Saturday, February 16, 2008

Tayja Learns the Sidekick

The side kick almost got the best of Tayja. We'll have to do some serious training at home. Think I can teach a human five-year-old to kick with a clicker?



This is the mostly finished product. She didn't seem to struggle with the kick once she learned to aim the kick at the kid in front of her.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really like the instructor... he seems very clear and patient.

- LB

Robin Sallie said...

He is very good with the kids. She says she loves it. And she is willing to work for 5 to 15 minutes at home everyday.

Holly said...

Robin.....she's really cute and she LOOKS like she's having a great time. Those smiles she flashes back at you are wonderful

Belinda said...

Hi Robin,
I know you guys from CS.

Something hit me a little when looking at the two lots of video hope its useful in breaking the process down for her.

Even when she was in the initial lineup she was doing significantly better after the instructor indicated kicking toward the kid at the front (ie gave her a specific end orientation).

Two things have changed when she kicks toward the pad. She has a clearly defined target and she isn't trying to slow the process down.

With all martial arts moves doing the process slowly is actually the most difficult thing you can do. If you are not using all of your muscles to support balance, rather trying to attain it by using momentum thats when its gonna catch up with you. You can cover a multitude of technique problems by doing something fast, slow they all show up in glaring glory.

You will notice even the blackbelt girl at the front is working faster than the instructor after the leg lift. She has had enough practice to know that she doesn't have the muscle strength/stability to slow down the momentum section so rather than do it an inch at a time the way the instructor is she uses the momentum, (leg back and forth) to keep her balance.

Kind Regards
Belinda