“If you want to do it right….. simply don’t do it wrong!” A simple and obvious phrase – or so you would think…. but most of my teaching life has revolved around explaining this phrase. To work at a speed that they can perform and practice a technique to the best of their ability seems to elude most students. They either rush in bursting with enthusiasm and fall over their own feet or become slow, tired and distracted. Their mental and emotional state colours their mind affecting their movement and makes them judgemental toward their performance, often putting them into a negative spiral. I am often asked, “Is there a short cut to Black Belt?” and my answer is based around the title above. Studying Martial Arts properly is the short cut. A good coach is still a rarity in the Martial Arts and is unlikely to come looking for you, it is more likely that you will have undertake the search to find them. Information given is like gold dust, it needs to be recorded accurately and once gained should be incorporated into your practice. To do this you will have to work at a speed and maintain a mental awareness and concentration that will enable it to happen. This is where most students fail. So… about 20 years ago I developed the ATARC system to help my students enhance the learning process. ATARC stands for: Attitude Thought Action Reflection Correction ATTITUDE Before you can learn anything your attitude has to be correct. Your attitude colours your thoughts so it’s important to consider the attitude that you’re going to think with first. If you have a negative, arrogant or aggressive attitude you are never going to be able to learn. You may have just had a hard day at work or school and are still clinging to it when you arrive at the Dojo, so you have to have a ritual to remind you to get rid of it before you enter the “place of learning the way”. In our Dojo the bow as you enter serves this purpose, the putting on of the white Karategi, the Dhamma wheel logo badge represents the 8 points of “right attitude”, the knotting of the belt against the “tanden” reminds the practitioner to “centre” before practice. To have an open attitude towards learning, to have a prepared, aware and focussed mind in a pleasant frame eager to learn and help others means that you will learn to the maximum in that session, enjoy the process and be appreciated by the other club members and Coach. THOUGHT Working from that prepared base, each move has to be planned, this means thinking about what you are going to do BEFORE you do it. Your coach will have given you a list of things to consider in the correct order, for instance in a basic step and punch for a beginner it may be: Move from the centre Turn the forward foot as you move forward to the rear foot finished position. Maintain the same height throughout. Hold the waist back against the hips and release it to begin the punch as the ball of the lead foot touches the floor. Vibrate the hips to rotate the wrist just before the point of impact and focus the punch as the heel of the lead foot touches the floor. This has to be sequenced in the thinking mind prior to the movement and a speed adopted to allow this to happen. It means moving VERY slowly to begin with and each person is going to have a different optimum speed to progress within the technique. These instructions will gradually transcribe into movement skills over a period of time that cannot be rushed, before the next set of instructions to improve the skill can be given. ACTION The action will be a result of what is in the mind, if the attitude is bad and the thoughts not sorted, all that occurs will be a jumble (and that is what usually happens!). This is why the skill of learning is so important and needs to be honed as much as the skill of the movement! Speed will come as a result of skill, skill will come as a result of correct thinking, correct thinking will come as a result of good attitude….. See how the process works? REFLECTION Having committed the action you need to reflect on how well you’ve matched expectations. There are visual signs like the finished posture and reflections on the feelings you experienced during the movement. The Coach will probably give you feeling pointers such as “the technique should not feel like it’s being “pushed” but should feel like it’s being released” and “it should feel smooth and not jerky, it should feel like it comes from the feet” and so on. Your Coach will also give you objective feedback on your performance. CORRECTION The process of correction is most important, as this is where the improvement takes place and of course you have to go back to the beginning of the process to perform the “new improved” technique. Remember to correct by moving the offending limb or body part and not any other. Often a student will move the left foot to the wrong position and correct the stance by moving the right foot, this means that next time they perform the technique they still move the left foot to the wrong position and then move the right to correct it because that’s what they’ve programmed themselves to do! The heading to this article is simple and correct. The ATARC system helps you to be able to apply it. Remember you have an optimum speed to be able to use the system and learn in the most effective manner. That speed will alter as a result of skill and not physical effort (there is a LOT of mental effort required).
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 07:27:13 +0000
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