Kids Aikido - The Greatest Contribution of All!
OTA KID'S AIKIDO ARTICLE
IDEAS and WORKSHEET
10/10/00, DRAFT V6.0
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1. Ken Ota 'High Tech Kids Aikido' article
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Kids Aikido - The Greatest Contribution of All!
Foreword:
This article investigates the worthy (but seldom examined) topic of teaching Kid's Aikido: the why's, how's, fundamental principles, and physical / emotional / phsychological aspects of teaching Aikido to children. It is based on the experiences of Ken Ota Sensei,Goleta (Santa Barbara), California (see interview in ATM March/April 2000), and documents what's been learned in 35 successful years of excellence in teaching children Aikido, Judo, and Ballroom Dancing.
To get an idea what is possible and why this article was written, here are a few 'teaser' Quicktime Movies, showing young children doing amazing Aikido:
High falls over barrier pad drill on pads Quicktime 4.0 movie (600K)
Andreas taking iriminage ukemi for kid Quicktime 4.0 movie(312K)
Neil airfall on pad JPEG (147K)
Caitlin nikyo Quicktime 4.0 movie (476K)
Caitlin shihonage Quicktime 4.0 movie (613K)
Neil kotaegeshi on Brandon Quicktime 4.0 movie (708K)
Caitlin randori drill (2, 3, 4 ukes) Quicktime 4.0 movie (2.6MB)
This article describes in detail concrete experiences, proven successful methods and suggestions from Ken Ota Sensei for increasing your fun and effectiveness in teaching Kid's Aikido. We cover:
Fundamental ways to keep their interest through in Flow, Tempo
Discipline and safety guidelines, games, and suggestions
Importance of teaching great ukemi first
Philosophy, tools and drills to teach great ukemi
Teaching children through their bodies with a minimum of talking
Warmup games and drills
Backleading for teaching children the actual techniques
Movement drills
Randori for the advanced children
Cooldown games
Role of adults
John Sing (singj@us.ibm.com)
for Ken Ota, Goleta, Santa Barbara, Calif
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Foreword:
Importance of Teaching Aikido to Children
The future of all of our society, our way of life, and ultimately our planet is in the attitudes, perspectives, and abilities that we as adults bestow upon each of the children in our lives.
Especially in today's incredibly fast-paced world, a child's path to growing up represents vast challenges (and vast opportunities). The everyday challenges of:
Becoming confident
Becoming capable
Building a healthy sense of self-esteem, community
Willingness and ability to help and teach others
Discipline and appreciation of the value of same
Ability to focus and willingness to sacrifice in the short term
to work towards worthy goals
and many more........ comprise the kinds of positive core beliefs and attitudes that we all want to bestow upon our children.... to give them future effectiveness, personality, and enjoyment of life as human beings.
Kid's Aikido offers a powerful tool to teach this to children. Giveing children a real experience of Aikido at a young age may give them profound gifts for the future and all the people they will touch... in ways we'll never know.
Most importantly, the future of Aikido does in many ways rest within our children. The manner and effectiveness with which we can pass along real, effective, fun Aikido to children will have a significant effect on the way Aikido grows and is practiced in the future.
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Fundamental Philosophy of Ota's Kids Aikido:
Truly Effective Teaching is Aikido as an Experience
What is most often missed in today's educational systems is that the critically important values, beliefs and attitudes of life are experiences that rarely, if ever, can be learned via book-learning. We therefore suggest that truly effective Kid's Aikido teaching, i.e. the student gaining true, usable skill that can be delivered at any time under pressure, with accuracy and effectiveness, cannot be attained through slow pace talking, lecture, or slow pace drills.
Rather, life, skill in living life, and Aikido, are all EXPERIENTIAL in nature, and real skill in these areas are only birthed in the interactions, experiences, and relationships that we give children have on a daily basis (whether it be in class or in the home). It is up to us as adults to provide our children the best kinds of these experiences that we can.
We propose Kid's Aikido teaching methods that are truly dynamic, just like life is dynamic. After all, life does not teach us by lecture or in classrooms. Life does not talk to us. It just sort of pushes our minds and bodies around through experiences. So we suggest, in order to teach children most effectively, is to create effective, safe, dynamic experiences for our kids........ The main technology to do this is thru specific drills, games, and methods (described herein) to give the children the experience of Aikido movement at a safe (but effectively fast) speed. This article gives concrete suggestions to teach our children with this greater degree of sophistication.
Some of these ideas may seem a bit out of the ordinary. However, notice that the world our children are growing up in has radically changed, but education and teaching methods haven't necessarily changed with it. Therefore, as parents or as role models, we need to be open to new and bold, effective ideas.
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What's In It For You!
This endeavor of teaching Kids Aikido is not purely magnanimous.
Ken Ota Sensei suggests that in order to complete your Aikido
training, you must be able to powerfully transfer your skills
to children. Teaching Kid's Aikido is not really about
teaching Aikido techniques (although you do that and learn more
than you ever dreamed possible in the process).
The Children Will Teach You Far More Than You Will Teach Them
The children will be your ultimate teachers. Teaching children will test and prove your knowledge and effectiveness of not only your Aikido teaching skills, but your ability to apply Aikido principles and philosophy to life. Children are honest, they don't lie; if they like you, if they learn quickly from you. If they don't, they don't come back. Koichi Tohei Sensei has said, "Doing 10-man randori is not impressive if no one in your life likes you. When everyone in your life loves you, when you create Loving Harmony everywhere in your life, when children always like you, THAT'S Aikido".
Most importantly, to complete your own Aikido training, you
must give back. Someone helped you when you first started.
When you start to help others, and especially children,
you yourself will then know how well you have learned the lessons
that were passed on to you. You will find infinitely
pleasurable ways for further refinement.
What Are Our Kid's Aikido Goals?
The vital, effective skills that we want to teach the children, is what to do BETWEEN the techniques (whether on the mat or off). On the mat, this skills are:
The ability to move, and lead, and always stay just out of
reach of their attackers (this produces real skill and effectiveness
regardless of size differences)
Constantly sense their surroundings accurately and easily
Make quick and effective decisions on movement
Naturally, spontaneously implement those decisions and corresponding
Aikido techniques with grace, power, and speed
Sound like a lot? It can be done!
Caitlin randori drill (2, 3, 4 ukes) Quicktime 4.0 movie (2.6MB)
When this level of Aikido skill is attained, then at the same time, a REAL experience and skill is available in their lives for:
Harmony in relationship,
Grace and poise under pressure,
Positive attitude
Confidence under fire
These EXPERIENCES become a part of our children. We are not interested in theoretical ideas or slow speed drills that do not translate to real skill on the mat or in life. We want our children to perform Aikido philsophy in life for REALITY ...... this is what Aikido training is for.
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This article is designed to help you achieve this goal as quickly, as effectively, and providing you as much pleasure as possible.
If you can teach children quickly, using very little talking,
then your effectiveness teaching adults will be vastly improved
Teaching adults well is very much same in principle as teaching
children
You will learn far more teaching the children, about both your
own Aikido and your own life, than they will
You will learn to teach their bodies, and their bodies will then
teach it to their minds in good time, far more effectively than
you ever could
So let's get to the suggestions by Ota Sensei.
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Ken Ota's Fundamental Philosophies and Ideas in Effectiveness
teaching Aikido for Kids - ================================
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Introduction: Fundamental Requirements of Children's Aikido classes
There are really very little differences between children and adults teaching methodology. Adults are grown-up versions of children, and the blocks to an adult learning Aikido, are most often simply some subtle adult version of a child's attention and interest span. So, teaching effective children's classes is really experimentation to see what adult-ized versions could be done in adult class.
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A Suggested Class Flow
Ukemi Warmup
Warmup/Conditioning Drills and Games
Aikido Technique
Aikido Drill(randori, older kids, etc).
Cooldown: Back-Back,
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Compared to adult classes, clearly there are some specifics unique to children's class. Here's what we've found:
Kid's attention span, ability to learn, and physical ability
/ weight:
Is different, hence, shorter attention span means a faster , more
varied pace. Don't let them pause to let them think too
much, and adapt tools and drills accordingly (although frankly,
if the drills are good, they work as good or better in adults!!!!!)
The emphasis must be on Dynamic Movement:
Because of children's smaller size, in order to be effective,
they must really be able to move, fluidly and easily. So,
place strong emphasis on spacing, ma'ai, strong movement skills,
strong entering/irimi skills, ki balance. The objective
is for the Aikido to be effective especially against the
larger person's weight. Children have full ability to move
adult ukes off balance and perform effective powerful technique.
Therefore, rather than being overly fussy about technique, what
is most important with children is teaching a DYNAMIC aikido in
which they learn to move fluidly, powerfully, eventually done
at realistic speed.
BackLeading:
In order to get the maximum result, we suggest make the teaching
of backleading a requirement for belt advancement. (see the section
on Backleading). In other words, if they can't teach the technique
to someone else, they can't advance themselves. With backleading
in place, you have at least ½ a class worth of instructor
assistants
Motivation:
The best motivator for children is when they see other children
their own age doing things that are good. In a healthy way,
this subtle competition invokes their internal desire to improve.
The other thing that motivate children the most is recognition.
To achieve this, provide many levels of multi-color
belts with many levels, so that children are always motivated
and can see their own progress (see attached picture)
Teaching Leadership, Role Models (and removing Ego):
Introduce the idea of a 'Team Captain' to your older children.
Tell them they are the role models and they are responsible to
help the younger children stay in order, practice safely, and
become good students.
Using games/relays during the warmup phase (see chapter below),
teach children about the value of competition as a motivation,
and also that competition is NOT about winning at all costs.
(Show pictures of drills)
This can all apply very well to adult's class, by the way!
Start with Ukemi
We suggest starting with ukemi, because that is the major
determinant on how much you can accomplish in the rest of the
class, how quickly the children can progress, and how safe the
class can be. Therefore, the primary skill we suggest
focusing teaching is ukemi.
In order for the children to learn this, we teach them advanced
ukemi from the beginning - using warmup and practice with ukemi
on PADS. You'll find that with pads, the kids will love
it..... because we have removed fear from their minds and fear
of injury from OUR minds
Airfall
drill on pads Quicktime 4.0 movie (1MB)
High
Kickout drill on pad Quicktime 4.0 movie (218K)
This is why we have drills to teach them breakfalls, side slaps, full body, and kick-outs. Why? Because it will save their life!
Taught this way, the children just love ukemi.
We also suggest (and have proof of the value) of ukemi:
(pdf file picture by child)
Did you know that the #1 reason for injury for children / young
people getting hurt or dying - is falling, and of that,
falling and hitting one's head. Hitting one's head is usually
backwards....... hence the value of back rolls and forward rolls.
Ukemi skills actually save children's lives. With excellent ukemi,
at high realistic speeds, we are teaching an agility level and
and survivability skill that far exceeds that of almost any other
children's activity.
Furthermore, advanced ukemi (see ATM Mar/April 2000) is a real
requirement to create advanced Aikido rhythm and timing for effortless
power. Only with Advanced Ukemi can we safely create for
our children, the ability to experience realistic drills at realistic
speed, movement and pace.
This is important because we owe it to our children to give them with the ability to perform Aikido at realistic speeds on the playground, along with the wisdom and maturity to use it wisely. If we do not do so, we have let down the children and their parents.
Start class by teaching them Excellent Ukemi for Children
How to teach Ukemi to Children using Pads/Barriers/Drills
- Ukemi pads / barriers / Safety Guidelines
- Timing throws
- Handling students of different ages
- What ages to start breakfalls - answer: after the basic
rolls/ukemi
- Why teach breakfalls (and other advanced ukemi)? Answer:
To save their lives!
Key point about teaching ukemi is SAFETY (adults have
major role here).
Never letting them pause too much (they'll develop fear they never
had before).
Rather, by seeing what other children can do, they learn to do
it themselves
Go step by step, never let them go too far past their ukemi skill
level
(explain children can know FIVE different types of ukemi)
(see quicktimes below here)
xxxxxx
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Backleading: What is it, How is it done, Importance and
High Value
Have you ever noticed how verbal explanations rarely ever do the complete job in teaching Aikido? Aikido is a visceral feeling in the body, and therefore, Ota Sensei suggests adopting the technique of backleading to show children (and adults) the movements that will be the foundation of their Aikido.
Backleading is Teaching Via The Body (and not the mind):
We start by observing this obvious fact is far too often missed: children by their very nature must learn first and foremost through their bodies (their minds have not matured yet). (Adults basically learn through their bodies too, by the way).
Children of 6, 7, 8 years old (at the exact age that we wish to mold them in a positive way) can't even be spoken to in much more than child terms (some adults we know are still this way). Yet at that young impressionable age, deep within, most of the attitudes that the children will carry for the rest of their lives are being created and imbedded in stone within their characters.
The challenge (and the opportunity) for us all becomes to teach them at this early age, all of fundamental philosophies of life. Therefore we cannot do much talking to them, we must teach them through their bodies. So how do we accomplish this?
