Topic: young karateka

[B&D]

Any ideas?
During practice last night my son when doing kata with a croud has a tendency to follow others and if a child is doing something different in a kata he changes his form and makes mistakes. When he is on his own he does it correctly with enthusiasm. His grading is coming up and i'd hate to see him mess it up at this early stage. This has been an on going issue.

[Huw]

An issue for almost every kid in the club Arwel!!

Don't worry too much. Your son has come along in leaps and bounds in the past few months and his kata last night was fine. With time he'll gain confidence and stop looking at others. Hopefully anyway

[siwan]

It s a good idea to point this out to the kids, and explain to them that they should concentrate on their own kata, because they might by copying someone doing it wrong, and they maybe would have done it right without looking at others. Also to tell them they dont have to catch up with everybody else and go through in their own time, as it is their time to show how good they can be. This seems to help 

[Azzy_Stealth]

Yep I agree with Siw.

When he was up with the rest he got through the kata with no problems.
I even told him after, how good it looked and that he did it without looking around and that he was concentration on his kata. 

Paid a poeni Arwel... Mae pawb yn wneud hyn yn y dechra 

[gizmo]

I think you need to remember that when it comes to learning motor skills children rely heavily on visual information. Early on in learning they don't have the 'internal reference' for the skill (i.e. they don't know what correct technique feels like yet') so their reference is external and visual (the people they see). Good demonstration will give them far more information than instruction by verbal means.

[siwan]

I agree with that when they are learning something new,obviously  copying visual cues is necessary. It's when they do know the moves correctly  to a kata if others arent around, but then  they make mistakes when they copy others just because it is easier to copy than try to remember, I would then tell them to do their own thing. Obviously if they dont know the moves on their own, they cant do this.

[Mitch]

As a student with a lot to learn yet I am always trying to look at other students around me but I will try and concentrate on the Dan grades to see how they are performing kata or kumite. 

It might be an idea to tell the younger kids that if they are not sure of a move or technique then they should rely on the Sensei to show them the moves rather than look at the kid next to them.  This is not always possible because as adults we tend to forget that the child might be in the back row and cannot see a sensei near to them or even see past the other kids around them and so will just copy the nearest person.  If a sensei spots that a child is having a problem they should be brought forward to have a clearer view.  (ideally)

[B&D]

Thanks everyone!
Fair play to the sensei they do look after him, Azy and Howie brings him to the front and sensei Richard requests that I stay by his side.
I am able to pull out of training in order to help communication between him and sensei.
In all fairness, Wednesday night session was well supported by new karateka as well as dan grade and brown belt grade. I believe I counted over 70 students in all.

[JimmyTheHoover]

FWIW - one thing that we sometimes do is strategically position DAN grades through the lower grades (back and front etc.) so that they always have a proper point of reference (if the choose to use it) - this is especially useful (even for adults and coloured belts) when a new kata is introduced or an advance kata is being taught to the whole group.....