Rene's Senior Blog: April 2013

Independent Component 2

Literal
(a) I, Rene Lacad, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) 1. Dustin Lenaburg (Mentor, 4th Degree Black Belt, 26 years of martial arts experience)

Being my mentor, Mr. Lenaburg constantly kept an eye on me during my mentorship, and continuously corrected any errors I may have had, taught me things about karate sparring, as well as taught me life lessons. He had me either assisting him in class, teaching class, or helping students individually in sparring. On occasion he would have me jump into a class to see what it was like on the recieving end of being taught.

2. Zachary Wagner (Fellow Practitioner, 2nd Degree Black Belt, 10+ years of martial arts experience.)

During my additional 30 hours on mentorship for my independent component, my fellow karate practitioner took it upon himself to help my learning process. Because of his experience advantage on me, in karate, as well as competition, he had many helpful tips and tricks when it came to fighting in and out of a tournament setting.

(c) Download Link:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B05pZms1OmNYWlY2cGRQMnJvWFU/edit?usp=sharing

(d) For my independent component I originally planned to train, compete, and hopefully succeed at a nationwide karate tournament. Unfortunately, there were family matters that I had to attend last minute, and I had to cancel on the tournament. My new independent component had then become an additional 30 hours, and that is what I had set out to do.

My mentor was glad to hear this because it would mean I could be in the studio more. In the additional 30 hours, I was assigned and various tasks that my mentor expected me to do. These tasks included teaching sparring classes, assisting him teaching classes, sparring students and fellow black belts, individually working with students in sparring to better my technique, and staying later into the night to close up the studio. One thing I could consider an achievement is I now have a key to the studio.

Interpretive
One sure way to prove that I had put at least 30 hours of work into my independent component is the fact that I now have a key to the studio. It wouldn't make sense for a business owner to take the time and effort to create a copy of a key to give to a person they don't have faith in to complete a task. Other forms of evidence are the multiple pictures I took during my mentorship. The pictures consist of me teaching and lecturing students, me joking with my students and associates, and even a picture with Ipoly Alumni. (Below are pictures)

Applied
Due to my constant exposure to sparring, whether it be through teaching students moves, and training them for competition, or personal experience while training myself, I have picked up new knowledge on all three of my answers to my essential question. I discovered many different perspectives, as well as asked other black belts what they believe is the best answer and got many different answers. This component helped me widen my base of knowledge on karate, and pushed me to fully commit to the best answer.

Evidence: