Martial Arts Club—Term 2

Leader Program

Our biggest news this term in what has been a big few months is the astounding achievement of the three Leaders who continued in our Leader Program this term.

Their efforts are all the more extraordinary because they each made the choice to become involved and completed 20 hours at L2 and 40 hours at L3 on a voluntary basis!

Dylan H is now fully capable of managing an activity from set-up to finish.  Marcus C and Jaiden S are both now actually teaching students rolling and breakfalling and simple jujutsu techniques (under supervision).  As I noted in Term 1, the group they manage is aged 5-7 years, so their achievement is–and I also teach grown-ups!–all the greater for this.

With these three young men moving up the levels, we have two new starters in the Program for Term 3, Oliver F and Lorcan B, who are both very excited about what’s to come.

5-7 years vs 8-11 years

The difference between the two classes is a simple matter of degree.  Essentially, the techniques are the same, with the obvious allowance for age.  For 8-11 years, we introduce sparring, which is very important to self-defence skills since it puts into practice the techniques students learn in a more realistic (and more useful) form.

We take a great deal of care in training all students in how to behave, which is even more important when learning how to spar.  Sparring is introduced to students new to it in a highly-controlled and very gradual process; it can take up to three months for a student to gain the necessary skills required to further refine their sparring technique.

Additionally, students are NEVER allowed to strike another with full force.  Our philosophy is that painful training is unproductive, so our focus is on speed and technique in this area.

Grading

This has, as usual been, happening over the last few weeks of term.  It can be difficult to see what progress a 5 or 6 year old is making until you step back and think about what they looked like when they started.  Take that over a few years, and the difference is amazing.  There are a significant number of boys approaching or in the advanced levels now, and as with all students who step out of their comfort zone to try something new and unusual, I am very proud of them, both for turning up year after year, and managing still to make the whole process fun.  They move so beautifully, and begin to understand the potential of that movement.

All the best for a safe and happy holiday break.

Sensei Marice