Mondo Rick-o: My First Day Coaching

When I blogged on Friday, I was expecting to do my first solo trapeze coaching session on Saturday. There were four people signed up: Steve, plus friends Lacey, Jaime, and Moet. This would have been perfect because it was small, populated by people who'd had a few classes and would know the language, and kind of be a trial run for future classes.

Then on Saturday morning, as I set out the crash pads and mats, my class of four became a class of nine. Yes, NINE!

Here's the thing... normally a class has one instructor per five people. Once you hit six, you add a second instructor. But the whole reason I was asked to coach solo was because every other coach was out of town-- all performing in shows. Plus, when it's five minutes before class starts there's no way to find someone to just show up. So suddenly, I had to fake it.

I'm pretty good at improv, and it helped that all but three people in the class had some experience, so if said, "Go climb the silks," they could do it without a problem. The one negative, however, is that when your friends are there you take advantage of them. That meant that Steve, Jaime and Lacey (above) got neglected. I worked with them three times during class (where I outfitted them in shirts I'd brought so they wouldn't hurt their armpits during a couple new moves) but not nearly as much as I would have liked.

I actually asked them all to hang out after class and gave them a bit more one-on-one time once the others had left so that it was worth their money. Because let's face it-- these aren't cheap classes, so I wanted people to feel like they got their money's worth.

But at the end of it all, everyone seemed to have a good time, and a bunch of people bought a series of classes. In fact, four are coming back Monday night (I'm co-teaching that night), so I guess people enjoyed themselves.

An upside for me, was that one of the new people in class was a yoga "flier" -- that is, someone who does partner balancing and massage with pressure and positioning body weight (or something like that). So after class when I was doing the extra training with Steve and the girls, Jennifer (the new girl) offered to fly me.

This was a crazy fun experience, having her balance my 175 pounds on her feet, spin me in circles, turn me upside down, and put me into a handstand on her hands.

It's strange, because when you're upside down it's tough to tell what's right and left, plus I'm used to being in control because I'm generally the strongest person in the room; I'd be the one holding someone else in the air. So having this one small woman holding me up was sensational, and after I felt totally high. I'm really hoping she sticks around for training, but also to become a part of our community.