The solution is Backleading.
Backleading
Backleading is where the uke, acting in the role of teacher, leads the student nage's body through the body movement motions for any particular technique.
Backleading eliminates the need for very much talking at all (very useful for children of all ages, but especially the youngest ones).
(put picture/movie of backleading here)
By using Backleading, children as young as 7, 8, and 9 years old have been able to learn eight basic Aikido techniques, and to be able to apply them at realistic speeds.
The advantages of Backleading are:
We do not confuse the mind but teach the body (which learns
quickly)
Backleading directly addresses the subconscious mind (which is
fast), conscious mind is too slow - if you have to think about
it, it's already too late. By backleading, we teach thru
the body, and the mind catches up in plenty of time later
Backleading gives student feel for rhythm and timing of the technique
After the young student becomes familiar with the movement, then
more precision can be added as they get older (they then understand
and are motivated to learn the precision because they already
understand the 'why' and the overall feeling of the technique)
So in general, Ota Sensei suggests that the older children students learn to backlead and teach the younger students as part of daily training. In fact, from their very first yellow belt test, every child student in Ken Ota's school is testing not only on their Aikido but also on their backleading ability. This translates into all students being able to help each other progress at very very fast rates.
After Backleading is established in the older students, when introducing a new technique, the older student then simply tells the younger student:
"Let's learn this without talking, I lead you through it and you'll learn it very quickly! Let's just do it"
By backleading, young children in Ota's school learn basic 8 techniques before they are barely old enough to hold an adult conversation (a real feat!)
Teach by using Backleading, useful, effective, and you'd be amazed at what they can learn THRU THEIR BODIES at that age!)
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Description of the 8 basic backleads, drilling in 8 basic techniques so they become automatic:
Katedori Ikkyo, omote and ura, with pin
Katedori Nikyo, omote and ura, with pin
Yokomenuchi Shihonage, omote (with pin) and ura
Munetski Koetaegaeshi, with pin
Shomenuch Iriminage
Ushiro (grab) Kokyunage
Ushiro (choke and hand) Sankyo
(include movies here)
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Warmups/Body Conditioning using Competition/Games as Motivation Tool
Games/races/teams and the Value of Competition:
Healthy games are a excellent teaching tool for Children .
A sampling include:
Follow the leader
Simon Says (ukemi)
Mirror feet, mirror tenkans, follow the feet,
push/pull together,
hara tag,
rolling tag,
Conditioning 'races' with handicapping to eliminate the ego aspect
These games give the children opportunity to interact with each other in positive way (they are going to interact with each other anyway). This is the purpose of the warmup games and the purpose of the more advanced kids teaching the junior ones.
It is unfortunate that improper use of competition,
or excessive competition, gives all of competition a bad
name. There is often resistance to use of competition as a teaching
tool.
This should not be the case.
Ota Sensei says that competition (in the form of games, relays, races, and teams) serves vital purposes:
motivation,
recognition,
teamwork, and
the fullest development on one's potential.
(Show/describe how we do teams selection and handicapping system)
(Describe the exercises we get the kids to do - great! It's also great advertising for the parents to bring their kids - parents intuitively understand the value of the physical conditioning).
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A healthy self confidence, without ego
I know this sounds contradictory, but friendly competition, properly applied, is a superior tool for teaching healthy self-confidence and independence, and removes the need for ego.
The 'handicapping system' previously described is the major tool Ota uses in the games/relays to equalize the competition. In this way, it does not become about 'who is stronger, faster, weaker, slower'. Rather, all the children players know that if they work really hard, they all have an equal chance to win a reward. The reward is small (a Coke, etc). but of course it is the recognition that motivates them. These are important life lessons.......... so rarely experienced in this equalized way in school or elsewhere on the playground.
Relays are designed as competition within one's self. To be the best that you can be.... not to be better than someone else. Truly, who is your own worst enemy? Yourself! You are the one that will determine your destiny.
In all of life we as adults learn that to compete and win in a fair and honest manner is a vital life skill. To teach this fairly, honestly, and with integrity to our children, is a life lesson that we dare not deny them. If we do deny them this, we do not fully prepare them for the realities of life.
Properly done, it is especially beneficial to young females to learn vital life skills to develop their independent spirits and be able to take care of themselves, to realize their own potential and self-confidence to achieve that potential.
