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Dylan Tucker
Dylan Tucker's picture
Drills for handicapped students

Hello there!

I've searched the forum and could not find this topic covered. If I managed to miss it, please direct me there.

I lead a humble dojo of 10-15 karateka aged 12-50's. Two of my favorite students are young brothers (13 y.o.) who have been with me for a number of years. They both suffer from spina bifida, which greatly limits their mobility on their feet. One uses a large cane and the other has two arm braces (sort of like crutches) to get around. While they can move and perform kata at slower pace, kicking is pretty much out and there's not much stability to speak of so most grappling is not doable either. From a seated position, they can do most drills focusing on the upper body and hands (limb control, chokes, etc.), but I'm begining to run out of ideas to keep them engaged and push them further. They are no slackers, and I expect them to work hard and stay focused, but I also know young minds bore easily and I could use some fresh ideas to throw their way. Especially as they're getting older, I'm shifting their training more towards serious self defence applications.  Of course, given their circumstances, effective self defense is a tall order, but I plan on exhausting the possibilities.

Do any of you have experience with similar students/conditions and would be willing to share your teaching methods? Any ideas, drills, tricks, or otherwise are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, 

Dylan

PASmith
PASmith's picture

I don't have specific experience of this sort of thing but just wanted to applaud your efforts.

I'm not sure what art you teach specifically but one thing I would recommend perhaps is looking at filipino martial arts and adopting something like their hubud and flow drills? They have lots of variety and easily lead into locks, limb controls, strikes, etc. And they look cool when done well (although as Iain will stress the idea is to develop fighting skill through drills and not just to get good at doing the drills themselves). Hubud is very suited to people in wheelchairs, seated or limited mobility. They can also be done with sticks and knives for added coolness!

If what you do is Karate based I know some of Iain's bunkai drills are exactly like some versions of hubud so there's always that link. :)

Tau
Tau's picture

Whereabouts in the country are you, Dylan? There are an increasing number of dojo that specialise in this and I'm proud to call some of them friends. Indeed last year I ran a 3rd dan grading for a friend with cerebral palsy and I've trained alongside Adaptive Martial Arts in Cambridge. My wife is disabled so we've modified material for her. Nothing is insurmountable but certainly there is imagination required for adaptation sometimes.

Dylan Tucker
Dylan Tucker's picture

PASmith- It is indeed karate! I will definitely look into the Filipino martial arts. That's something I have no experience with and I'm sure would be fun for them (and me...). Recently, I've had them working with sai. They really enjoy the variety of strikes available and the added weight helps a little with building up muscle. I've already stolen one or two of Iain's flow driills and will continue to do so shamelessly ;)

Tau, I'm in southern Illinois (just outside of St. Louis, MO). While we don't specialize this training, we accept people from all walks and do our best to teach and grade them based on their abilities and limitations. It's as much a learning process for me as for them and definitely a great source of inspiration. I find it very hard to complain about an achy back or sore knee when these guys come in and work their butts off. Anybody you know in this area?

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Dylan Tucker wrote:
Do any of you have experience with similar students/conditions and would be willing to share your teaching methods? Any ideas, drills, tricks, or otherwise are greatly appreciated.

John Johnston is a fantastic resource for this topic:

http://www.adaptivekarate.com/training/disabled-programme/

Great karateka and a really nice guy. It could eb an idea to reach out and make contact?

All the best,

Iain

Dylan Tucker
Dylan Tucker's picture

Excellent and thank you all for the responses.

Paul_D
Paul_D's picture

Not a drill as such, but a suggesiton of a project to engae their minds and keep them interested.  Ask them to create their own kata?  No one knows their bodies better than them, what they can and cannot do, so ask them if they want to put togther a kata, they can take the parts that suit them from many kata and combine them, and maybe even add technques indivudual to them, perhaps incorporating their canes/crutches?

As they are brothers they can work on it (or even one kata each) together at home too, and perhaps they would get a much larger sense of acheivement presenting their own kata to your class, rather than performing (what I presume to be) foreshortend verions of a standard kate due to parts then have to miss out.

PASmith
PASmith's picture

That is a fantastic suggestion. Considering many kata were created to encapsulate a given individual's approach to fighting/SD that's also entirely in keeping the with the history of Karate.

Dylan Tucker
Dylan Tucker's picture

Paul_d, that’s a great idea! I may have them start simple and just modify some of the kata they know already. Say, replacing kicks with cane strikes to feet/knees and work their way up to creating a full kata. 

Marc
Marc's picture

It is an interesting topic.

If you and they are into self-defense, then maybe consider (ask) whether your students are expecting the same typical attacks we see everywhere or whether they are more likely to be attacked in different ways. Would thugs grab and hit them or put them in a head lock, or would they rather try and take their cane away or push them off their feet. If potential attacks are different then they would need solutions against those. This works with the idea of having them create their own kata. You as their instructor could supply them with the necessary principles that could work.

Of course personal experience of violence is a sensitive subject, so make sure your students are ok to talk about it before delving into it.

Take care,

Marc  

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

 

Paul_D wrote:
Ask them to create their own kata?  No one knows their bodies better than them, what they can and cannot do, so ask them if they want to put togther a kata, they can take the parts that suit them from many kata and combine them, and maybe even add technques indivudual to them, perhaps incorporating their canes/crutches?

Someone give that man a mic to drop! Excellent idea! Love it!