Skills, Patience and Payoff

Some days Kung Fu class is filled with learning and/or reviewing many kicks, punches and blocks.  Other days class is taking one or two skills and spending the whole hour looking at them in detail.

Today in kid’s class we picked two: the side kick and hand balances.  An odd combination?  Perhaps.

Both are fun, given the proper patience.  To enjoy the side kick, a student has to invest time figuring out the mechanic behind generating power: how to turn the hip over, how to pivot the foot and how to pull the toes back to strike with the heel.  To enjoy a hand balance like the head stand, a student has to invest time figuring out the posture required to hold their body steady: where to put the hands, where to put the head and how to tighten the stomach for stability.

Thus the fun is reached through patience.  The satisfaction of working on a difficult technique and finally pulling it off is an awesome payoff.  Plus, learning one skill often opens the door to more challenges.  A good side kick opens the door to learning the hook kick.  A good headstand opens the door to learning the hand stand.  There’s always more…