This week in teaching
I had thought I’d work on basic skills this week, but instead I focused on “problem kicks”. For the beginner class, I did a side kick clinic. The most common issue with side kicks from beginners is that they are still rotating as they kick. The result is a kick that is much more like a roundhouse kick than anything else. So the trick is to get the students to finish their rotation prior to kicking out, making sure their bodies are aligned correctly, ensuring that they are hitting with the heel while turning the ankle inward, and they rechamber their leg after the kick. So there’s a lot going on — it is definitely the toughest of the basic TKD kicks to do well as a beginner. The class made good progress, though, so it was time well spent.
For the intermediate class, the most common problem kick is the spinning back hook kick. The tornado arc kick is often an issue as well, but I focused on several varieties of hook kicks. The thing I was trying to instill into the class tonight was rotating the torso to get the spine all twisty before putting the feet in motion. The students at this level mostly rotate all parts of their bodies at the same rate, which limits the amount of torque you can get on this kick. I like to try to work on these types of refinements relatively early on so they don’t end up practicing a kick a certain way for a couple of years and grooving patterns of motion that will be tough to break. They worked hard on this tonight, with mixed success. I also worked on front leg front hook kicks with them, but emphasizing throwing the body forward a bit as the leg is extended out — kind of just skooching forward. Not a sliding advance, just a small body movement to gain a few inches.