DTP: What & How

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WHAT:

Deliberate Targeted Practice: picking a specific skill and working it into your regular practice by mentally focusing on this skill until it is acquired.

HOW:

Below are example skills to focus on, but are not limited to the following:

  1.    sae/tenouchi – the last 20% of your swing when making a strike
  2.    fumikomi – the final action of the process in kendo footwork
  3.    swing – ensuring you have a switch point, achieving maximum velocity and acceleration 
  4.    seme/shibori – thrusting the shinai into the center and taking control
  5.    seme/footwork – using ashi seme to create an opening
  6.    seme/rhythm – using enzan no metsuke and recognizing when the opponent is open to take the center
  7.    choyaku suburi footwork – developing the correct footwork for doing choyaku suburi
  8.    sayumen suburi – ensuring your left hand stays centered and the shinai is striking at the correct angle of attack
  9.    uchima – determining your personal attacking/striking distance
  10.    kakari keiko – performing both as attacker and motodachi the correct way to enhance your jigeiko
  11.    kote uchi – refining to optimum efficiency how you strike the kote.
  12.    doh uchi  – refining your doh attack to where it is yukodatotsu
  13.    tsuki waza – refining to where you can do 1 or 2 handed tsuki and actually hit the target 

Creating an Improvement Plan

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A Quality Circle Approach to Improving Your Kendo

If your kendo has reached a plateau and you find you are not improving, then perhaps you need to do some analysis.  It is common practice in manufacturing to do process improvement or problem analysis by quality circles.  In this process you try to find the root cause of the problem and fix it.  This methodology helps you to find and correct fundamental problems that stop or restrict your progress.  This is a path to continued improvement in your kendo.  Remember you own it, not the Sensei, it is your kendo and only you can fix it.  When you run out of basics you no longer improve, and you plateau in your kendo development.

Identify the Weakness

Consider the following:

  1. Do a skill assessment to realize and identify where you have basic problems and deficiencies. 
  2. Identify from your skill assessment what your weakest skill is.
  3. Make an Ishikawa Fishbone chart with each bone describing some problem in the identified weakest skill.
  4. Write a problem statement from which to do root cause analysis.
  5. Using the root cause analysis ascertain what is the actual problem as you perceive it.

Generally you need to go down 7 levels in order to get to the true root cause of your problem.

Example of  Fishbone Diagram for Kendo

Focus Intention with each Practice

Once you have identified the root cause, then set out a plan on how to fix the problem. If you do not have enough base knowledge to do this, ask for help from someone that does.  Even if you think you have enough knowledge to tackle the problem get a second and third opinion.

Examples of Deliberate Targeted Practice

Often when you fix one problem, you will fix others by cause and effect.  A good plan and goal takes many practice hours and self discipline to work through.  Even if your progress is slow, it is progress. 

To change a habit it takes 100 reps of correction for 40 days straight.  

If you make a 1% improvement in 25 things it is a 25% improvement overall. Keep the big picture, set goals, and do deliberate targeted practice.  Make a training plan that works for you, remember “life happens” so be flexible.  

Building Community

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Building the kendo community takes motivated students, and an approach to teaching that fosters individual progress with community growth.

Enhancing Motivation

The individual student has to have the motivation within them.  The assumption rightly, or wrongly, being they have some level of motivation or they would not be in your class.  Kendo is a voluntary activity for teens and adults.

Young kids that start kendo because of a desire on the part of parent(s) are much less likely to be motivated to do kendo.  In general, the majority of these students drop out because they did not want to do kendo to begin with. 

I made a rule long ago, I do not take kids whose parents want the kendo, I only take kids that want to do kendo. 

Quizzing the parents, when possible, is always a good chance to avoid a serious waste of time, effort, and resources on the reluctant child. 

Motivation is a force within the individual to succeed, and is the grit and guts to push themselves beyond.  Tapping into and enhancing motivation requires that the club/class/sensei provide the environment and tools for the individual’s motivation to increase. 

Individual Mentoring

Mentoring and motivation enhancement are closely related but not the same.  Mentoring is primarily a hands on approach at guiding the individual and removing roadblocks that they cannot remove themselves.  Before removing any roadblock, it is critical for the individual to struggle to remove it themselves. Part of mentoring is to be a spirit guide – not in the traditional sense, but as someone that has already been down the path, help guide the individual to make the right turns and understand the process. Mentoring also means helping with technical corrections and making training suggestions.

