Games and Drills

[Squawman]

As an instructor it gets very hard to come up with new games and drills for the students so the classes are always different. I would love to hear what you guys do for say balance, speed, coordination, focus and so on. I'm looking for drills for all different ages i.e. 3&4 5,6,7 8-13 & adult.

[Darce]

You do train 3&4 years old?

[G95champ]

We do a kicking and shifting drill the kids like. We take some of those big balls you use to do set ups on put a person in the middle and roll the balls at them. They must shift out of the way and side kick or round kick over the ball. They are constantly changing postions because they must dodge the ball if your hit your out and you must get the kick over the ball.

[stl_karateka]

For Balance ---

 

we used to do an elimination game with the kids at my old school.

 

For example an instructor would chamber leg --- throw a slow kick, hold it out --- slowly bring it in, chamber to side kick --- out and in, slow and fast, back kick etc --- all without setting down. The other instructors go around and tap kids out when they have lost their balance or drop their foot --- they then sit down until the next round.

 

You can do this with the older kids by getting a little fancy --- front kick, pivot to low , middle high round kicks, hook kicks etc

 

We also do kicks down the room using a hitch step --- so pump side kick all the way down, pump round house, then pump side / round without setting down.

 

Hope this helps

 

Kita

[ninjanurse]

How about "Sensei Says"? Great for self control, listening skills, knowledge of terminology, balance, etc.

 

A good game of Dodge Ball breaks up the class too. We play with nerf balls and aim at the legs only so students have to jump high to "dodge" it.

 

Here's another: Instructor puts two moves together, then each student adds on two more..the result is a custom class-made kata or demo that challenges creativity and physical skills.

 

[stl_karateka]

yeah sensei says is a good one! and for the older kids you can make it more advanced by using terminology -- like sensei says 'mawashi geri' -- and they have to throw a round house

[Gloi]

Pair the kids up. Get them to put their hands behinds their backs and stand on their left leg. Get them to put their right ankles together then push or move the foot about trying to get the other person to put their other foot down. When one has put the other foot down change legs and go again.

 

When everyone has got the hang of it you can do it as a knockout competition. You have to make sure the kids only use their foot on the other persons leg below the knee not go mad shoulder charging each other though.

 

It can get to be a very tiring game and good for developing balance.

[karatekid1975]

I'd like to bring this topic up again. I teach at the YMCA now for my dojang on saturday mornings. I have a white belt class (I think the oldest is 10), and one color belt class (oldest is 13). No one above purple in this class.

 

We are not allowed to teach sparring (or any hard contact activities) at the Y. But I'd like to know some sparring related drills that don't involve contact, but will still give them "sparring" knowledge, so to speak.

 

Also more of the drills above will be useful for warm-ups or as a "closing" game just to end the class on a "fun" note

[ninjanurse]

Laurie,

 

One drill we used to do with the little kids is this:

 

Get strips of material (we used cut up belts or ribbon) approx. 10 inches long. Have them put the strip through their belt in the front. Pair them off , as in sparring, and let them try to get each others "flag". They can block, move around, feint, etc. but no hitting, kicking, or grabbing.

 

Another one:

 

Take a soft foam blocker and a piece of xray paper and use have the kids kick or punch the paper, and block the blocker-wherever you happen to put them. It is basically a targeting drill that mimics sparring-especially if you move around, back & forth, etc.

 

Still another:

 

Come up with "combinations" of techniques that they can do using their partner as a target. After they are comfortable with it, teach the counters to the techniques and have one partner counter the combination after the first one is done. Eventually they will be able to counter (with out contact of course since you aren't "teaching sparring" ) at the same time.

 

Hope these help!!

 

Heidi

 

[karatekid1975]

Thanks, Heidi. We do the first drill (the belt thing). We call it "belt tag." I am going to do that this saturday.

 

But the other two I can add to my list