Yielding

Today in kid’s class we worked the ideas of absorbing versus yielding when a kick comes in.  To absorb a kick, you stand strong and take the shot.  To yield against a kick, you let the kick hit you and then you move in the direction of the incoming force.

The example that seemed to make things finally click for the students was getting pushed.  When you get pushed you could (absorb) resist the push and stand firm or you could (yield) take a step back with the force of the push (undoubtedly there are lots of other things you could do too).

At the end of class when I asked the students “when would it be a good idea to absorb a kick and when might it be a good idea to yield to a kick” they came up with some good answers.  One answer for yielding was “you move with it so you don’t get hurt as much” and one answer for absorbing was “you stand firm because maybe you’ve got nowhere to move to”.  The gears are turning.