This blog is adapted heavily from the video Sir Dalos put together on behalf of FWACK, the team that puts on SKBC every year. You can find this video on his page, One Grind Nation on Facebook, and see him at SKBC April 4-7, 2024 in Las Vegas, NV. Suffice to say, this wouldn’t exist without him.
SKBC is trying something new for the second year in a row, and we’ve seen a lot of questions come up around this year’s format from folks who have signed up for classes, and we hope to address those questions here. Pods are the first slot on Friday, and it’s a class that you are automatically signed up for, and highly encouraged to attend. Here’s what they are and what we're hoping to accomplish with them.
The Pods structure will start with randomly assigned students grouped together and will rotate through the available instructors for a style analysis type class. The feedback from the instructors will be specific and brief, allowing the students to focus on actionable feedback they can immediately implement. Simply put, we’ve adapted one of our most popular classes to accommodate more students with the time the event allows.
Students will be separated into smaller groups, called Pods, and will be able to rotate through all available instructors. Students will spend some time fighting each other with a subset of instructors watching and analyzing students’ fighting. Instructors will give some guidance and feedback, and then students will fight again with different instructors in their subset while they observe, then offer feedback. Break, rinse, repeat, until “Rotate!” is called and the student Pods will move to the next subset of instructors. Students will move on to another group so on and so forth until they’ve moved through every subset of instructors that are participating in the Pods. The end result is students will have exposure to most of the SKBC instructors, and we believe it should help students receive as much guidance as they possibly can.
When students first get to SKBC, one of the problems they often face is trying to pick the right classes. Students look at the catalog of classes and think, “What class do I sign up for?” We’ve found that a lot are really excited to see certain instructors, but either the classes filled up, or there was a conflict in class schedules for the students. There's only a finite number of class slots that students can sign up for, and there’s not enough time to see all the instructors that they want to see. Even with “Instructor Cards” or one-on-ones throughout the event, students still don't get time with all the instructors that they want to get time with. We think the Pods slot will address this.
Fighters often wish they had a coach in their corner either for tournaments or ditching. “I wish I had that warlord, that sort of knight's brain. I wish that they were in my corner to kind of help me figure out what am I doing wrong in the moment while I'm fighting, or right after the fights... to help me become a better fighter kind of right in that moment.” The idea is to use Pods to help students have a “warlord brain” in their pocket while fighting. The small groups will help facilitate dedicated feedback from instructors to students.
One of the things we’re most excited about is it'll be the first time that students will get that much guidance. Never before in the history of SKBC have students been able to get exposed to that many different instructors in the period of class time allotted. Students will be exposed to many different, varying methods and styles that will help them in their fighting journey. It’s FWACK’s and the instructors’ sincere hope that students will find something that really gels for them.
If students can find a few things that really stand out and help them reach the next level they’re working towards, then we call the event a success. We also believe in helping students build relationships that will help foster their growth. These relationships go far beyond SKBC. They span throughout the year until the next SKBC or major fighting event. Those relationships can help coach and guide you even past SKBC.
“In the words of our ancestors. Be excellent to each other and stay on the rock.”
Video by Sir Dalos
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Formatted by Kiara Everwhacks