MartialGym coaches workshop

I was in Edmonton over the weekend to conduct a 2 days martialgym coaching workshop. Given the limited time – 12 hours in total, I really had to prioritize the workshop content. The following were considerations for the workshop:

• Know the audiences and purpose – the participants were experienced women rhythmic gymnastics coaches / gymnasts. Some even had background in artistic gymnastics. So the workshop is less about teaching a skill itself but more on how to change the feel of a performance to give impression of power and dynamics. Furthermore, it is about sharing useful keywords and progression for skills they already know. For those with artistic gymnastics background, it is about how to add an apparatus to cartwheels, round offs and flips. During the workshop, I covered only 3 apparatus, the ones cheapest to acquire: rope, stick (use wood dowel), rings (use PVC rounded plumbing tubes connected by a dowel and double-tape it to add weight). Rope is common between men’s and women’s, atick is unique and rings are similar to hoop and yet different.
  
  Coaches came to the workshop because they want to increase membership, add variety to their program offerings and potentially add an alternative style to their performance routines. So they need ideas and content to plan out a path for the year.

• Be realistic – Martialgym is not really about just martial arts or just men’s rhythmic gymnastics. The two sides are movements for totally different purposes – performance versus functionality. To be an expert in one is difficult enough and to be able to cover both to its finest detail is not possible within two days.
  
  Coaches must undertand the continuum from one end to the other, how they inter-relate and why it is advantageous to start from the gymnastics/agility side of things and grow towards the other end of the spectrum. Ultimately, it is not about what you know today but the fact that you believe in the concept and have the passion to work to improve.
  
  I know I cannot create a martial artist within a couple of days. However, for the self defence section of the workshop, the goal is to allow participants to experience self-defence beyond “raw strength”, to understand that “punching and kicking” is just one of many possible solutions. Coaches were introduced to the lifecycle framework of Conflict Management – Preparation, Detection, Engagement and Follow up. With that in mind, lesson plans can focus on improving a participants’s agility, mobility, reaction time, strength, speed and therefore confidence. Common sense approach of preventive alertness can easily be included – there are lots available online. Start with simple things like having a buddy system to go to the washroom, avoid quiet streets at night, etc. It is important not to just get them to FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS but to think ahead. The confidence and alertness gained via such an approach will give participants the confidence needed to avoid most troubles.

Exercise
Search online for some good resources to make you more “street smart”. Quote one idea that you have never heard before or that “clicked” with you.
Read back on this article – scope of martialgym. Did you noticed any changes in my approach?