Fun Club charity class

OK so I did the charity class yesterday for the Fun Club - not as many people turned up as we'd have liked but i was quite happy with the class size for the size of the hall. it meant they all had a good amount of room to move and also meant i could work on the floor and not on the stage (the notion of being up on a stage still rather freaks me out!)

when i initially got there there was no-one around, had a wee wander about in my neon get-up, attracted a few odd looks.... but nope - no doors open, nothing... odd considering it was 2:15 and we were meant to have the hall from 2pm was beginning to think I'd got the address wrong!

so sat about for a while until I saw Paula, phew! relief! was at least at the right place!

she'd been there since 2 and had gone in search of someone to open the doors. eventually at about 2:25 someone turned up.

so off we went in and set up, i got some Zumbatomic tunes going for the kids while we adults had a good chin wag.

had a few familiar faces show up - Sanna (from uni) and her hubby, Lynseyann and Sharon from Lyna's class. was great to have them there for support but at the same time absolutely terrifying lol

we didn't get going until about 3:20, they wanted to hold off a bit to ensure we got as many people through the door as possible.

the class went really well! had a real mix of participants, young-uns to the 'not-quite-so-young-anymore-but-still-young-at-heart', all fitness levels. my 2 oldest participants up the back were brilliant, gave it what they could and laughed their way through the entire class! i even had FOUR men in the class! yes, you read that right FOUR!! lol

i had read on one of the Zumba instructors' forums about needing to give 150% to get your participants to give 75% and let me tell you this - that is EXHAUSTING! by the 4th song in I was already beginning to feel it and was seriously beginning to wonder if i'd make the end of the class, especially as i still had a good few high energy songs to come! but you pull it from somewhere... not sure where... the enegry of the participants keeps you going i guess, especially when you do give it a bit of welly and you see them laugh at what a prat I must have looked hehe :)

and on the 6th song in - I blanked - and of all songs to blank on - Me Gusta! FFS.... *rolls eyes at self* *facepalm* etc etc, it was only a couple of seconds, but for me it felt like half the song, I was really beginning to panic and nervously announced "i can't remember the steps!" to which i got a lot of laughs (thankfully!), but once the intro had passed it all clicked in and off we went.

all the participants were great, loved seeing all their wee confused faces when the steps got a little more complicated and even more the look of satisfaction when they got it. they really were a good crowd, it was a pleasure to instruct to them!

at the end I had quite a few come up and speak to me which was lovely, it's always great to get feedback especially when you're still pretty new to instructing - this was only my 4th class!

- had comments of 'working muscles i didn't know existed', others asking about classes, participants who'd never been to a Zumba class before saying they'd enjoyed it, i even had a lovely message through FB from one of the participants saying how she'd been to a class before and had been put off of Zumba from it but came to the class to support the cause, and that she enjoyed so much ('converted'!!) that she wants to give it a go again :)

i totally believe there is an instructor out there for everyone, it's just a case of trying out different ones until you find one whose style you like- Zumba is all about being yourself, showing your own unique flair, and that goes for instructors as well as participants.

I have been moved to near tears, absolutely genuinely blown away by the comments i've been recieving, I am SO happy people enjoyed the class! I always get so so so incredibly nervous before a class, these comments really do mean ever so much to me.

all in all between the class, the raffle and the "guess how many sweeties in the jar" £134 was raised for the Fun Club which will go towards a trip for the kids to legoland next year - Well Done everyone!!