a wall. It was just amazing. To end it, Alli hit the highest point on the mountain possible as her 7th grade cohort watched in awe from afar.

Let’s just say that curfew was not a problem for our kids on this third night, that was for sure.

No Tai Chi on the fourth morning, just food and a short trip to get our bicycles. Going through Yangshuo on a bicycle is a “must-do”, if you every visit this place. Too much scenery and brilliance would be missed if you only got around in a vehicle. It doesn’t hurt to get some great physical activity and fresh air, as well. Some students had to work harder than others; there were a few spills off a bumpy trail amongst the field plots, some bloody scrapes and a couple of broken bikes by the time we ended our 10K journey at a “mom and pop” farm for lunch. 

THIS IS WHERE IT HAPPENED. This is where I have had the most organic, savory meal of my entire life! The tastes were unreal! Everything we ate was harvested and picked, quite literally, minutes before we arrived. The vegetables were “so fresh and so clean, clean!” The meal was prepared by the ma and pa farmers themselves and the scenery through the open windows was something out of a novel. Rice paddies, orchards and crops grew next to the elevated lookout room we all ate in. My goodness, it was just a treat!

After food, we got the digestive juices flowing by getting onto our feet. 800+ steps later, we found ourselves above Yangshuo cradled by Moon Hill. This would be our last panoramic view on this trip, a trip that saw it’s difficulties, successes and most importantly: growth. 2013‘s Week Without Walls is about giving students something they don’t normally get; it’s about pushing boundaries, creating bonds and experiencing something new! This year’s grade 7 WWW trip did it all and then some! 

Thanks our awesome 7th Grade team that could make it happen and Mulan and her crew for guiding us! 

Simply put, this trip was BOSS!
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Injury Prevention during Sport

11/10/2013

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Injury prevention is an important part of any person's life, accidents can happen at any time. Prevention is important because once an injury occurs it could take weeks or even months to recover. The next couple of blog spots are going to have to do with answering the question: What can you do to avoid sports injuries?

Proper Warm-Up AND Cool-down

There are many parts to injury prevention during sports, but the MOST important is proper warm-up and cool-downs. In the past athletes lined up or stood in a circle and counted to 15 as they held a stretch for their hamstrings, quads, thighs and all other part of their bodies. This archaic way of stretching will do NOTHING for your muscles before a workout. Below, I am going to walk you through a proper warm-up for your muscles and how to correctly use both STATIC stretching as well as DYNAMIC stretching to help prevent injuries.

DYNAMIC stretching is the best way to properly warm-up your muscles for any activity. Dynamic simply means movement. You need to move your body while stretching. Walking lunges for 15 meters with a 15 meter jog will stretch your quadriceps, gluteus maximus (rear end) and your hamstrings. I generally add an elbow to instep to really make sure my athletes are getting down far enough. Writing this, I'll have to make a video of a dynamic warm-up you can use before an exercise to get your body warm and your muscles ready for action. Last thing I would like to comment on is, a dynamic warm-up is that you should also pair it with the sport specific movements. If you are playing rugby or basketball, add in ball handling drills throughout the movements. If you are going to be playing soccer (football), use the time to add in some touch drills so athletes can work on skill development. Make it simple and keep it technical, using proper form is of the upmost importance. 

STATIC stretching is meant to cool down and elongate your muscles. When pairing static stretching with athletics you have to remember this key concept, muscles are best elongated when they are warm, therefore static stretching is best done at the END of your activity. There are two main reasons why we want to elongate our muscles. First and foremost it develops our flexibility, a flexibly body can stretch further that the opposite, therefore if a body does need to stretch beyond it's usual because of an external force the tissue will flex rather than tear. Second, flexibility will increase range of motion. Range of motion is great for all sorts of things, including tying your shoes, sitting cross legged on the floor or in my case right now, jamming myself in the small quarters of an Asian airplane. As a 6'4" westerner, I find myself sometimes constrained by the size of things in the eastern world. Just recently I went back to my elementary days and the duck walk when climbing through the Cu Chi tunnels in Vietnam. I'll tell you what, if I didn't have my flexibility and range of motion I don't know if I would have been able to experience that. 

Both dynamic and static stretching is important, JUST as important as performing them in the correct order before activity. Just remember to always, always, always, focus on the technique of the stretch as well as the stability throughout the stretch. By doing so you and your athletes will become more flexible and less prone to injury throughout your life.
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#QandAToday

11/7/2013

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Some of you may be wondering, most of you don't really care, but I thought I would at least give you a heads up as to WHY! Why have I decided to do a #QandAToday? Really, it's been a combination of boredom, stumbling upon fun questions to ask people and a chance to try out the BufferApp.com.

I have found myself wanting to post things to my students, but don't want to overload them, so I schedule posts on FB and Twitter using #BufferApp. I figured the kids don't need to be the ones benefiting from this cool system, so now I can ALSO send out Questions of the day! So check it out the feed below and have fun responding. If you have any questions you would like me to post, feel free to write them in the comment and I'll be sure to get them asked!

Have a great day!
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#20kin21Days

11/7/2013

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And so it begins! After several conversations between my wife and I, she has surprised me with a trip to...well I don't actually know. But what I do know is that we will be doing a little running on our "vacation!" 

Last year I was surprised with a trip to Taiwan and we went to the beautiful Taroko Gorge, so I am very excited to see where this trip will take us to.

The "run" though, will be in an unknown part of Asia with the distance of 20km. I have not ran 20k since my last half-marathon which was FIVE years ago in Italy, I think this is going to be quite the challenge. I don't know if I would consider myself an expert runner, but I know physiology. So with that as my basis, I am willing to put my feet to the road to see if a program I found on the internet one night can get me to the finish line.

This Sunday will start the training. Click on the program and take a moment to laugh it up! That's right, you are reading the first workout correctly. It's put up or shut up time, run 20-22k at 75% of race pace. That's it, here is my challenge and now we will see just how fit I am. If you you'd like, you can follow me throughout my journey via twitter using #20kin21Days. My most recent posts are all below! 


Here's to some #FitnessFun with @PhysEdDude! Anyone else want to join?

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    Mr. Mark Knudsen
    @PhysEdDude

    PhysEd & Life Skills
    Shekou International School
    Creator of iPEC


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