Silat and children

[Carol]

Something that I've always found interesting is seeing how different schools teach younger students, and how they address fighting, and even weapons, in a way that is appropriate for the child's age and development.

On a trip to the States from Indonesia, Guru Edward Lebe mentioned that most (if not all) Indonesian schoolchildren are taught Silat in their public schools, but the children learn it only as dance. They aren't taught the fighting applications until they reach the age of 17 or so.

So...some questions that I'd like to throw out for discussion...

Does anyone here have any experience watching, or teaching, a Silat class for children?

What was/is the material covered?

What are the age groups?

Do you address weapons at all or is the training primarily empty-hand?

 

[silat]

Does anyone here have any experience watching, or teaching, a Silat class for children?

What was/is the material covered?

What are the age groups?

Do you address weapons at all or is the training primarily empty-hand?

Carol,

I use to only teach Kids Kung Fu but now with the inception of Shaolin Pentjak Silat I will teach them this style starting at 8 years of age.

Click on a sash rank and you can see the curriculum:



Sincerely,
Teacher: Eddie Ivester

 

[ChingChuan]

At the moment, we don't have many 'child members' but the training on Saturday is supposed to be for younger children, from 9 year and up. The 'usual' trainings are for people from 15 and up, but in theory you could also join when you're younger if my instructor thinks it's okay.
However, as there are only two or three 'real' children, almost everyone (all the adults) also attends the Saturday training and when those children are absent, it's the same as any other training.

Anyway, my instructor doesn't really teach different things to children... It's only a bit more 'line work' and less practising things on each other. There is more attention given to the 'basics' (stances, 'plain' jurus, simple combinations) - the lessons on Saturday are usually less 'difficult' than thoese on Wednesday - but last Saturday we covered really advanced techniques, so it doesn't really apply yo every lesson.
The emphasis is less on 'perfectly correct technique', so if an 10-year-old uses a horrible pasang, he won't spend too much time explaning it over and over again. He does emphasize proper stretching and strength training because those things can be a real advantage if you continue training until you're old enough to understand everything and more motivated to practise out of class.
We've never had a lesson which involved weapons on a Saturday, so I suppose he doesn't teach them to children .

So, generally speaking, I think that my instructor does take children into account, but it isn't like he teaches a special 'children's class'.

 

[doc D]

Generally, I don't teach anyone under 16 . However, my daughter is 13 and I do teach her the basics of my silat methods. The question is , with all the really bad things that happen to some kids , is it appropriate or not to teach techniques without any real teeth in them? I think if I teach the core philosophy of of my styles , I am creating enough culturally appropriate behavioral grounding that my daughter will also be appropriate in her use of the material. The smallest partner she has had is one of my smaller adult students. She has no same age training partners yet....She doesn't let other kids know she trains with Dad and we that do strange stuff.....yeah.....she's a 13 year old girl.....teen stuff ,I guess : )


I think she thinks I'll break into a Kembangan at one of her basketball games or something....hee, hee

She does enjoy knocking Dad down repeatedly......hmmmmmmmmmmm


warm regards,

Doc D

 

[tellner]

We've never taught kids, and our teacher doesn't have any in his classes. He taught his daughter on and off from the time she was little. She went to a school in a completely different style for social reasons but came back to Silat as an adult.

 

[Trent]

I teach my sons and one of their best friends. My sons started when they turned 13 years of age, the friend was 16 and already a blackbelt level martial artist in another art who continually asked if I would teach him for over two years. Other people's children would have to be vetted by me first and I'd have to like their parents quite a bit. I don't believe I'd bother with anyone below 16.

But that's just me.

 

[megat]

i started at a young age due to my grand farther is a silat practitioner. start at 10. but this is just me. most kids will learn in primary school i think from where i come from. and usually it is the begiiner level and no deadly technique. usually the fundamental and also exercices.