2024-06-12

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

Tonight’s adult class was all about kicking. We went over five kicks: mae-geri keage, yoko-geri keage, yoko-geri kekomi, mawashi-geri, and ushiro-geri. The focus was on the differences between the kicks, so we did a lot of the drills slowly. Since slow kicking drills always present a balance problem, I had each student get a chair out of the supply room and set it next to themselves so they could rest a hand on it for balance. By removing the fear of falling over, students are able to concentrate on the kick, itself. With that out of the way, we moved on to fine tuning the kicks. Mae-geri keage and ushiro-geri should see the knees coming together … zero distance … at the halfway point. By contrast, mawashi-geri should see the knees make maximum distance away from each other. With regard to the side kicks, the differentiator is the vector of approach for the kicking foot. Side snap kick has the foot arcing upwards while side thrust kick has the foot moving in a straight line between the hip and the target.