Just the other day, Raven told me that he find it difficult to explain to others what he learned from the classes and yet he knows that something has changed since he started this journey. Yes, sometimes I do ask myself the question too, what have the student learn? Is it making a difference? Can I be more effective in communicating, guiding and inspiring their thoughts and their training?
My passion is to teach something that can make a difference. Recently, I taught a few sessions of martialgym out at Seymour School as part of their PE classes. Knowing that time is limited, I adapted the content to this specific group of kids. My goals were:
– to breakdown the perception that martial art solution is just about getting stronger or just about how to punch/kick. Practical martial arts can make instant differences to an individual through exercising proper physics and mindset.
– to use light apparatus like rope and ring to train on endurance, timing, etc. Rope skipping can be very easy if you are taught properly. Furthermore, there are lots of neat rope tricks aside from skipping.
– to learn to jump high, land soft, slide and roll. One problem I encountered with that goal is that due to the school’s concern with liability issues, I was told to stay away from rolls. This is a bit disturbing because learning how to roll is one of the most important ‘self protection’. Everyone fell down hard a few times in their lifetime and should learn how to minimize the damage instinctively. Anyways, that is another battle some other time down the road.
– to reinforce the idea that learning and exercising can both be fun.
– to get the kids to listen well through various games where there is a stake if they don’t listen.
I always strive to teach what is useful. However, the definition of usefulness depends on the planning horizon, the age group, the ability and emphasis as well as other environmental factors.
The following movie clips embraces our gymnastics and hard-hitting side of us. What is still lacking in the representation is our relax approach to certain things:
Exercise:
– Did you ever have difficulty explaining to others what our classes are all about?
– Are you more convinced now that muscle relaxation can be the base for some surprisingly effective techniques?