2023-08-02

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

Well, it finally happened … one of the students in the youth class took a pop to the nose tonight, so we had to have “the talk” about the liklihood of getting hit in class. Karate is safe because we practice it safely, but accidents still happen. After all, if we’re learning to punch and kick other people, it stands to reason that we’re eventually going to get punched or kicked ourselves, right? Everyone seemed to understand. It’s still no fun to get hit, but if we’re never in danger of being hit then we aren’t really practicing how to block or evade, are we?

Oddly enough, this “lack of realism” came up in the adult class during yakusoku kumite practice, when a black belt kept telling one of the beginners to punch straight for his face, not over his head or off to the side. If you’re not punching where you’re supposed to punch, you’re not practicing how to hit your target and you’re depriving your partner of practice blocking a legitimate threat. We create safety by punching full-speed, on-target, but sun dome - missing by an inch.