Well Easter is over and boy did we eat plenty of Easter goodies, now it is back to Shotokan Karate training!
This first class back after Easter was used as a kids martial arts refresher session with the students going over the karate for kids core basics such as stances, punches and blocks.
The kids could not wait to play a martial arts game so when we stopped and they got a drink the games were on, the first was a full on tiggy game shotokan karate style, the next was a step up on that game where the kids had to partner up and then work as a team to avoid being tagged. The kids found this game a lot tougher to win and it really challenged their ability to move, turn, dodge in order to outwit their chasers.
From this point we got into Shotokan Kata practice and the kids are really starting to get the sequence of movements and turns down well, I am very proud of what they have remembered, especially after the Easter break.
The next in our training session was some kicking and punching training on the striking pads and boy did the karate kids unleash on those poor pads, the kids really love the striking pad work in the class.
From there we went onto overhead blocks and I used a Shotokan karate training aid which is a hand held batten wrapped with foam so that if the children do not block properly they do not get hurt, the overall class did exceptionally well on this exercise.
The kids have shown that they were practising at home over the holiday break. Their punches, kicks, blocks had all improved, the children’s martial arts across this class was moving to a new level and all the kids training can be proud of themselves for this achievement.
The last component of the evenings training was some exercises designed to aid in building kids martial arts balance and explosive power, the Kaizen Martial Arts Australia Wyndham Vale dojo kids gave it everything on these last 2 components. It was a full on and entertaining session for all the kids, parents and myself.
As a teacher of Shotokan Karate I love to see the passion of the parents that are in the room, when you take a moment and look at them they are memorising the moves, punching with their kids and internally calling out to their children.. move the right foot.. no the other right foot!!!!
I am really looking forward to this Thursday and putting the kids through their Judo skills.
