The fourth level Heian has 27 counts and has many similarities to Heian Nidan. The kata’s primary stance is kokutsu-dachi (back stance), but students first learning this kata must also contend with the new kosa-dachi, a cross stance that is quite awkward for most karateka. H4 introduces the student to many new techniques such as kosa-uke, shuto-uchi, kakiwake-uke, mae-empi, and hiza-tsuchi. To perform Heian Yondan also has more kicks (5) than the other Heian kata. Slow moves must also be mastered in this kata. Much of Heian Yondan involves double-hand techniques, with morote-uke (double-hand block) occurring more than any other technique. Obviously, morote-uke was held in high regard during this kata’s creation. #jka#sajka#pinetownjka#kznjka#karinprinsloo#kata#bunkai#shotokan#stacyurger#greenbelt#karate
References: Stacy Unger
To be able to teach young children karate, the instructors will need to understand something about child development and structure the classes in such a way as to accommodate, compliment and reinforce this.
A good warm up can be used to address a lot of these important aspects.
The following needs to be taken into consideration:
Physical Development
Design warm ups for children not only for preparing the body for karate, but to improve skills such as coordination, agility, speed, power, core strength and flexibility.
Intellectual Development
The young child’s mind is like sponge when it comes to soaking up information. They love learning new things. Remembering sequences, patterns and following instructions stimulates intellectual development. E.g. Performing the ladder drills while the line is moving fast, enhances focus and concentration.
Emotional Development
Young children relates better to “feel” rather than “reason”. Exercises must “feel” like fun to do. They still will be developing their understanding of feelings. This is a vitally important skill which will aid them in eventually becoming well-balanced adults. Instructors should show constant support and offer plenty of reassurance to the children, helping them to develop their confidence and sense of self.
Social Development
Any form of group learning or exercise is a “social experience”, wherein the young child will not only be learning the subject being taught, but also certain aspects of interpersonal skills and teamwork. This is where they learn about responsibility, discipline and good manners. To ”wait their turn” and use “please” and “thank you” (and “Oss”) etc. They will also learn about the appreciation of law and order.
In conclusion: Young children has energy, a short attention span, learn quickly and love games. This means train in a safe environment, short (30/45min), focus on “doing”, plenty variety and must be fun. Design and pre-plan your warm-ups around these aspects and great results will show..
Bowing is probably the feature of Japanese etiquette that is best known outside Japan, especially present in Japanese Martial Arts such as Karate.
Bowing is considered extremely important in Japan, so much so that, although children normally begin learning how to bow from a very young age, companies commonly provide training to their employees in how to execute bows correctly.
Basic bows are performed with the back straight and the hands at the sides (boys and men) or clasped in the lap (girls and women), and with the eyes down. Bows originate at the waist. Generally, the longer and deeper the bow, the stronger the emotion and the respect expressed.
How quickly you can get to the target to deliver your technique is an important part of karate. Isolating “transport to target” will help you to improve this aspect of your karate. You want to focus and overload getting to the target faster. This video gives some ideas (which is most certainly nothing new) on how we can emphasise training to get to target faster! Go for it! #karinprinsloo#kumite#training#karate#jka#sajka#wkf
Have a look at this highlights video from the KZN JKA championships is held annually as a combined club championships in KZN – Durban South Africa. The Tournament is a fantastic showcase of KZN’s karate students both big and small. It is a safe and exciting environment where many karate students get exposed to karate competition for the first time. #jka#sajka#pinetownjka#karinprinsloo#karate#kata#kumite
Bowing is probably the feature of Japanese etiquette that is best known outside Japan, especially present in Japanese Martial Arts such as Karate.
