Talking of happy training days...
I can remember a time when I was 'playing' with a pole in class, aiming at the wooden man and using a wee bit too much imagination. I accidentally hit one of the arms and Sifu comes over and tells me off before removing all the arms and leg and placed them aside. On returning, he has four sticks, thick waxwood about 2 metres, and he slots them into the wooden man saying, 'hit these, that what they're for, not my arms!'
I continued in total numbness and trained the pole like I'd never even dreamed possible. We never showed this on any of the fifty performances we took part in during our time, but I still practice this way sometimes, just to remind me of those happy days...
Any other memories about training the Pole would be most welcome, as it is all in learning, sharing and seeing where we are all at today.
And thanks for at least discussing our views, now matter how it all seems at first I'm always only too happy to share training memories, especially about stick and pole work. Are you?