{"id":27442,"date":"2016-02-11T10:10:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T15:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=27442"},"modified":"2016-02-11T10:10:48","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T15:10:48","slug":"little-victories-and-where-to-find-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2016\/02\/11\/little-victories-and-where-to-find-them\/","title":{"rendered":"“Little Victories” and Where To Find Them"},"content":{"rendered":"You\u2019ll never guess what I got to do last weekend. I took a stunt fighting seminar! We have a Jiu Jitsu regional event every few months and last Saturday\u2019s regional welcomed Lori O\u2019Connell from British Columbia.\r\n\r\nLori O\u2019Connell is a 5th<\/sup> degree black belt in Can Ryu Jiu Jitsu and a professional stuntwoman! Move over Ronda Rousey (former<\/em> UFC champion), I\u2019ve found a more suitable role model.\r\n\r\n
\"Source:<\/a>
Source: lorioconnell.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nIt was AWESOME. Best decision I\u2019ve made recently. We practiced different aspects of stunt fighting and then choreographed short stunt scenes and filmed them. I picked up a signed copy of her book When the Fight Goes to the Ground: Jiu-Jitsu Strategies and Tactics for Self-Defense<\/em> afterward, which I\u2019m super happy about.\r\n\r\nTrying new things has been bringing me a lot of pleasure lately. I think it\u2019s largely due to what I\u2019ve coined as \u201clittle victories.\u201d Often, when you start something new, it takes a period of a sort-of blind, hopeful dedication before you find anything to celebrate. You have to be patient and trust that the successes will come. In my new aerial silks class, however, we recently agreed that every time we climb up on the silk we get to experience a \u201clittle victory.\u201d It\u2019s such a challenge and it feels so good to just attempt it and come out of it with sore arms and a smile. I felt the same about stunt fighting on Saturday, so I\u2019m wondering if the sources of these \u201clittle victories\u201d tend to be the uncommon, unorthodox challenges we take on.\r\n\r\n\"12698891_10153940833156103_904445087_o\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nI would take on lots of these challenges \u2014 and I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not alone \u2014 if it weren\u2019t for the associated cost. Some of the most unusual, awesome experiences to be had are the most expensive to finance. So, in this post I want to highlight relatively accessible, relatively inexpensive adventures to be had on campus and in Toronto.\r\n
    \r\n\t
  1. Parkour<\/a>: Parkour \u2014 also known as free running \u2014 is like street gymnastics. Instead of walking down the sidewalk to get to the subway, a parkour practitioner (parkourer?) dives over a railing, flips off a curb and over a bicyclist to get to where he\/she needs to go. You too can make a Rube-Goldberg (common physics project: a machine that accomplishes a very simple task in an utterly complicated sequence of steps) of your commute! For $115 you can take the parkour class at the AC for the term.<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Springboard Diving<\/a>: This is SO tempting. Learn to dive (read as: be a mermaid\/man)! Take advantage of the only Olympic sized pool in the city at the AC. Only $84 for the term!<\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Fencing<\/a>: I had the privilege of trying my hand at fencing last year and it\u2019s really a lot of fun. It\u2019s a great way to stay active and embrace your inner warrior. Best part? It\u2019s available at the AC! We ought to give that place more love. Look at all it has to offer! The fencing class is a little pricier than some other options, though each session is also almost 2 hours \u2014 whereas the less expensive choices above are shorter sessions. The price tag on a semester of fencing is $175.<\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Gymnastics<\/a>: I tend to show some bias here, but the fact of the matter is that gymnastics is one of the three fundamental sports for athlete development. Also, you get to fly and feel magical. Flexibility is a big plus as well, you can\u2019t train for gymnastics without \u201cmaking gains\u201d in that department. This class has a bigger time commitment associated with it, as it runs twice a week for almost 2 hours. The cost is $285 for the semester, which works out to about $7\/hour of instruction.<\/li>\r\n\t
  5. Trampoline<\/a>: Who doesn\u2019t want to fly? You can earn your wings at the AC in the trampoline class. $155\/semester. Cape not included.<\/li>\r\n\t
  6. Drop-in Recreation<\/a>: I\u2019ve been mentioning a lot of registered programs, but let\u2019s not forget about all the free drop-in programs available! From Zumba to strength and conditioning classes, these free fitness breaks are available at all of the athletic facilities, so you\u2019re never far from them!<\/li>\r\n\t
  7. MoveU Fun Fridays<\/a>: Have you heard of Fun Fridays? Your MoveU team organizes fun fitness events every few weeks on Friday evenings. They\u2019re usually outlandish \u2014 outlandishly awesome! Quidditch, pickleball, water polo... I\u2019m interested to see what they\u2019ve got coming up next! Best part: FREE.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
    \"Source:\"<\/a>
    Source: giphy.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWell, not yet but between MoveU Fun Fridays and my aerial silks class, I think early excitement is justified. Can\u2019t wait for more little victories!","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019ll never guess what I got to do last weekend. I took a stunt fighting seminar! We have a Jiu Jitsu regional event every few months and last Saturday\u2019s regional welcomed Lori O\u2019Connell from British Columbia.\r\n\r\nLori O\u2019Connell is a 5th<\/sup> degree black belt in Can Ryu Jiu Jitsu and a professional stuntwoman! Move over Ronda Rousey (former<\/em> UFC champion), I\u2019ve found a more suitable role model.\r\n\r\n
    \"Source:<\/a>
    Source: lorioconnell.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nIt was AWESOME. Best decision I\u2019ve made recently. We practiced different aspects of stunt fighting and then choreographed short stunt scenes and filmed them. I picked up a signed copy of her book When the Fight Goes to the Ground: Jiu-Jitsu Strategies and Tactics for Self-Defense<\/em> afterward, which I\u2019m super happy about.\r\n\r\nTrying new things has been bringing me a lot of pleasure lately. I think it\u2019s largely due to what I\u2019ve coined as \u201clittle victories.\u201d
    Continue reading ““Little Victories” and Where To Find Them”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758,63,7204,62,65,61,70,66,67],"tags":[25512,784,768,543,341,1733,403,15623,15823,9420,1734,15624,15822,15824,1837,766,887,15821],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27446,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27442\/revisions\/27446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}