In my blog “be like Mario” I commented how you always had to go back to Level 1 in Mario to eventually save the princess. The game didn’t allow you to start where you left off because it wanted you to hone your muscle memory in the lower levels over and over.
All that is true, but it needs to be said that levels have nothing to do with your ability and worth as a poler. Watching Heidi Coker do a Fireman Climb and a Beginner Poler do the same move doesn’t make the move different, it is still a Fireman Climb. What is different between the two is the ease at which they executed the move because of the number of times they have done that move.
So often our students stay in the top level they got to, even when life has happened and that level is now a struggle. POLE IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN. If the main F word you feel in class is frustration over fun, go back down a level for a few weeks. Taking an Advanced 1 class when you’re “Extreme” doesn’t mean you aren’t “Extreme”. We don’t go into the system and take away the highest level you achieved! You are still an “Extreme” student who now is smart enough to take Advanced 1 to help her progress.
The level you are cleared for does not mean your pole ability. The level you are cleared for is just the skills you are ready to work on. That doesn’t mean all the skills before it you can forget, if anything those skills are now more important than ever. The level you are enrolled in is NOT your self worth or ability as a poler. Level is just what you’re focusing on in that class. Sometimes what is the focus of a class level isn’t what you personally need that day because life happened and that day you need a review of something that is a skill you forgot. Be the smart poler and go to where your needs that day are requesting rather than where your ego wants you to be. Your ego isn’t your pole friend; but fun is. It’s way more healthy for you and you’ll stay with the sport a lot longer if the main F word you feel at the studio is FUN.