Kids And The Martial Arts

[flashlock]

A month back I saw a program of a self-defense teacher that specialized in teaching children. They were mainly taught to go crazy screaming, biting, scratching, kicking--in and outside a car. They were taught to attack the driver from a backseat and to run, screaming. The little girl demonstrating these techniques went ballistic--I thought it was a smart thing to teach.

 

[jdinca]

We teach kids a lot of the same techniques we teach to adults. We also modify a number of techniques for children and we also have techniques designed just for the child being attacked by an adult. As was mentioned earlier, ear slaps, kicks/strikes to the groin are all incorporated. Another difference is that we teach the "cat, cover, cat" finish to adults but for the kids, we teach them to run away as fast as they can.

A fun little story. A student who has small children was telling me about working with his daughter (also a student) on the self defense techniques that were developed for the upcoming student tournament. One of them starts with blocking a two arm attempted grab, followed by several body strikes. Well...his daughter did the block and then promptly kicked him right in the crotch, dropping dad to the ground, and ran away. I went over to her, gave her a big smile and a high five and said "that was great, you did just what you're supposed to do!". Her whole face lit up. I don't think she'll have a problem using that on anybody who comes after her.

 

[foggymorning162]

A month back I saw a program of a self-defense teacher that specialized in teaching children. They were mainly taught to go crazy screaming, biting, scratching, kicking--in and outside a car. They were taught to attack the driver from a backseat and to run, screaming. The little girl demonstrating these techniques went ballistic--I thought it was a smart thing to teach.

I just saw a news story about a 6yr old girl that was in a car when it was car jacked she beat the driver with her book bag until he stopped the car.

 

[zDom]

While wrist LOCKS might not be useable for a child, you can and should teach them WRIST ESCAPES.

By lining up the bone edge with the place where the thumb and fingers meet and pulling against this gap area, you can escape from the grip of a significantly stronger person, especially when combined with a movement that puts the body weight behind the escape manuever and by pulling on the grabbed arm with the the free hand.

 

[kidswarrior]

While wrist LOCKS might not be useable for a child, you can and should teach them WRIST ESCAPES.

By lining up the bone edge with the place where the thumb and fingers meet and pulling against this gap area, you can escape from the grip of a significantly stronger person, especially when combined with a movement that puts the body weight behind the escape manuever and by pulling on the grabbed arm with the the free hand.

Yes, good reminder zDom. Very different skill sets for very different purposes (one primarily offensive, one purely defensive).

 

[Shaderon]

zDomn I agree, wrist escapes are very useful and I shall make sure mine learns these too! If the boss doesn't teach her, I certainly will

 

[bushidomartialarts]

we have three physical foci in our school.

1. self defense against adults (i.e. abduction resistance). we don't teach many attacks against and adule -- they simply aren't effective. even a well-placed groin kick or eye poke isn't going to help an 8 year old against a 30 year old man. much as i wish it wasn't so.

instead, we use tom patire's system. yell like bloody murder and grab hold of something heavy, awkward or stationary. we teach specific hand and ankle locks so the child is inextricably linked with a swingset, tree, bicycle, other kid, street sign and making as much noise as possible. like previously mentioned, we train them to memorize a specific phrase calculated to get adult attention and aid.

2. self defense against other kids (i.e. bullies). here we focus on using the mouth and the brain first, including lots of escape and evasion techniques. for actual fighting techniques, we focus on stuff that will get the bully's attention without causing any real injury. stuff like a thumb jab into the midsection, or a knee strike to the thigh, or a hard inward block to the bicep.

3. personal development through rigorous training. forms, exercise, demanding moves or stances. shield work. breaking. all with the focus being on how this helps you build power over yourself, rather than on how this is used to demonstrate or obtain power over somebody else.

 

[Tez3]

Yes, that is a possibility. So, I don't know if you instruct kids at all, but I'm interested in how you base your program for them.

Mike

www.shotaikai.co.uk has our martial arts programme on but the self defence techniques we teach are basically what people have already posted up, like shouting things to indicate that it's not the childs parents etc.For children we feel 'distraction' techniques work best to give them the chance to run away. Things like sliding the side of your foot down a shin, with kidswarrior there ouch! stamping on the foot is good (fighters use it in MMA) biting good (also it leaves a definitive pattern which can be matched by police)grabbing fingers and bending them back, biting. The main thing I think whether you are teaching people to fight in comp or for self defence is not to freeze, to keep the presence of mind to do something. the children themselves are good at co,ing up with things that they can and can't do physically, gets them thinking. They are also good at coming up with when and when not to use things, much better than just telling them.

 

[still learning]

Hello, Great post and good stuffs for kids to learn!

Yes: Teach them to always FIGHT BACK...AND TRY TO ESCAPE...never give up!

Tarket: Most of you agree...groin,eyes,ears,biting,shins,shouting NOT MY DADDY/MOMMY. not sure aouut this..throat? um....using anything around you for striking weapons.

If possible to grab the steering wheel and crash the vehicle..especially in a place with people maybe around (we teach this to older kids/women/kidnappings....)

Our laws are not tough and preditors are NEVER CURE ..from jail time....

............Aloha