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Old 08-27-2011, 08:50 AM   #24
Shadowfax
 
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Dojo: Allegheny Aikido, Pitsburgh PA
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 948
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Re: early kyu expectations

Quote:
David Santana wrote: View Post
ok, I think I get the color of the answers regarding the ukemi.. but what about the techniques? sometimes I get the urge to point out every little details that the beginners missed but after saying a couple of points I feel that they won't be able to remember everything I said.. or even worse, they might get bored and think that aikido is too hard to learn for them... so usually, I'll just point out 1 or 2 mistakes and let the other mistakes get away as "beginner standards".. what do you guys think?
I realize you asked for the input of instructors but though I would give you some perspective form a student's point of view. Hope you don't mind.

I think you need to be careful of overwhelming a beginner with too many details. This is something I have observed quite a bit with a couple of people I train with. They try to teach them everything all at once in detail and the poor student becomes hopelessly confused and frustrated. You don't teach a first grader to read by handing them a copy of Moby Dick.

Aikido is very hard to learn. No sense in hiding that fact from a student. But overwhelming them with too many details before they are ready is a good way to get them frustrated and make them want to give up. If they can get just a couple of things going well they will gain confidence and be more willing to keep working on the things they have trouble with.

As I understand it kyu rank students have not even qualified to be considered beginners yet anyway. They (we ) are learning how to learn aikido. My teachers really emphasize our learning to understand the principles and basic shapes of techniques and ukemi and not so much the perfecting of them. That comes after shodan.

Last edited by Shadowfax : 08-27-2011 at 08:54 AM.
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