Teaching Juniors (under 16's)

[Lucy]

Teaching Juniors (under 16's)

My club instructor has asked me if i would like to start teaching the junior section of our club seeing as my oldest son has joined and my youngest will follow shortly. Im now in the position to take on this role in my club. The instructors of the juniors are all male so obviously from a professional aspect we need to have a female instructor. I would really like to take up this position but ive only ever taught seniors and i feel that in teaching juniors you need to take a whole different approach so as to keep their concentration and make it enjoyable. Long kihon, kata and kumite obviously is tedious and well boring from a childs point of view.

Could any of the instructors on the board here give me any advice, training plans/sessions that will grasp childrens attention and make karate an enjoyable experience for them? The children are mostly under 11's with 4 or 5 teenagers. Im really keen to take this up but i want to be well prepared so i can be most beneficial to them. There are a number of talented students i have observed and i want to be able and have the knowledge to help them reach their full potential and make them feel positive. Its important to teach them properly as they will be the future of our club.

[ksan]

Osu Lucy,

Have you ever teached an adult class ?

Osu

ksan

[Lucy]

Osu Ksan,

Ive never taken a whole session before, but i have taught adult beginners and groups of one grade preparing for gradings regularly. I did take part of a session instructing whole class as part of my preparation for my shodan grading (but told what to go through by my sensei with them). Ive done senior class warm ups. I would'nt know where to start if i had to take a session. I need some good session plans prepared before i would feel comfortable doing that! Im eager to teach juniors more so because i would'nt find it so intimidating as instructing seniors.

[nzproud]

Lucy, you certainly can! I have actually taught kid's class when I was a blue belt as I was an uchideshi..

[Lucy]

Nzproud, cool lol! Cheers for the vote of confidence! I don't want to be a boring insructor. My son won't go on one of the days, he says "im not going if them old men are teaching" lmao! Sweet but he's got a point thats whats caused be to ask this question and seek out some tips to make training more appealing to the little guys. A younger instructor with a good imagination is what they need. I just need to unlock mine!

[nzproud]

lol kids.. just show them what you can do! Hit bags so hard before their session..(warning: they may freak out. lol) well i'm sure Aunty will give you some good tips. Osu.

[Lucy]

Lol!!! I know they are pretty curious about me all they know about me is im the black belt that walks in the dojo with the trophies and the bruises!

[Aunty Ichigeki]

Teaching kids is completely different from teaching adults. I've been avoiding it but Uncle is really good at it but it took him 5 years to master. There are certainly tricks to the trade. It helps to be calm and decide you will never raise your voice! Realise you can't keep them all on track 100% of the time and struggling with one kid might mean losing the rest!

Uncle taught me that kids are used to doing nothing for short periods so it sometimes works to sit the class down & have two up at a time while the others watch & wait their turn (vs. the entire class errupting into chaos while you try to concentrate on two kids for 30 seconds). I've been watching DVDs by Melodie Shuman Shuman Concepts, Inc. She developed the Little Ninja program and has lots of tricks with kids. It's really worth getting your hands on her stuff but meanwhile a couple I liked were: getting the kids to demonstrate a "1" kick on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is a "limp noodle kick" and work them up to a "10". She also gets them to repeat key words after her a lot in a big loud voice to keep them engaged. And she uses subtle competition eg. "who thinks they can be first to get into a perfect zenkutsu dachi?" & let them raise their hands until they're all engaged & then start a bit of a competition. Also, you need to learn their names!!! All of them. It's a powerful thing to have your name used in front of the class when you're small. Finally, heaps of confidence (even when you don't feel it) and positive affirmation. Best of luck!

[nzproud]

Lucy, I think being a kind hearted instructor for kids is not too good. In Japan when I trained with kids(and adults in the same class) I liked how the instructor was quite strict just in classes but outside he was very kind hearted.
He often yelled at kids with higher grades, it's because they should be good examples of kids that are younger and have lower belts.