This is why Ota Sensei feels healthy, regulated competition used in the warmup games is so vital to help the children experience and develop a healthy self confidence, without ego. The best team doesn't always win. Strong, fast children need to learn this. Small, less coordinated children, because of the handicapping system, sometimes win, IF they work really hard up to the level of their ability. This also promotes a healthy self-confidence and image in them.
Children learn leadership, learn to support and interact with their teammates and their friendly competitors in a positive manner.
Friendly competition, properly applied, results in children interacting with each other and highly motivating each other in natural ways that cannot be done sole by teachers. Children We propose to implement competition games where the objective is to motivate, it's not about competing.
By carefully tuning the manner in which the games are played
(handicapping system), no one's ego hurt by too much losing, nor
is anyone's ego inflated by overconfidence of winning.
The following games are for the very reason that we want our students
to be successful.
- teach basic skills (ukemi), start low, slowly build
up so your body / back / arms / etc. all
learn how / when to do it right
- develop their bodies and coordination (exercises)
- becoming a leader
- teaching humility via the handicapping system
- being a model for the younger belts
- variable # of reps to equalize teams
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Discipline and Safety Guidelines, Games, and Suggestions
Children have a real desire for keeping their interest, discipline, and valid directions.
The flow of the class should be varied and move at a fast enough
pace so that the children never have too much pause to think too
much.
Don't let them pause to let them think too much; they will develop
fear they never had before. Rather, by seeing what other
children can do, they learn to do it themselves
Use Vince Lombardi Time (15 minutes in advance of on-time):
Use the 5,4,3,2,1 countdown to motivate the children to line up
quickly - you'll be amazed how quickly they learn to be alert
and move fast. Teach them about Vince Lombardi Time:
15 minutes ahead of schedule. Vince Lombardi used to say........
(write)....... what about today's society .... arrive
at work, take coffee, talk...... we take our time
(and that of others) far too casually. The problem is in
Aikido randori (and in life) being on or ahead of time is everything.
So we train them from the start (smile!)
The ways to keep the class moving are:
Great ukemi to allow the speed to come up (use of ukemi pads)
Given ukemi, the drills themselves
Warmup games to drain off excess energy while developing their
bodies
Choosing partners for the children, matching the appropriate
older children with younger ones for best results from both.
Older more advanced children get to be 'on stage' to give them
extra work, and to give them recognition
!
Adult instructors have a primary responsibility to watch for the
children's safety.
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Role of Adults
- Upper belts teach lower belts one on one - effective, fast,
the upper belts really learn it when they can pass it on to someone
else! Gives the upper belts the skills, confidence
that
they are capable and fully able to enjoy the responsibility of
being a leader
- Aikido
- Judo
- timing
- Because of kid's shorter height, come down to their level by adults doing things on our knees (practice suwariwaza)
- take ukemi
- teach by backleading
- lead by example (non-fussy, kind yet teaching them how
to be)
- be at kids level ( to equalize: on knees, one foot,
hand behind back, no hands, etc)
- Role of teacher
- set tone, pace
- give 'lectures' as necessary
- oversee
- pacing and rhythm of class
- Let kid energy play
- back to back, multiple kids on adult
- 4 corners safe judo
- Enough safe repetitions to develop automatic fast twitch
muscle memory,
rhythm, timing, relaxed
Drilling Ideas
- each attack has a primary Aikido defense
- two-on-one randori drills (repetitions!)
- Kotaegaeshi drills etc (same as adults)
- one hand / one finger / no hands (because you sometimes have
things in your hands or you for some reason cannot use both arms/hands
- Ukemi and pads
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Summary: Aikido for Kids
Aikido for Kids, specifically highly tuned through advanced high-technology innovative methodology and drilling behind it, is a beautiful tool to teach these kinds of life skills. Children properly taught and highly motivated at this young age will also of course naturally develop great Aikido at the same time.
Aikido is a powerful tool for all of us is to develop the ATTITUDE of self-confidence with kindness, power with gentleness, speed with grace. To give to our children the ability to see, learn, and do Aikido in both spirit and relationship will be a gift for their lifetimes.
In doing so, we owe it to them to give them not only the philosophy,
but also the true and real ability to be able to appropriately,
wisely, and powerfully use Aikido for real on the playground
or in real life danger situations if they ever need to.
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Notes:
Possible photograph sequences:
- ukemi over low / medium / high barriers
- Timing throws
- Backleading
- spacing drills (three hops backwards from lapel grab, 3d time
is throw)
- push nage into back roll, followed by one of basic attacks
