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We have two sessions, one with beginners and intermediates and one at weekend which is armour only. The latter is basically individual warm-up, then two hours of suburi, sempai men, kirikaeshi drills, men, kote, do drills, oji wasa techniques and then gi-geiko for last half hour. I invariably run out of time for drills (just got an interval timer to try to address this). We also introduce referree practice and shiai practice into this weekend session. One of my class (UK team member) also runs a university class which practices 2-3 times a week. Some of my class practice at this club when they get the chance, mostly in armour.
My class with beginners and intermediates starts with 30-40 mins of Kata, followed by suburi, sempai men and a short break. Then into armour, kirikaeshi, men, kote, Do, specific choice of oji wasa and finish with gi-geiko. Those not in armour practice men and Kote with those in armour as we rotate. Depending on ability we nomally try to get students into Club armour at between 3-6 months.
I have invited two of my students over to the high side in order to achieve continuity when I am unavailable. Frankly, they have a better feel for the technicalities and can explain them a lot better than myself. I don't practice as widely as I did before, mainly because of wear and tear on knees and shoulder's. As a consequence my two assistants have a better feel for the latest teaching practices and the class as a whole benefits from their instruction.
Every training session consist of suburi and kirikaeshi (if there isn't suburi, I do them before classes anyway). Being in a central club, we have to cater to learners of varying experiences and every time we progressed to slightly advanced techniques, we revert back to basics with the introduction of junior kenshis graduating from their beginner class.
This was mainly due to space and (more so) the number of senseis. I had the benefit of learning in a smaller school club for 3 years which practiced wazas more often (at least before major competitions) but with the lack of waza practice at the current location, it was difficult for me to improve them. After all, I can only "practice" wazas during jikeiko (we get to do about 1 ~3 sessions) and less so on a more controlled and learning pace.
Funny thing was, while I was wondering how to improve my wazas, I find myself wandering back trying to improve my basics (footwork, tenouchi etc). So it goes back to suburi and more kirikaeshi etc during my free time.
I am looking forward to your post regarding this matter!
I was always enthusiastic about going back to basics. Whenever I was given chance to just focus on footwork, posture etc. I would relish the opportunity as once you get past a certain point you are just perceiving you are doing it correctly when you're probably not. By enjoying this chance to refressh and sharing that experience with beginners, who have probably done even less basics in an attempt to keep them interested and progressing, I hope they too learned of the benefits of basics.
Did Kihon for over six months in the corner of the dojo by myself before I was allowed to put a bogu on and participate in general practice. We no longer do this 30 years later but I think that current practitioners don't have the same depth of basics as people who started in that era...
We have had students practice basics for 6 months without complaint, it's the most important lesson a good teacher can give