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DW
DW's picture
Play as a learning tool

First of all I would like to applogise for any mistake in context, grammar or syntax. English is not my first language.

Do any of you use playing as learning tool in your classes? And by play I mean things like the games we used to play as children. If not, why not? I, myself, use the games of catch and the variant of it, chain tag (that's google's translation of it). I find it a great way as a warm-up excercise and it teaches us how to escape from one or more enemies. Also it's just great fun to let go of all of the normal ways we're taught to behave as an adult and be a kid of just a few minutes again.

I would love to hear if you do anything like this and what your experience have been so far.

Kind regards

Daniel

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

DW wrote:
I, myself, use the games of catch and the variant of it, chain tag (that's google's translation of it). I find it a great way as a warm-up exercise and it teaches us how to escape from one or more enemies.

I think those in the UK will know “chain tag” as “British Bulldog”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Bulldog_(game)

I once did a course with a former member of the special forces on escape and evasion, and the warm up was a game of British Bulldog. It took me right back to my childhood … and a memorable moment where I thought I’d got passed John Skillen (http://www.johnskillenmaf.com/) only to find my legs were up in the air and no longer following me :-)

Games for their own sake are unlikely to be an efficient use of training time, but “martial play” which has a defined goal and objective and that will develop applicable skills is to be encouraged. A drill with a defined “win” that people enjoy can be thought of as “play”. People also tend to get good at what they enjoy, so making training enjoyable is something a good coach should try to do.

All the best,

Iain

Neil Babbage
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Iain Abernethy wrote:

I think those in the UK will know “chain tag” as “British Bulldog”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Bulldog_(game)

We played that just the other week, although it was done rather differently to in the playground. The "victim" had to force their way through a large group of "attackers", each holding a kick shield, in order to get to the exit from the room. The "attackers" couldn't strike but could use the kick shield to try and force the "victim" back or pin them to the ground. Really it was just a bit of fun for variety as part of a conditioning drill, but we did add a couple of teaching elements when reflecting on various students' success. For example, grabbing an attacker or even pausing to strike them (unless you couldn't get round them) was an invitation to lose the game by not reaching the exit. I think this is probably good self-defence practice in facing a large group blocking the exit - focus on breaking through and escaping rather than fighting. 

DW
DW's picture

The version of tag that I use when teaching kids is where the taggers holds hands creating a longer and longer chain as they catch someone. The smart kids quickly learns to use the end of the chain against the taggers and tries to keep the final tagger/link of the chain between themself and the rest of the taggers. I agree that games just for fun have little training value. There should always be a reason behind a drill or game. However using play as a teaching tool is something that studies have shown to be one of the most efficient ways of learning. The hard part is getting the adult student to let go of their fear of looking foolish and have fun.  

Daniel

Neil Babbage
Neil Babbage's picture

DW wrote:

The hard part is getting the adult student to let go of their fear of looking foolish and have fun.

The hard part for us was stopping the adults injuring themselves! When we used to have a separate children's club we would play the same games we used with them with the adults at the pre-Xmas session. The number of twisted knees, sprained ankles, etc., outnumbered all the injuries in the rest of the year. I suspect it was a combination of the unusual movements, trying too hard in order to win, and not concentrating as it was only a game (i.e., in comparison to when sparring where you know it can be dangerous so concentrate). More seriously, I think it's important to go through the risk assessment process again as apparently harmless games can actually involve different risks to karate.

Chris Jvrn
Chris Jvrn's picture

I think explaining it to adults helps, if you give them an objective or reason for play it helps.  I attend a mobility class once a week at a kung fu school and half the time we are doing handstands and all sorts of moves one used to easily do as children. Balancing acts and so forth. 

Some I've incorporated into my classes that both students and children enjoy, like you take a bo staff and stand in a fixed point while rotating the stick either head, hip or foot height and the person must duck or roll or jump out of the way of the moving stick 

Philios
Philios's picture

I've introduced a number of flag sparring drills into my classes.  It's a fantastic cardio warmup, and although it is quite fun and safe, you can still touch on serious lessons based on the drills. All students (young and young at heart) really enjoy flag sparring.  I basically cut up a bunch of red and blue belts and have two 18-inch lengths hanging from each student's belt near the hip flexors. 

Basic Flag Sparring:

1-on-1 -  A good way to get beginners and children accustomed to the footwork of free sparring in a safe manner. Students intuitively learn to parry attacks, devise strategies involving throwing feints, use combinations, move away from the threat, and establish correct distance.  The general rules are, you can't touch your own flags but you can use your arms to parry incoming attacks.  You can't grab clothing to control your opponent, but you can manipulate their arms (trapping arms, arm drags, pulling the wrist, and swim moves are all okay).  You win if you remove both of your opponent's flags, or have more flags than your opponent when time expires.  Ties happen either by both having the same number of flags when time expires, or when the last flag of both players is removed at the same time.  

Other variants involving multiple opponents lend themselves nicely to self-defense:

2-on-1 - Stand your ground and defend against two assailants for 30 seconds.  Defenders intuitively learn to use their footwork and positioning to "line up their opponents" so they only have to deal with one at a time.  Defenders also opportunistically decide to either attempt to take out the weak one first, or attempt to take out the bigger threat first.  Defenders quickly realize that the ground is the worst place for them.  If you fall, GET BACK UP.

1-on-1+1 (a.k.a. "Momma Bear") - One defender (Momma Bear) protecting a helpless person (her cub) from a single assailant.  All three people wear flags but the helpless person cannot attack.

2-on-1+1 - Same as above but with an additional assailant.  Typically doesn't end well for the defending team.

3-on1 (a.k.a. "Save Your Bacon") - Evade 3 assailants and attempt to escape to a designated safe area while still having at least one flag (out of two) on your belt.

Red vs Blue - Team free-for-all that primarily teaches awareness and predatory behaviour (teamwork).

Free-for-all - Last person standing wins.  Impromptu alliances are often formed to take out bigger threats.  You must always assume the person you are dealing with may have a friend.  

DW
DW's picture

I really love all the feedback so far. We also use some variant of the flag sparring. But with clothes pins and fastened to the front of the dogi. Teaches you to protect yourself from attempts at grappling. Try to get as many as you can from the others. Also great fun. :)

karate10
karate10's picture

Not so long ago, me and my dojo mates brought a tennis ball and we played "Butts Up" at the side of his condo. The object is to throw the tennis ball to the wall and you continue to do so until someone drops the ball and he/she must run to touch the wall before someone picks the tennis ball and throws it at the buttocks area. Its a popular game within Urban kids and teens here in the U.S. for decades. It may sound silly, but the game helps you with speed, endurance, awareness and helps you with your footworks.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

karate10 wrote:
Not so long ago, me and my dojo mates brought a tennis ball and we played "Butts Up" at the side of his condo. The object is to throw the tennis ball to the wall and you continue to do so until someone drops the ball and he/she must run to touch the wall before someone picks the tennis ball and throws it at the buttocks area. Its a popular game within Urban kids and teens here in the U.S. for decades. It may sound silly, but the game helps you with speed, endurance, awareness and helps you with your footworks.

I think this is what we knew as “Space Invaders” when I was kid because the side to side motion against the wall, as well as things being fired back and forth, resembled the popular video game.

All the best,

Iain