A month ago, we accepted what I would assume, one of our last new students for a long long time. Keeping true to ourselves, we never had and still do not wish for sizeable number of students. The larger the group the less productive, the less productive, the more fidgety I get and the more fidgety I get, the punchier and more kata I need to do to satisfy and stabilise them fidgets….not that is a bad thing, but the bottom line is, I’d much rather be training myself than teaching anybody. And in an environment which I view is too many people, any form of beneficial keiko is not achievable.
Slightly off topic now - a handful of our students who we have taught the longest, have had and continues to face countless physical and mental challenges throughout their karate journey. We all do, but I am talking about that mate you have that seems to stumble over everything. A mate who simply can’t run for the life of them, or catch a ball without looking like they are intoxicated, or kick a ball like they’re going to trip over their own two feet….you get the drift.
How can any divine being be so cruel and give the “gift” of super incoordination to anyone? Being so unco (For the non-Strayan readers, UNCO being short for uncoordinated) this kind of impairment can be shattering and can hinder someone’s ability to undergo simple daily tasks, including impeding one’s karate training…. !?! For such karateka, is it in fact possible to work on and develop this skill? What exactly is coordination as a skill? Unlike other components of fitness such as strength, flexibility or balance - coordination seems a bit vague and difficult to conceptualise. Is coordination something we can train to be more adept at? Is there hope for all the unco ladies and gents on earth? I’ll let you answer that…
Anyway, back to this new student I was talking about earlier. The first day of training it was evident that he had the mechanics and natural ability to perform various waza easily. By the end of the first week, the first kata was already looking rather impressive, and impressed I rarely am. Come the third week, it was obvious my karate homework to him was being carried out seriously. A month has swiftly gone by and what would take at least a year or more for some of our students to achieve, this newbie already seems to be on that same level. Some of us are fortunately more naturally gifted than others…
However talented one maybe, one thing both our karate and kobudo sensei place most emphasis on is the importance of having a good heart. And by no means an accident, all our students possess. Having all the money in the world can buy you many luxuries, however, no amount alone can simply buy your way into our dojos.
To all of our students unco or not, thank you for being you!