 

Fostering Relationships

To build a community it takes everyone – students to teachers, and children to adults. Therefore the approach to each group needs to be intentional to the group involved.

For Children and Kids:

Make it fun.

Children need to bond together so that they have friends in kendo, and so that the atmosphere at the dojo is not oppressive but uplifting and challenging.  Group suffering is good and provides pride of accomplishment.

Guidelines for children practicing Kendo

Incorporate special youth camps that include games beyond kendo, or kendo based games like:

  • Tsuba Toss – contest to see who can toss their tsuba into their men (in the fashion of a water balloon toss)
  • Race to put on bogu
  • Suri ashi Race  – like a relay race in track
  • Sensei Says – done like Simon Says, increasing # of repetitive strikes (e.g. men; kote-men, kote-men-hiki doh, etc…)
  • Balloon War – taping balloons to targets, strike to pop the balloons, last one standing wins
  • Piñata – blindfolded with bokken

Have outside activities like a swim party or bowling party – any kind of activities that make the child want to come to kendo to be with their friends. 

For Teens and Adults:

Drilling needs to carefully build correct habit, so there is continual process improvement  through repetition – each time getting better.  This produces excellence even if you are not a “natural.”  Experience and training gets you to the top level of excellence beyond the norm. 

Talent needs to be combined with effort to produce highly skillful kenshi.  This skill with effort brings achievement in shinsa and shiai.  This makes you a valuable commodity in the overall group because you can now contribute to the  community as a whole.  The community is the whole, and unless we grow the community we will not grow on a personal level.

Think in one direction, combine together by means available from the things around you, and pay attention to detail.

We have the following kendo opportunities available:

  • Women’s Practice on Friday @ Bellevue
  • Special Saturday Classes
  • Youth Camp
  • Yudansha Workshop
  • Seminars

Showing up – attendance is the beginning

 

Building Seme in 3 Steps

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Start Attacking

  1. Uchi-Seme: attack pressure created through uchi komu (repeated multiple thrusts and strikes) – Uchikomi keiko.

An example method, rensoku waza, multi-hit pursuit drill – attacker takes center with strong step in from tip to tip into their uchima performing shibori (to wring out the towel) as they enter in past issoku-itto no maai (if necessary). Receiver retreats from repeated continuous attacks to kote, kote-men, and men (it is also possible to do migi doh) depending on the skill level of the attacker. Doing suri ashi the receiver transitions to far side of the dojo blocking all but the last strike. Attacker and receiver both need to be aware of their spatial relationship and the impending wall. The attacker must not drive the receiver into the wall hurting your partner (this may seem obvious but experience has shown it is not). The attacker can see the distance to the far wall and must stop before the receiver reaches danger. Trust must be built between both parties so the drill functions with sincerity and seriousness.

This drill will build uchi-seme (especially in adult Kyu and juniors) and renzoku waza. The drill builds the correct mind-set to make more than one strike and builds the receivers skill through blocking based on kirikaeshi.

Keep Moving

  1. Ashi-Seme: creating pressure and chance through the use of footwork and rhythm.

Put your breath in your left leg and feel the opponents breath through their shinai. The attacker can use a push-pull-strike by stepping in and doing shibori (to wrap your shinai around the opponents) creating center pressure then draw to to-ma just beyond tip to tip (beyond the aite uchi-ma) then when the partner tries to step in and fill the void (irimi) the attacker is already set and launches an attack of kote, men or doh. It may be necessary to repeat the footwork several times before the rhythm is right to create a chance.

Always be ready to receive an attack when you step back, never let your left heel touch down but load the push off leg ready to go into the attack. This means it could be the right leg if you setup an oji waza instead of shikake. You have to analyze the aite and perceive how they react to your footwork and rhythm.

Stay Focused

  1. Kizeme-Seme: using your spirit, projecting through the tanden, and perceiving when the opponent’s ki drops and then striking.

In enzan-no metsuke – mentally attack, win, and then cut.  You see the aite both physically and mentally, so you perceive their intention. Do not let your mind get stopped by the movement of their shinai nor especially the kensen. Instead, view and watch the aite from nose to toes, because until their body moves they cannot cross the void to strike you. Observe how they move and when they move so you can forestall them at the start. If you perceive they settle then this is the chance, be mindful of their breathing and rhythm. Start the process by just stepping in and suppressing their shinai when they decide to attack. Once their mind has gone into attack mode they have to shift back to defense mode if you move first. This shift opens a window for much like a revolving door where you can wedge in and gain the initiative.

