Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! Wishing you all health, wealth and luck in 2012.

Lyoto Machida Karate Kata

Lyoto Machida is a karate-trained MMA fighter and former UFC champion. He just lost his last bout against Jon Jones. What was interesting to me is that he demonstrated a kata at an UFC open workout. I don't watch MMA enough to know if this is common but it was cool to watch. It's not as crisp as he has done at competitions but it's still good form.

Martial Arts Jobs in München, Germany

For any German or EU readers, there are some opportunities at Karate Club Bunkai in München. See the link for details.

http://www.karatemünchen.de/lehrer.html

Karate Front Kick and the "38 Special"

Something you don't see emphasized outside of traditional martial arts much are good basic kicks, especially front kicks, which can be especially devastating. Just ask Vitor Belfort after Anderson Silva unleashed one on him.

The 38 Special is a pretty cool kata developed by Sensei Bill Glasheen, Uechi-ryu 8 Dan. It demonstrates the various kicks used in karate, especially the front kick. The kata starts about 1:20 into the video. It is not the best quality but you can really see the crispness and good form.

Coaching Soccer and Teaching Karate to Kids

Both the Fall soccer season and Fall/Winter karate session started up a few weeks ago. This will be the first time I have coached and helped teach karate simultaneously. Needless to say I have been very busy. And though the teaching methods are a little different in the beginning, the goals of each for working with children are very similar, including teaching responsibility, decision-making skills and discipline to name a few. 

In karate, there is not much room for creativity, other than in sparring. In soccer there is actually a lot, but up until recently it hasn't really been promoted at the children's level. There is usually a lot of drilling and a sort of submission to the coach. You can see this difference in soccer styles by watching Major League Soccer games vs. La Liga or Série A. You can also see which is more successful.

As most of you know, Martial Arts students begin to learn by mimicry while the teacher(s) demonstrate, correct, fine tune and answer questions. At first there is not much room for creativity, but that is by design for reasons of safety and to make the fundamentals easier to learn for the students. I love both. For children the goals are similar but for adults they are very different, self-defense versus playing a game at a high level. Still, working with the kids is pretty rewarding

I coach under-12 boys in a "house league" that follows the coaching guidelines set by the Virginia Youth Soccer Association and US Youth Soccer. The league is competitive but the overriding goal is to foster and instill an enjoyment of the game so that the children will hopefully continue to play recreationally, professionally if they are very good and very lucky, into their 30s and 40s. I'm not sure how that's tracked but it's a great goal. Do I need to keep tabs on them...? :-) This is a similar goal in martial arts though I have never seen it written anywhere. Karate is a lifetime pursuit. By making it fun and interesting for the kids, you hope they will continue on when they get older as well. This is the tough part, especially when there is not any wiggle room for 'play'.

In our soccer coaching certification sessions we were encouraged to have the boys at this level play 'games, not drills and to "coach without coaching". That is, let the 'games' teach the techniques and offer points and ask implication questions throughout practice. For example, a player is defended by two players and tries to dribble out of trouble but can't and loses the ball. You can ask him what he could have done differently. Let him answer or if he can't, suggest he pass to an open teammate, etc. Then compliment him on something and keep the 'game' or scrimmage going. You put the kids in situations where they have to decide for themselves, not look to a coach or an adult for help or to ask if something was right or wrong. This style takes some getting used to but it seems to be working for our team so far.

I'm coming to the realization that all children should play a few years in an environment like this (having played it, basketball offers the same aforementioned opportunities for coaches and children but I don't know the philosophy currently used to teach it). This setting compliments how Martial Arts are taught, and compliments other sports and activities by really getting the children to think for themselves and to try new things without fear of repercussions (laps, sprints, etc.).

Soccer is a perfect medium because there is constant action that provides multiple decision-making opportunities for each teammate at a fast pace. Whereas football and baseball (both of which I played and enjoyed) are essentially played in short bursts with lots of down time.

Children at this age really show growth and eagerness in their learning. Providing safe, fun and competitive environments are starting blocks for their continued learning and interest in sports and Martial Arts.

Guess who I like?

Impressions from a Rank Promotion Test

Sunday's rank promotion test went off without a hitch. The candidates were ready to roll and the volunteers running the RPT did a fantastic job. My son received his 5 Kyu and is now ready for some bunkai, kotigitae and kyu kumite. Unfortunately, I could not watch him perform the whole time as I was judgng one of the other candidates in his group. I did get to see his sparring and that was fun. I was pretty impressed with how well a lot of the students performed, especially the beginner ranks. There were lots of good fundamentals on display.

Judging was a treat. It was my first time on the test board and I have to say I really like it. It was nice to see some old friends who were there on the test board and as candidates, one who was promoted to 1 Kyu. Judging is also difficult. You need to be fair. And some performances were a bit shaky in parts. For example say someone testing for 7 or 6 Kyu makes mistakes they shouldn't be. How do you handle it? Mark them down, maybe fail them? Probably/maybe if it's an adult. Our school has pretty strict standards, I know from my own testing experiences. But what if the candidate is 7 or 10 years old? They certainly are nervous, you can see it in their eyes. But you also know they are ready for the next level, having seen them in class. So would you fail them? In the end it's a judgment call and I learned a lot about judging and scoring from Master Folta, 7 Dan and the 1 Dan who I sat next to on the board (FYI, I don't use names from my school unless it's pre-approved by the person in question). Oh, no one failed. :-) We also had some really good free sparring at the end.

We were very lucky to be able to have the RPT as the worst of Hurricane Irene just barely missed us. We had a lot of rain and high winds - and sticks for my son to pick up. I know many people who were hit very hard by the storm in the Southern and Eastern parts of Virginia and Maryland. Luckily no one was seriously injured. We all wish for a speedy restoration of electrical service and all repairs. So count your blessings and help out your neighbors and fellow martial artists caught in the storm's path. Get more information here.

Zengu - Martial Arts/Boxing Equipment Wholesalers

There is new martial arts wholesale site online now. It's called Zengu and is part of the team from Karate Depot. It combines equipment for owners of martial arts schools (Karate, BJJ, TKD, etc.) and Boxing gyms. (Side note - it's funny how we tend to seperate Boxing from other MA styles even though it is a Martial Art).

There is a good selection of equipment on the site and prices are pretty good as well. It seems a big feature draw is the ability to create lists of equipment that you need for various events. I do like the system they use for further filtering your search results with links on the left side of the page, it reminds me of the system used on Puma's website -- BTW, I'd love a gi from them; I may need to create a Puma-based MA style to justify it. :-)

I cannot test Zengu's ordering system as I am not an owner and can't prove that I am one. They do restrict membership by having you send them a copy of your business license and a copy of a brochure from your school. I don't know how or if they verify this information.

Zengu.com looks like a great resource, espcially for the selection and pricing. There is more information on their site here and on the Ikigai Blog.