Complex Mistakes

Not just in karate, but in many other contexts, mistakes don't stand alone; they happen as a result of other mistakes and there's often more in the equation than something just being right or wrong. This post concerns an example of this in the context of karate.

It was a while ago now,  I was helping a brown belt, (3rd kyu), with ushiro-geri: every brown belt's, (and still, to some extent, my), worst nightmare!! I watched him do it several times, discovering the kick was far from correct, as it would be when done by a 3rd kyu; there's a good reason why it's the same grading syllabus for 2nd and 3rd kyu: it contains some difficult stuff.







Ushiro-geri from Zenkutsu-dachi.




One of the main points about ushiro-geri is that the foot should point downwards when the kicking leg is fully extended. It's a common 'mistake' to have the foot pointing sideways, a 'mistake' this paticular brown belt was making. I indicated it to him, however my feedback wasn't helpful. It did occur to me that the angle of the foot is a difficult aspect of ushiro-geri to control when I rememberd my own experience of it as a brown belt. This wasn't a 'mistake' which stood alone it often happend as a result of things like carelessness or rushing the kick. I reminded him to take it slowly, however it was equally as unhelpful.

Something else I learned from this experience is that it's not half bad an idea to ask students about their training because, as hard to beleive as it is, they do actually know what they're talking about, even if they are less experienced than me! Eventually, I had the idea to ask this brown belt what he found difficult about ushiro-geri. He answerd that it was turning from Zenkutsu-dachi, executing the kick, then returning to the same stance. Doing it from a standstill, he was fine with it.

I remembered having problems with the same thing, but it had improved once I'd developed the right kind of balance overtime, therefore, logically, his case would be similar. This is what I mean about there being more in the equation than something being right or wrong, he didn't have the right kind of balance. But it wasn't because he was doing anything wrong, it was just because of his lack of experience. Give it several months and his ushiro-geri could look quite different. (Although, he would still need to be pointed in the right direction). His foot was at the wrong angle as a result of him rushing  as a result of him not yet having developed the right kind of balance as a result of his lack of experience(which isn't even a mistake!). See what I mean by complex mistakes?

My next post will cover issues regarding the belt system in karate.