Hands Up

Over the years I’ve considered numerous strategies for getting students to keep their hands up: telling them it is a good idea, getting a tattoo on my forehead that says “hands up”, having a mural painted on the wall of a student getting their teeth knocked out that has a line drawn through it and text underneath that reads “don’t be this guy… keep your hands up” and a few others that I’ve forgotten.

So what actually works?  Having students put on boxing gloves and play.  There is nothing better than compelling feedback (getting hit in the head) to convince people that keeping their hands up is a good idea.  In addition, boxing is a wonderful tool for examining the fighting principle of line of attack because if you aren’t good about varying up your targets, your partner figures it out pretty quick.