Back to Teaching!
Yes, you read that right! I’m back to teaching! I apologize for not blogging since mid-July due to summertime activities and hosting various family members. Most of you know I had to dissolve Bamboo Spirit as a business entity. I don’t want to go into…
Martial Arts Zoom Classes
Over the last few months, I’ve been teaching five Zoom classes per week. The attendees consist mostly of students from the 6Tigers Academy and occasionally Bamboo Spirit students. The seeds of my Zoom class experiences are due to a group of siblings, originally from Ottawa…
Blitz Teaching
When I teach class, I often will cover two or three topics/techniques or concepts. In other words, I am blitz teaching. The idea is that the students will have sufficient time to practice each technique or concept. If you are not able to view the…
Resetting
Resetting is a method by which partners engage in a technique sequence to a finite end. At this point, they reset back to the beginning to repeat the sequence. This occurs most often in partner training or one-step sparring. In this post, I discuss this…
“Can’t” Gets You Fifty Pushups
Guest Blogger Cathy Chapaty is the author of No Pouting in the Dojo: The Imperfect Journey of Teaching Children Character through Martial Arts. A veteran martial artist, Chapaty has been respected as an empowering, positive teacher with a knack for helping children of all ages and abilities…
4 Reasons for Teaching Beginners
Instructors and advanced students can benefit greatly from teaching beginners. Unfortunately, too many instructors have their junior or senior students working with beginners. Senior students often prefer to work with classmates of the same rank. While there is nothing wrong with working with fellow senior…
Teaching the Centerline
Many martial arts incorporate the concept of centerline. Wing Chun is well known for its emphasis on the centerline theory. As seen in the phenomenal video below, even boxing incorporates this as well. Teaching the centerline is often easy and difficult at the same time. If you…
The Challenge of Teaching Footwork to Kids
The biggest challenge in teaching kids is footwork. Good footwork is crucial to self-defence and particularly so for Filipino Martial Arts. Want to avoid getting hit, slashed or stabbed? Move your feet. At the most basic level, one should be able to step up at a…
Taming the Mustang Spirit
I’m pleased to have a guest post from Cathy Chapaty, a veteran martial artist and author of a terrific book (No Pouting In the Dojo). If you teach children, this is a must-buy available at Amazon. She has previously guest-posted on the mental aspects of teaching…
7 Ways I Teach Children Filipino Martial Arts
Some believe children should not be taught a “violent” activity like Filipino Martial Arts. I’ve encountered those who believe FMAs are inappropriate for children because they involve swinging a stick or two. Ahem. While risks are inherent in swinging sticks, many age-appropriate ways to teach Filipino…