[Lucy]

Osu Aunty,

Awesome link! Thanks for that i shall do my homework!

[nzproud]

I think you should get ur hands on Sensei Ryu Narushima's Dragon Ichigeki's technical DVD. At start it shows his father teaching a kid's class just for a short period but this DVD is defnitely worth it for looking at his techniques anyway

[vapor]

Aunty has set out some good pillars to build a class around! Awesome advice!

vapor

[ksan]

I would suggest taking a few adult classes first, i experience kids, especially the very young ones as hard classes to teach. We always say here if you can teach kids, you can teach adults, but not the other way round. Like your son says, keep them motivated and dont be an "old man". I love teaching classes, but not so much to the very young kids.

Osu

[Bloke]

Lucy

Teaching Juniors is one of the most rewarding and frustrating things I have ever done. They have made me laugh and cry in the same session.

Ksan is right - if you can teach Kids you can teach anyone. I am strict with our Juniors but not to the same degree as our senior students.

Id suggest trying to take a 15 minute session with them at first. Work some kihon or kata and tell them that if they do it well you will have some fun games (which is usually just a good way to diguise fitness work - group races etc). Another thing I do is to occassionaly say "do you want to learn a high grade technique?" and teach them tobi mae geri. They love the idea they are learning something so advanced.

Let us know how it goes.

[seienchin]

Well - what a joy you are in for. Teaching juniors is the most amazing fun, and you can have such an impact if you insist (in a fun way) on good technique.

I recently had a former student of mine, now aged 23, ask if I would do some private lessons. She had not trained since she was 14. I had taught her from when she was 9.

That girl, after nine years out, still had absolute kick-ass technique. Like Jesuits say, get'm while they're young!

I think the most important thing is to recognise that "juniors" are not a homogenous group. The elements of what is important vary enormously from age group to age group. This can seem daunting at first, but it is really no different from teaching a class composed of different belt levels.

Little Ones (less than 10)
With the little littlies, it must be about fun. Design games that teach them skills. Laugh lots. However, I do agree with an earlier comment that there must be discipline, even in the littlies.

I used to have a rest zone down the back. They could drop out whenever they wanted, but if they were on the floor, I wanted 100%.

I also think it is critical to insist on good technique. If you accept crappy technique from kids, it embeds for life, and you have done harm. Children can have snappy, perfect technique. Their little brains and bodies are like sponges, and once they learn, it is embedded for life.

Positive feedback is more importantn than anything with the under 10s. "That was good...this will make it faaaantastic". The harshest criticism I delivere to this age group is to express my absolute belief that they are capapble of much, much more.

10 - 14 -s
I think in this group it is about confidence, fitness, and learning discipline. I used to give out a lot of pushups. either 5 or 10 for each year of age....depending on the infraction.
Peer pressure works well in this group. If I was losing, the whole class would get the pushups.

I had a rule in my dojo that karate was not to be used outside the dojo - very important in this age group. The rule was that if a difficult self-defence situation arose, they could defend themself, but had to debrief it with me at the next lesson. My goal was to instill in them a sense that our skills are a privilege that should be wielded with great responsibilty.

14+ - these are aiming to be treated as adults, and the closer you can get to treating them in that way, the more they will responde. They especially love feedback that they have done something better than the adults.

Overall, keep it positive. One other global rule that I had when I was running my dojo was that kiddy kumite had to be fun. I encouraged laughter and self-deprecation. I encouraged clowning around during kumite, to try to moderate any emerging agression. Aiming to keep speed, accuracy, and mobility at he fore, rather than strength. Attitude is all important. any lost tempers = sit down.
3 sessions in a row of lost temper = forfeit right to next grading.

Those a few of the things that I have found worked well. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
OSU

[Nix]

Lucy,

I am an instructorr of about 20 8th kyu's, aged 9-13, so I'll throw in a few tips as well.

