Uechi for Kids

[greg Brown]

Need New IDEAS ON TEACHING UECHI TO MY PEE WEE CLASSES 4-5 YRS AND MY 6 TO 12 YRS. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY GOOD GAMES TO TEACH TO THE KIDS BUT BEING ABLE TO STILL TEACH THE CORE FOUNDATIONS OF UECHI-RYU? I AM AFRAID OF LOSING UECHI-RYU JUST TO HAVE FUN - ANY IDEAS? THEY ANE THE FUTURE OF ANYONES DOJO..

------------------

[mikemurphy]

Greg,

My suggestion as both a public school teacher as well as a dojo owner who relies on his kid's program, is to don't expect the world from the little one's. A small child'd attention span is 15-20 max. Teach him as best you can on Uechi "stuff," but then use the rest of the class teaching fine and gross motor skills, or basic coordination and attention span drills using games and simply having fun. I find that I get the "world" out of nerf balls. Teaching the kids how to block or move with them is great fun and extrememly safe.

Also, activities that keep everyone moving is a good thing. Only allowing 2 or 3 kids to do something at one time bores the rest of them. Try and find activities that are either quick, meaning you can rotate them in and out of quickly, or group activities.

The important thing is that you are giving them a sound foundation for when they get older and you can teach them the "real" art.

Hope that helps,

mike

[greg Brown]

Thanks Mike for the info. what do you think about promoting these kids. This is what I am going to do in my dojo ,is put 5 stripes on each side of there belt, and give them a stripe about every 3 weeks so they change color belts every 30 weeks. what do ya Think.

Greg Brown

[mikemurphy]

Greg,

Everyone is different when it comes to the little kids; however, what I do is start them out with white and put on yellow stripes (four and then a bar) and then test them for yellow belt. I do the same thing with blue tape and test them for blue belt. Then I slow it down a little and place a stripe on one side of the belt at a time (red tape) until the same amount is reached, and then test them for red belt. Lastly, I do the same with purple tape and a purple belt. After that, they usually are in the older kids class by then and I go by the regular rank scheme.

I promote my little ones about once a month. That way their interest is kept up.

mike

[greg Brown]

Thanks Mike, for all the help I will use some of your ideas, all the help is most welcome.
Greg

[W.J.C.]

Some successful ideas that I've had in teaching that age range. . . .


"Sensei" Says. A little spin-off of Simon-Says, I use it to teach Sanchin. The first one to finish the Kata wins.

"Jump into Sanchin". I usually do this outside but I see no reason why you can't do it inside. I start all of the kids lined up on one side of the feild. I stand in the middle of the feild with "Blockers" (foam covered sticks *real soft to hit with*). I tell them to run as fast as they can to me and when they reach me to get into a Sanchin stance. From there I lightly hit them with the blocker to show the weakness of a faulty Sanchin stance. After that they run to the opposite side of the feild.

If they're Stance is faulty,giving them quick corrections on why they fell down or why they almost hit themselves in the face works better because by the end of the game they all can get into good strong sanchin stances, instantly.

[seisansister]

me and my dad teach some little kids after school.. and they can easily get bored. basically, you have to be very creative. make up games and activities that teach karate skills, like 'sensei says'. make karate "fun" with lots of moving and yelling. The more fun they have, and the less they get bored, theyll come back for more. Watch some tapes on teaching kids, and ask them what they would like to do. You'll think of a fun game that will be special in your dojo only, and they'll be learning at the same time. good luck!!

Seisansister

[Ryokan]

Sensei says is also a good game for stances and basic commands. . . we never knocked anyone out, just let them realize they goofed.

You can also have the kids jump up and down and shout directions in the dojo -- shomen, migi, hidari, ura-shomen -- and have them turn as the commands are called while they continue to bounce.

Also fun for the kidlets is a race at the end of class across the dojo, in various conditioning walks -- duckwalks, crab walks, frog hops, etc.

And during sanchin, have them put nickels under their thumbs to work on good, tight boshiken.

[Klossnerkid]

For the kids class that i teach, i sometimes have a problem trying to get them to at least have semi good form like keeping there elbows in and stuff like that, so when im going over puches with them from a shiko dachi stance I have them say a little chant and it seems to be working. here is how it goes. When I say 1 they say, elbows! when I say 2 they say, in! So when I put it together it comes out as elbows in. Then for three they say, knees. For four they say, bent. I have them say different stuff like that and in the end it comes out like this:

1.) Elbows
2.) In
3.) Knees
4.) bent
5.) Sholders
6.) Strait
7.) Hit
8.) Hard
9.) Kiai
10.) Kiai

Also as they learn the sequence, you can start to take away the counts and have them do the whole sequence after you yell the first count. Also the last two Kiai's at the end really get them excited so i to have them make it super loud.
Hope this helps, and hope you understand it

[f.Channell]

Seisan Sister is away in applachia helping the needy so she's not around to respond.

Good tip however, great for building spirit as well.

You can do something similiar with counting out exercises.

Sensei says Ich.....Ni......
students say San....Shi.... in response along with the count.

Thanks.

F.