6th October 2014
Urban Sports Fitness,
Heathcote Industrial Estate
Russell Brotherston, a G4
Krav Maga instructor with Krav Maga Midlands, runs JSKM on Mondays in Royal Leamington Spa and Fridays in Stratford upon Avon . It's for children aged 6 and up and the Monday class
is with little ones aged 6 to about 10.
I have been a couple of times
before as an observer and it always looked like a lot of fun. The kids seemed
to really enjoy it, Russell was clearly having the time of his life and the
various KMM Krav students that were assisting him were obviously having a great
time .
Russell asked me to help out
last Monday and I was more than up for it as I've worked with children on and
off since about 1995 teaching English and on summer camps.
The format is VERY different
to adult Krav, right from the first Kida! (Kneel, pound the mat as hard as you
can with your fists and shout at the top of your lungs). The main emphasis is
on evasion techniques and using fast force to dodge, evade or strike a
stronger, bigger attacker (i.e. an adult).
When I got there a couple of
the girls were running about playing Tig and wanted me to join in. This quickly
degenerated into something not dissimilar to Calvinball from the cartoon strip
CALVIN AND HOBBES (i.e. "the only rule is that there are no rules").
The children seemed to have the same energy as a nuclear reactor and I quickly
worked up a good sweat on the mats.
At about 5pm we got sorted,
Russell introduced me to the kids and had them playing a continuation of Tig
but where, when I tapped them, they had
to stand still and he would walk up to them and grab their arm. They had to
perform the appropriate technique to get out of that and then he'd let them go.
It's been a few years since I
was a pre-teen, and I'd forgotten just how competitive children can be. It was
endearing to see just how fast they pelted about the room to avoid getting
caught.
We then moved on to a game
where their punching skills came into play and in teams of they had to run up
to me or Russell and punch a strike mitt 10 times, then run to the end of the
room and perform a grab release, before running back so the next person could
have a go. This inevitably led to lots of shouting and encouragement and both
teams declaring themselves the winners at the end.
We then moved on to a game
where me and Russell chased them and would then grab either their T-shirts or
their wrists and not let go until they performed a decent release move. Russell
demonstrated the knuckle rap release (or "knocking on the barn door")
which hurts like hell if done properly, even if a little kid is doing it. To
negate any pain issues, we both put MMA gloves on and then got to work. Again,
this was a lot of fun and I couldn't help laughing when one 6 year old (the
smallest girl in the class) simply booted me in the crotch, grinned broadly and
then ran off again when I took her arm (God bless the inventor of the groin
guard).
While I grabbed a quick sip
of water and wiped the sweat from my brow, they were still jumping up and down
ready for the next game. Idea this time was that I had two soft strike pads and
would throw them at the kids who had to try and dodge them and, if hit, stand
still. Russell would walk up behind them and either bear hug them or put them
in a headlock and they had to once again perform the appropriate release.
First time (and probably
last) that I would ever get to impersonate Rinzler from Tron Legacy. Great time
hurling the pads at the indignant students, a couple of which were very nimble
and one in particular proved hardest to catch, sometimes simply jumping over
the pad as I threw it at him. Picking them up again was playing havoc with my
back and I vowed silently to get into some Yoga in the very near future.
Final game had me and Russell
sitting on a full sized strike shield each, and each team (about 5 kids per
group) had to try and take it off us and drag it to the back of the room. I
thought this would be easy but it seems that nothing is more determined than a
gang of children whose combined ages comes to about 26. Within about a minute
they'd managed to wrench it off me and were leaping around celebrating victory.
By the end the kids were
still red faced but loving it and with a few disappointed groans they lined up
for the final Kida! Every session Russell chooses two children to come and
kneel next to him at the end, meaning they have shown the most determination or
shone in other ways throughout the session. He chose one child and asked me to
pick another. I selected a lad who was only on his 2nd session but had got
stuck in with a big grin on his face the whole way through. I told his mum
after, that his spectacles seemed like Indiana Jones's hat, as he never lost
them no matter what happened.
A lot of fun had by all and a
great way to educate kids to basic self defence and team work.
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If interested call Russell on 07545 959241 or go to www.juniorsafe-kravmaga.com