Individual Training: Transitional Movement with Shazeel Sharfaz

Stratton Lobdell
Kenshusei Research Paper Dec. 07
Individual Training: Transitional Movement with Shazeel Sharfaz

Each student has their individual reasons for training and each student has their own strengths. In the course of our training we must learn to explain and demonstrate correct form. We must also be able to see what our student’s weaknesses are so that we can move their training in a positive direction.
Shazeel has been training in our school for about 6 months and has several years of previous experience in Tae Kwon Do. His movements in the beginning were very choppy and awkward. The low stances we favor in Shotokan were new to him and he tended to go up and down with each step, knees locking at the wrong time. This caused him to have a “gidi-up” movement as Sensei called it. His transition for stance to stance was an issue because it slowed him down and made it impossible for him to focus him energy forward through a technique. In short, he had no oi. What is oi? That is the subject of another study, but what we are doing is working toward the standard.
One of the challenges is to have a baseline; the standard by which Shotokan movement is judged. Within the setting of Triangles Best Karate we have the benefit of two high ranking and technically proficient sensei to use as our standard. If future, for us to be able to pass on our knowledge, we as Kenshusei must also be at that level or some where near it. The goal here was to move Shazeel closer to that standard by breaking down the movement, practicing each component, putting it back together, and making it seamless.
I chose Shazeel to work with because he trains regularly and diligently. He is genuine in his desire to improve. This was important in this case because the length of the assignment was short and we had only a few weeks to work together before I would have to report on the results.

The Training Process:
We worked together after the regular class for 15 or 20 minutes on 5 different occasions. Each time we assessed his progress, worked on the next focus point and then I gave him an additional thing to work on until the next class.

1. Keep leg bent- don’t stand up during movement: Shazeel had a tendency to come completely upright in the middle of each movement. As he passed though the center both legs were completely locked out and his center of gravity was constantly moving. This was making him unstable. I felt that in order to begin to address this we had to first establish our beginning and end point so we could work toward the center. Homework assignment: static stances 5 minutes in front stance each leg, each day. Low and correctly balanced.
2. Slide the foot across the floor- don’t pick up the foot with each step: Next we worked on not lifting the foot and maintaining connection with the floor. Here we were emphasizing the transition. Part of the choppiness was the result of not using the front leg to pull; Shazeel was pushing off with the back for like a runner starting a sprint. The back leg was following through the same way and leaving the floor as though he was high-stepping forward. Here is emphasized the need to stay low throughout the movement and compress the front leg without relying on the back leg to propel him forward. I introduced Fudo-dachi to force him to stop relying on the back leg. Homework assignment: static stances 5 minutes in front stance each leg, each day. Low and correctly balanced.
3. Put on socks to help slide - use fudo-dachi to avoid jerky movement at end: We continued to move in fudo-dachi to eliminate the hitch at the end of each movement. Because Shazeel was having trouble getting the motion right and could not get the muscle coordination the way I was looking for, I had him to the sliding motion with socks on. I have found over course of learning and teaching karate that often it is important to do something differently to “get the feeling” of a movement, then incorporate the feeling back into the original movement to achieve the goal. By getting Shazeel to feel the smooth transition I was trying to teach he was able to bring that back to his front stance. Homework: slide foot stepping in front stance at home on different surfaces (Thanksgiving week).
4. Body down, rear foot toes forward, heel stay down: After to holiday, Shazeel and I got back together and he had made significant progress on our original issue, transitional movement. This had led us to another issue. He was moving better, staying lower and had virtually eliminated the “hitch” but now his ankle flexibility had become a more apparent issue. As he was stepping forward, the load leg was staying compressed well and his body was staying at a constant height, but as the movement finished the back heel was coming up off the floor. We had helped improve his connection to the floor on one side but sacrificed on the other! Homework: cat stance to work ankle flexibility.
5. Review all previous items, examine progress: Over the course of these sessions in the past 4 weeks Shazeel has shown good progress on his transitional movement in front stance. We will continue to work on his transitions and apply the same ideas to back stance, and kiba-dachi.

In working with Shazeel and coming up with ways to help him improve, it has helped me think more analytically about how we can pass information to our students. In helping him to improve his transitional movement I had to first be able to identify the problem he was having. Being able to actually see the issue is a large part of helping to fix it. Once I had figured out what the problem was I had to find a way to help him correct it. As we corrected one issue, another became apparent and the process began again. This short exercise demonstrated the teaching cycle of karate that never ends. One thing leads to the next and the teaching and learning process never ends. Once we have achieved some level of competence and skill, the best way to expand your own knowledge is to pass on to others what you have learned. Through teaching and explaining to others we refine our own knowledge.
In order to explain a technique we must first be able to do it, then to analyze it, break it down into its parts and pass the knowledge in a concise way to the next person so that they may understand it as well. This beak down and analysis is not part of the daily practice that we do. It is through the process of teaching others that we begin to truly understand what we are doing.
Within the limited role of being Shazeel’s instructor on this single facet of Shotokan karate I had the opportunity to see how this common problem that all beginners face can be surmounted not only by one but by an entire group. The basic techniques I used to pass this small bit of knowledge to Shazeel can easily be utilized for an entire class. Break the technique down, demonstrate its parts, allow each student to get a glimpse of the final goal and let them get the feeling for it, put it together as a coherent whole, DRILL IT. Shu Ha Ri – the circle cannot be complete until we teach and eventually we may learn to improve our karate and the karate of others. The goal is to transcend technique and move without thinking, to complete the movements correctly millions of times so that we no longer need to analyze.