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Post by jimlukelkc on Sept 7, 2012 9:28:06 GMT
I have been asked to conduct a "taster session" for the local comprehensive school for around 50-60 students and teaching staff next Thursday. It will not be the traditional "demo" a` la summer fetes etc. I want to convey to them what we are all about, what they can expect from a lesson on a weekly basis and what Karate is. I have 3 students who are also pupils at the school who have been excused lessons to help out and the possibility of the assistance of one adult from the club. To be honest I am struggling with this one. How do I start? What should I emphasise? What should I leave out? What should I definitely include? This is a great opportunity to greatly increase the membership of our club and if it goes well we will be invited again to address another group. Obviously this is not to be taken lightly and I am aware I may be obsessing about it a little but ... HELP!
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Post by kensei on Sept 7, 2012 11:26:58 GMT
Stick to the Two K's....Kata and Kihon. My experince, Kumite scares the hell out of the adults and the kids just try and hurt eachother. Focus on the dicipline when talking and the ability to do more advanced moves when talking as well. This puts the adults and kids on notice that their is something of interest here.
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Post by th0mas on Sept 7, 2012 11:37:20 GMT
Not knowing how your training syllabus is structured makes it difficult to give you some direct suggestions. But in terms of principles...
If this is a selling exercise remember who your audience is...show them the art of the possible, let them have a go and above all make it fun. Personally I am a big fan of using play in teaching children and young adults.
..you may have to employ more "summer fete" tactics than you would normally be comfortable with, as this is an exercise in marketing what you do. Smacking the cr*p out of bags, big throwing techniques, some prearranged fighting and a demonstration of long range sparring will certainly impress the male element of the audience (especially if you are wearing protective gear)...gosh I feel a bit dirty saying this.
Unfortunately given the rather untidy nature of practical karate, watching a bunch of blokes do realistic self-protection training might only impress trained martial artists.
The key thing here is that you need to engage your audience - For example depending on the age of the students British Bulldog is great fun, it may not be hugely relevant to your syllabus, but it will get everybody engaged and motivated.
Those are my initial thoughts anyway... hope they help.
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Post by jimlukelkc on Sept 7, 2012 12:30:21 GMT
Thanks lads, similar to some of the ideas I have had, especially pad work and a few demos by the kids, for the kids plus some more intricate stuff from me but definitely leaning towards audience participation more than anything.
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Post by malk103 on Sept 7, 2012 13:06:50 GMT
I did a public display a while back and it's a tricky one, we did some line work and Kata followed by 5 step and wood breaking.
The synchronised Kata is a must so long as they are strong at the Kata and all in time, I would include a few Kumite sets but only done by senior grades rather than show the teachers 2 juniors throwing each other to the ground. Make them impressive and showy.
Another thing I would consider is to get volunteers up to have a go, give them a 3 move combination but build them up one move, then two etc. If I did another one then I would concentrate on timings, we had a 30 minute slot which felt like 3 hours but we finished after 20 minutes. Build up a routine with a few talking points and try to rehearse it, you can always drop stuff out if the you run out of time but difficult to add stuff on.
The biggest thing is to make them think "I want to try that!" but not have it too far from reality.
Maybe not much help but hopefully something for you to think about.
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Post by Bob Davis on Sept 7, 2012 22:40:34 GMT
Have done this a couple of times but it depends on how long you've got. We've normally just had the opportunity to do a presentation during school assembly so you get 20-30 minutes. Like yourself I've typically had another adult and a couple of kids who are exisiting students. I tend to start with a (very) short and simplified explanation of what karate is and the 3 K's. Followed by a show of hands as to who has trained in any martial art (there'll always be half a dozen or so). For demonstration I would stick to a couple of simple basics up and down the stage (helped from my point of view that the adult I had was a dan grade so I could show the progression and that everybody could train together but at their own level). The only kumite I show at these things is basic Gohon just to show there is some partner work. Then a simple kata with everyone moving together as one. I normally finish with a mini lesson which consists of basic standing choko tsuki punching. This means that I can get everyone in the room to stand up and have a go and you get 50-60 kids "doing karate" and having a chance "kiai" at the same time. This tends to leave them a little excited but I look at it that it was the school who invited me in so.........
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Post by Bob Davis on Sept 7, 2012 22:44:03 GMT
...and I know I've said this before but I would seriously steer clear of wood breaking in front of kids. It's only a gimmick anyway (as you see from any TKD demo) but it could be very dangerous for kids who'll go away and try it unsupervised (just my opinion obviously).
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Post by nathanso on Sept 8, 2012 0:52:50 GMT
I want to convey to them what we are all about, what they can expect from a lesson on a weekly basis and what Karate is. I think that you laid out what you need to do in the sentence above. If your goal is to show them what a class is like, you should give a mini-version of a class, preceded by an introduction of what they are about to see, and perhaps a breakdown of a couple basic techniques first. (You could even have everyone just stand out and try to do a simple down block/straight punch from a "natural" stance, to show them why they need to take lessons.) Depending on the level of students that will be demonstrating, a mix of sanbon and jiyu ippon kumite could give an idea of the type of progression they can expect as they advance. You want to get them interested in joining, but you also do not want to build up false expectations of what they will be doing. As for tameshiwari- what Bob said!
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Post by jimlukelkc on Sept 8, 2012 19:38:32 GMT
Thanks again fellas. I agree with the wood-breaking point. I have stopped doing that anyway, I cant see what it proves. I think I will probably have around an hour and am leaning heavily towards participation. We are lucky that we have a good supply of focus pads so can get them involved that way too.
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