One of the most important things you can do as a martial artist is practice what you’ve learned. As GM Robert Xavier likes to say – “Perfect practice makes perfect.” Learn how to do something correctly, then do it correctly, repeatedly.
One of the best ways to do that is through “drills.” Drilling is a system of repeating a series of martial techniques correctly multiple times a day, for many days, until the movements become part of your natural movement.
GM John Chung Li liked to talk about moving “naturally.” Drilling is one of the ways we can naturalize martial movements.
Age Appropriate Drills
Grace Martial Arts is geared toward teaching families and young people. Each class may have students ranging in age from four to seventy-four years of age. Our T’ai Chi classes have students in their eighties and even nineties.
The way a child of four drills is different than someone who is fourteen, or twenty-four, or fifty-four. It’s important that GMA instructors develop drills that are “age appropriate.”
Children learn a lot from “play,” so martial arts drills for young children often include games that are fun while also educational.
Next Time
We will share some ideas for Judo drills for younger students in our next drill training newsletter.
Enjoy!
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