A Useful Technique for One to One Teaching

I know I wrote a  couple of posts a while ago concerning the issue of teaching Karate and I breifly mentioned this technique in one of them, however I didn't go in to detail about it. Probably because I hadn't realised or appreciated how effective it was because of the amount of teaching experience  I had at the time. I feel that any other karateka who, like myself, aren't very expeienced teachers might find it useful.

To an extent, this will sound blindingly ovbious, but when you're  actually having to teach, as somebody lacking in experience, it isn't like that at all. An effective technique for teaching Karate one to one is, instead of just telling the student what to do all the time, discuss their training with them and ask them some questions about it, ( "How d'you think that went?", " what d'you struggle with in this partcular technique/kata?" etc...) .

This means that, for a start, it's much easier to find out what the student is like as a karateka which can be important to bear in mind when teaching them. It also means that you can identify their weak areas more quickly and effectively so you find the right things to work on with them sooner and the student makes more progress as a result.

Discussing it with them also means that they are encouraged to look at their own training and think for themselves and they get and feel taken seriously as a karateka, therefore they are more likely to have the right attitude to training, make progress and not give up easily if they're dealt with like they're capable of doing those things. I remember my Sensei mentioning once or twice that he taught every student as if they were going to reach 10th Dan- this could've been what he meant by it. I think this effect that discussing stuff  is particularly effective with children, although I've never taught any adults one to one. But I do think, that in many societies and cultures, childern are often talked down to and generally looked down on, so if that's what they're used to, then they're, as Karateka, going to have that mindset that they get from being looked down on in society in training: that they're incapable and that their thoughts and opinions aren't important. I know not all readers will neccsarrily agree with me, but I think that children can be perfectly capable karateka and gain a lot from training.They can't do this if they're not taken seiously in training, even if the rest of society dosen't do the same thing. Infact, the opinion of any student of any age is important to me if I end up asking them what they find difficult about a certain technique/kata to pinpoint what to work on, without it, the efficiency of my teaching would decrease significantly. Or worse, it would have a negatve impact on the rest of their training because they get the idea that they're incapable as Karateka, so they act like it.

For me, as an inexperienced teacher, asking the student questions instead of telling them what to do all the time really takes the pressure off one to one teaching because the focus isn't on me all the time. Besides, it takes expeience to confidently tell people what to do, even if it is counter-productive in the context of teaching karate, so I also avoid showing  my inexpeience so I feel a bit less like a fool(!!) and my decrased discomfort and nervousness mean that I'm able to give better feedback to the student . Finally, if a student is respected, not just as a karateka, but as a person they are more likely to return that respect.

I'm aware a great deal of this is in theory, and you've probably thought up at leat one exception or 'what-if ' by now about this approach to one to one teaching, which I will talk about in my next post. It's true that often in this post I am just speculating, rather than speaking from experience about the effects that it might have, however, in my, at this point in time, relatively short experience of teaching karate, this approach has never had a negative effect.

Advice on Kicks

I don't know about you, but the kicks in Shotokan karate have been far from easy for me to get right. Even now, they are one of my weaker areas. This could be because I'm just naturally like that or lack of practice in my earlier days of training, or a combination of both. One of the things which has happened recently is that certain techniques which I've known for a while and had trouble with executing accurately have begun to fall in to place.

 My Sensei often reminds me to have less physical tension in my body when doing karate; I think now I'm more relaxed than I was as a brown belt, (now that my 1st dan grading is out of the way) which could explain why certain techniques have fallen in to place- it's made a difference and now I realise how much unneccasarry tension I previously had along with how negative an impact it was various techneques!

 Here, I've listed some of my worst kicks and useful things I've picked up about how to execute them correctly as readers might find it useful. If you do try the kicks with my advice in mind, it's worth stretching first and not pushing your body too hard to start with to avoid injury.

1.  Yoko Geri Keage

This is a kick which has only become more easy for me recently. It looks like it should be easy, although  the angle of the hips is just downright awkward, which impacts on the rest of the kick if it's done incorrectly.

. The angle of the hips when executing Keage is similar to that of Mawashi-geri; one has to turn the hip (nearest the kicking leg) over( this was something of a revelation to me!). The images below are my attempt to get across this similarity.

Keage

Mawashi-Geri

.It's the outside edge of the foot that's the striking area for this kick,so it should face down when the knee is first picked up with the sole of the foot facing the inside of the supporting leg, then it's in the right position for when the leg is fully extended.

2. Ushiro Geri

This is definitely a tough kick to get right, and I know it's not just me; I've seen many other brown belts struggle with it. I'ts all very well doing it from a standstill, but the difficulty kicks in whhen one has to do it from Zenkutsu-Dachi. My previous post, 'complex mistakes' talks about this in more detail

.

. When the leg is fully extended and about to  be drawn back before returning to Zenkutsu-dachi, look over the shoulder out of the corner of the eye nearest the kicking leg, (left leg-left eye, right leg-right eye). It means that it's easier not to turn the body too early, which normally happens if you turn the whole of your head fot this part of the kick. The kick is finished properly and it dosen't become a sort of 'ushiro-geri-kekomi'.

.Break it down in to several parts so it's more manageable. Different things work for different people, but pesonally, I favour:

1.Turn to face the back from Zenkutsu-dachi
2.Lift the kicking leg, not fully extended yet,but with the knee bent and the heel tucked in.
3. Fully extend the leg,the body shouldn't be turned at this point.
4.Draw the leg back in and turn the body forward.
5. Return to Zenkutsu-dachi.





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The Importance of Slow Practice

I know I haven't written anything for a while; having ideas about what to write isn't always a regular thing, so apologies for the wait.

Two weeks ago now, we did something in training which I found extremely useful: practicing slowly. It sounds like an ovbious straightforward thing but there's a difference between doing Karate slowly and doing it 'not fast'. I think that a lot of the time in training and my own practice when I was meant to or intending  to do something slowly, I actually just did it 'not fast' . Slow practice requires looking at one's technique in detail, a higher level of control and therefore a higher level of concerntration and I don't think I'd appreciated those things.

Without those things, I doubt if one can get much out of slow practice, and it can't be defined as practice if no progress is made. Also without those things, it's impossible to understand the 'essence' of slow practice, so it just becomes doing it the opposite of fast: 'not fast'. So is slow practice as staightforward as it sounds?

The fact that slow practice requires a higher level of concerntration and mental discipline was particularly useful for me. I've been training for a while now, techniques have become second nature therefore  my mental discipline and concerntration have detiriorated slightly- and what's the use of being a karateka with good technique and the wrong mindset? Because the mind controls the body, not the other way round. Slow practice is getting me used to controlling my body with my mind again and I think, because of the greater level of concerntration required, my mental discipline and concerntration will end up better than before.

Concerntration seems to be the center of slow practice, inconsistent speed is as a result of a lapse in concerntration. As is inconsistent muscle control(also needed more for slower practice) and inconsistent attention to detail. If one loses concerntraion, it shows in the technique. Because of slow practice's demanding nature, it's also useful for developing a strong spirit: not often associated with slow practice. Full-speed practice is, of course, important because the karateka is physically challenged,so develops good fitness and character among other things, but do we need to,alongside that, develop ourselves as karateka in a different manner?