Start with people that are of slightly lower skill than yourself, usually about the 2-1 Kyu level or even higher depending on where you are in the food chain. As you build this skill you move higher up the food chain, and start striking rather than suppressing the opponent. Tsuki to the mune is also a method that can be employed.

Approaches on Teaching New Beginning Students

Instructors

The very first thing that is required of anyone teaching brand new students is to understand their motivation for being in kendo.  This helps you in responding to the individuals needs as well as giving you clues into the group think.

Firstly, with the little kids – do they want to learn kendo or do their parents want them to learn kendo? If it is the parents you need to create a situation that makes for two critical items:

  1. It is fun
  2. They are bonded to other “friends” in the class.

If it is by the child’s choice then you can go to point 3 which also applies to adults.

  1. Make it challenging.

Teaching teens means do not embarrass them and build a relationship with each one.  This relationship will get you through the critical first couple of months.  Show interest in them as an individual and build loyalty and trust by showing you are interested in their learning, you are vested in them as a person.  Teaching adults is different in that they make a conscious choice to learn kendo.  Adults have busy lives and want a bang for the buck! As an instructor you need to swamp them and push forward.  They need to feel progress even sometimes when there is none.  Keep pushing forward and then circle back and revisit weak points as much as necessary.  Send them home mentally and physically challenged.  Lastly for all students especially adults treat them with respect.

POINTS IN GENERAL

Take the class list and memorize each individual and get a picture in your mind of each student.  This helps them to know they are important to you as the instructor. Learn everyone’s name on or before the first day.

Maintain a sense of humor and let them know failure is an option and will probably happen frequently in the starting months of kendo.  Making mistakes is OK and expected.

Never teach to the lowest common denominator, if someone cannot keep up leave them behind, sink or swim.

Constantly correct the small details, they are building muscle memory and habit, letting something incorrect persist insures that will become their habit and the longer it persists the harder to fix. Once in bogu fixing things is doubly magnified in the difficulty of modifying behavior.  Once they are doing keiko correcting and implementing change is very hard and do you have time to concentrate on an individual if you have a large class that needs your attention.  Attention to detail, be repetitive, be consistent! The first few weeks keep to a limited number of items to correct. Remember they need to hear it 40 times (hands up, feet straight, heel off the ground, correct grip, smaller steps). Do not be reluctant to nag them into submission.

When correcting explain the correction in at least two versions, try to understand how the individual learns.  If it is a large class this is even more critical and if possible get help but make sure the helpers are a help. The overall message needs to be uniform and consistent.  It is and undesirable situation when the instructors contradict each other, it makes your whole operation suspect.

Provide the students with a lesson plan and goals.  Try to state the goal of each class at the beginning of the class.  This helps to focus you and the students toward the same objective.  Having a lesson plan also lets the student know what is next and what they will miss if they are not at class.

Publish the reigi and enforce it, especially build this in juniors so when they become sempai they provide the structure and leadership for the club.  Remember this is America not Japan and we are doing cultural blending.  Some of the reigi is inherent for Japanese it is not for non-Japanese.  They did not grow up with some of the items as cultural norms.  Extra definition to create the why maybe necessary and will help cement the concept in their minds.  State class policy at day one such as cell phone usage, water breaks, sitting, cleaning the dojo.  Everyone breaks together and do not leave class without telling you ahead of time.

Do not be afraid to challenge the students as to why they are taking kendo.  Worse case is juniors whose parents want them to do kendo and the child does not.  They are a waste of resources in time, money and effort.

Do not be timid about enforcing correct behavior, a couple of students can tear down the dojo discipline and learning environment.   If incorrect behavior is allowed it is teaching by example to the others especially the juniors.  Set high standards, be sincere in your teaching and show the students you care about them.  Teaching beginners is an excellent way to improve your own basics and knowledge.  When you have to show and explain how it works you gain a greater understanding.  Remember you are a mirror, every bad habit you have the beginner will copy, they are generally less quick to copy what you do correct.

Kendo is primarily visual learning, the student watches and copies your example.  The student needs to understand that silence on your part is acceptance, too many compliments create false impressions of progress.  On the opposite side do not be afraid to recognize correct and serious effort.  Even adults respond to positive recognition in the class context.  Handing out silly gifts from the Dollar Store designated as FABULOUS prizes can produce a greater level of effort on the students part.

Those who practice kendo learn that most input to the student is in the form of correction.  It does not hurt to inform the beginning student of the “traditional” kendo methodology.