Hints in Teaching Judo:

A Motor Skill

by Professor Merlin Estes & Professor Lamar Fisher

from The Kiai Echo - Summer 1995

[Drills] [Explanation] [Demonstration] [Practice]

Drills (Mental Analysis)

  1. Make drills attractive. The competitive type of drill, such as relays or other forms of competition, is good, especially for the younger set. Do not linger too long on any one specific drill or exercise as this tends to form monotony and cause a lack of interest. It is much better to return to an exercise later than to continue for a great length of time.

  2. Qualification. The teacher should epitomize all qualities which they seek in their students. By this we mean such things as sportsmanship, the democratic outlook, roles of clean living, etc. for certainly without these the sport of Judo would go back many hundreds of years.

Explanation

  1. The motor skill should be explained briefly first. The language should be simple and to the point, as not to confuse the slower students. The voice should be kept at a conversational level and directed at each student.

  2. Where the art is in two or more parts, the parts should be explained as a whole, then broken down again briefly.

Demonstration

  1. Demonstration of the art should be given by an instructor or an advanced student as slow and as perfect as possible. This can be given with the explanation if the teacher so desires. Each part of the art should be gone over separately with the explanation to its purpose of the whole.

  2. Safety should be pointed out here, with the demonstration, as necessary for the completion of the art. No art is complete unless the executor can finish the art with good balance and permit his opponent to perform a good fall. Each art has its own specific safety feature. The elimination of needless hazards by all means is important.

Practice

  1. The new art should first be given by the teacher and then practiced with an advanced student until it can be done well enough to pass the safety requirements. If an advanced student is not available, the teacher or instructor should be there to help them with the first few times through.

  2. Analysis of the art should be made from time to time, to eliminate imperfection and incorrect learning. A student should never be referred to as BEING WRONG in any art or part of any art, but rather, that he could improve the art, or part, with a small change in his procedure. He will then have a chance to reassemble his steps.

  3. Work on a specific art should continue until the student can perform without trouble. This may take some time and tend to be tedious. In this event, the teacher should lend as much support or encouragement as possible. Failure tends to result in a lack of responsiveness or withdrawal, so it may be necessary, for the sake of success, to alter or vary the art to fit the student's learning power as a temporary measure.

  4. Rewards - recognition should be given as often as possible to motivate an eagerness of learning. All factors which affect learning favorably may be said to motivate learning.

  5. A student found to possess a negative attitude should not be given the opportunity to learn these arts. There is no place in our sport for those who would use it incorrectly.
[Drills] [Explanation] [Demonstration] [Practice]

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Last modified: 99/01/04 14:41:14

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