2022-05-11

2022-05-11, Wednesday

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

There were only two students last night, a “regular” who’s been with me since March, and the elder of the two young girls who showed up for the first time last week. As I mentioned last time, it’s a wonder the difference that a few extra years can make when it comes to keeping everyone’s attention throughout the entire class. With older children, it’s also possible to get into a bit more of the “why” we do things, which I think is important to the overall learning experience. In general, kihon training went very well.

When we moved on to kata, we encountered a common issue. It’s hard for beginners to use the same hand and foot twice in a row, but that’s exactly what you do on moves 3 and 5 (and their later analogs) in Taikyoku Shodan. After doing the initial downward block the left, followed by a right-side lunge punch, you have to use the right hand and right foot again to turn 180° and block. That’s really hard for most people, since most people are accustomed to walking with one foot and then the other. The only “fix” I’ve found for this is ceaseless repetition, sometimes without moving the arms or legs at all and just pivoting on the back foot. Once we’ve got that, then we go back and add the preparatory drawing of the arms for the downward block.