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Friday, October 12th, 2001 02:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robinturnerAfter an extremely frustrating week of computer crashes (Nimda virus on a Windows machine and a screwed up boot record on the dual Windows/Linux system causing a kernel panic) it was nice to get down to some virtuous physical activity. Our self-defence course has finally got off the ground, with the first lesson yesterday. They seem a nice bunch of kids: two boys and ten girls, all about fifteen-sixteeen years. A lot of giggling but no goofing off or horsing around, and let's face it, expecting fifteen-year-old girls not to giggle is like expecting construction workers to keep their trousers above their bum-creases(U.S. readers should substitute "pants" and "butt" here, I think.
What was interesting was that while none of kids had problems physically, quite a lot of the girls just couldn't do a decent gi-ap (martial arts yell - kiai in Japanese). It just goes to show the weight of social conditioning when girls who can probably scream their lungs out at a pop concert get all inhibited when actually asked to shout at someone while kicking them. They'd walk up to their partner and do a passable stamp-kick, then, almost as an afterthought, make a little "mweek" sound. Don't these kids watch Xena?
BTW, if any readers who attended self-defence courses can give me tips on what they found useful - and more importantly, what they found counter-productive - please let me know.
What was interesting was that while none of kids had problems physically, quite a lot of the girls just couldn't do a decent gi-ap (martial arts yell - kiai in Japanese). It just goes to show the weight of social conditioning when girls who can probably scream their lungs out at a pop concert get all inhibited when actually asked to shout at someone while kicking them. They'd walk up to their partner and do a passable stamp-kick, then, almost as an afterthought, make a little "mweek" sound. Don't these kids watch Xena?
BTW, if any readers who attended self-defence courses can give me tips on what they found useful - and more importantly, what they found counter-productive - please let me know.
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kiai
Date: 2001-10-13 07:57 am (UTC)I had a tiny Japanese man constantly drilling into our heads that half our proficiency was physical, the other half was spiritual. He explained the focus of the ki (chi, in Mandarin) and applying it.
I was twelve. That didn't sink in.
Then he made an offhand comment that "all the boys in the class can kiai. Bah. Girls and kenjitsu do not mix."
And I've had an awesome kiai ever since!
Re: kiai
Date: 2001-10-13 08:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2001-10-13 02:38 pm (UTC)self-defense
Date: 2001-10-13 02:49 pm (UTC)What I didn't like about self-defense was that I didn't take it with a friend. I always had to partner up with some stranger, and one or both of us didn't feel comfortable enough with one another to get all intimate. I mean, we had to do some real wrasslin'. And when we, say, had to straddle someone, we'd do so very gingerly, the total opposite of how an attacker would do it.
I also didn't like how choreographed it all felt. I think spontaneity should have been emphasized. In most cases, I knew exactly what my partner would do next -- like, she'd go for a choke-hold -- so I already had my reaction planned out. I think spontaneity and speed should have been a focus, later in the course anyway. But the whole thing was, generally, pretty choreographed and in slow-motion.