Before starting:

To build up willpower and strenght, we do 20x situps and 20x (the one where you lie on your stomach, and bend your back). I always participate while keeping one eye on the class, and let my assistant correct the individual student. This way, they'll feel that I'm part of the team, and not just some guy that orders them around. I also tell them that it's more important to do the excercise correctly, than to do all 20.

Warmups (20-30 minutes):

Seeing as they have run around playing for 15 minutes prior to training, they are already warmed up. But still, I like to warm them up with a few games of some sort (variations of tag, some sort of ball game, etc.) or divide them into teams of 3-5, and have them compete with eachother, or accomplish something (who can make the highest man-made pyramid for example).

- Stretches -

After this, they will usually do some ido-kihon, followed by combinations from kumite kamai, zenkutso dachi or kiba dachi, and then 10-15 minutes of kata, self-defence (they love this), kumite, sabaki or one-way-attack. Then we'll do 20x pushups and 20x squats, meditate and reflect on the lesson. If the lesson is any longer than 60 minutes, I would break it off every 30 minutes or so, and play a short game or do something exciting. That way, they will keep they won't lose their concentration, andit won't become too tedious.

- Always vary your lessons. If the students feel that every lesson is the same as the last one, they will lose interest.
- Don't be afraid to listen to their input or ideas.
- Show them where your line is. Punish them when they misbehave, and reward them when they're beeing nice. I sometimes tell them that if they do things properly, we'll do something fun at the end of the lesson.
- No student is the same. Punishing one student for not doing the excercises properly might encourage him to do it better next time, but might break another students self-confidence. It's impossible to make the lesson suit every student.
- We've experienced that too many instructors confuses the students, so normally we have one instructor, and a number of assistants. The instructor runs the show, and corrects the class in general, while the assistant corrects the individual student. Should the assistant wish to make a comment, he should ask the instructor for permission first.
-Most importantly, acknowledge that the kids are looking up to you, so everything you do and say will reflect on them.

Hope that helps.

[AJH]

Hi Lucy - I've been running the Bristol BKK club for almost 10 years now and the Juniors are a big part of it.

I was advised some years ago not to treat the kids like small adults (!). They have to have a sense of fun in their training in order to sustain enthusiasm. Also, don't have them performing loads of reps of a single technique, apparently as they are still growing it could cause problems with joints later on in life.

I'm sure you'll find it a rewarding experience - good luck with it and feel free to visit us in Bristol whenever you like!

Regards
Allan

[boldbhoy]

Thanks to all, some great advice here. Keep it coming, Osu!

[Spirit]

Lucy,
I wrote this big long reply on this, but I figured that no one would read it just to long...
So just think about this...
Teach them Karate, as you would adults ask them to do everything you would do adult because they CAN do it. Forget that they are kids (remember when you where that age) If you are not possitive about what you do then you will fail...and they will not follow or listen to you. You don't have to yell, but you need to be consistent in each class. Do not pre judge or see good talent of talent yet to blossem, most kids who are good early tend to be the ones behind as time goes on.

Look at the pre-teens of gymnastics who are in the Olympics, their coaches push them very, very hard and expect nothing but perfection, yet we are going to coddle them in Karate with time outs and and thinking that their little minds can do what you ask etc??? Remenber man that came before you did more with far less than you do now with no comforts that you have, and fought in wars and battles as young as 10. Got married at 12-14, don't put lables on kids do to age, don't hold them back because society is.

Don't be a follower, be a teacher who leads, and gives knowledge, inspire, encourage, balances their lifes.
One who makes the difference because you pushed them to learn and try to take one more step and to try and do things one step better than the last one.....

I started teaching kids 6-10 when I was 16 back in the 70's.
I have had many kids come back after going of to college and tell me they hated me as a teacher, but thanked me for doing what was right and pushing them and teaching them to finish goals and finishes them trying 100%. Many have said it was my teaching t