Training Basics
Contents: First Night | Structure | Objectives
First Night
The first test for a student occurs when they walk through the doors of the school. This is a show of motivation in itself as it is always uncomfortable doing these type of things and therefore is a demonstration of some form of desire. A student on their first night is permitted to watch a session and even at this early stage, the potential student's attitude is being observed. One would imagine as in any interview this is common and expected knowledge, first appearances and all. At this early stage, the instructors are purely looking for modesty. New students of YJQ can train free for a month where they will then be either accepted or declined membership.
On a student's first night of physical training, the student can expect to go with one of the senior students and run through the warm-ups. All the Kung Fu is derived from the art and a rough explanation is given on what the students are doing as this definitely helps with an understanding of the moves. This will also demonstrate to the novice that we are not about high kicks but efficiency, effectiveness and balance. If they are after a more flashy art, we may as well find it out here and part ways. If the new student returns for another lesson, then they will be slowly immersed within the system. The student may not remember much, but they should remember that the arm waving and moves they are doing are actual moves that have a purpose. This will never change and is a precursor to the entire training premise. 'Be deadly serious in your training', (Funakoshi, 1956).
Founder of Shotokan Karate
Image source: Funakoshi, 1975
During warm-ups, the student is strategically placed within the rank and file and mirrors the Instructor positioned up front and consequently always has a reference point. Even at this early stage, the instructor is monitoring the student's cognitive skills to gain an idea on what and how long certain things take to learn. In reality though a student shouldn't be too concerned and mainly concentrate on settling in and loosing their self-consciousness. It is in YJQ's best interests to get students but in order to ensure the standards of the style, strict protocols are in place, these protocols are mainly based on attitude. A student must progress out of these positions and the promotion system is utilised. As a student remembers moves, they are progressed up through the system. The 'promotions' are a student slowly getting immersed into the rank and file and achieving the various Levels (Ranks). A new student typically takes about a month to stop the fish out of water feel during warm-ups and learn the basic repertoire. The same goes for some fundamental solo patterns generally consisting of <= 12 moves, some moves and forms are cyclically as well as ambidextrously inverted. One notices that the first time the student gets through these initial patterns, there is a sense of accomplishment that usually signals an extended stay. The senior instructor doesn't personally train the new students. The bulk of the training responsibility is delegated to the junior instructors and senior students, the principal instructors resources are better utilised up the chain. A new student though is monitored closely and is expected to demonstrate their technique to the senior instructor each night
Structure
The training regime allows a new student to be trained by various seniors. Typically a new student receives constant supervision throughout a session up until they reach Level 1, where they become more confident and are ready to start a more serious technical training mode. The senior students are cycled with the new students in 15 minute phases. The advantage of this procedure is that the students receive many different perspectives of the fundamentals that must be performed pedantically. The differing perspectives are not different techniques but each instructor has different perspectives on the standard. In turn, senior students in this concentrated environment will pick up technical benefits through constant reiteration of the forms whilst offering the new student a different perspective to the new student, win, win. This responsibility is a real benefit for the seniors as they have the total responsibility of the student's first foray into martial arts and will be crucial for their technique on a whole. The seniors get a sense of pride when they see a good strong student as well as gaining a capacity for maintaining the art which is probably the hardest and most important aspect of this art form.
Objectives
Once the first month is up, the student usually is performing walk through movements and getting shown and explained some application to help them understand their moves further, this puts soul into the moves otherwise they are just empty moves. From here on, the journey continues and more confidence is gained and the student is slowly immersed more and more within the group.
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