By Gavin King, 2nd Dan Go So Kempo

The ‘Delete’ key is dead, ‘Backspace’ has given up the ghost and my recycle bin has gone on strike! I've rewritten the sodding article fifteen times, and am I any closer to finishing it? Not even near! Two weeks and all I’ve got is a couple of A4 pages of paragraphs that flow together about as well as a blocked pipe.

I had an idea for an interesting article. There are some really good concepts and ideas, but there’s just no structure to them. The more I try to push them together, the further apart they seem to get. Not renowned for my patience it's getting quite tedious!

This is a problem that was shared with a new class I’m running with a colleague, lots of concepts but no structure. The problem I think we were having was trying to keep the classes interesting, which ended up with some really quite advanced concepts being taught to relatively new Martial Artists. Of course they lapped up as much information as they could, but a lot of the subject matter was cruising way over their heads. They were walking out of the lesson thinking how much they had to learn, rather than how much they’d actually learnt!

Was this their fault as students or did the blame lie with us as the teachers? I think we have to hold our hands up here. In trying to make the lessons interesting and exciting, we’d forgot what it was like to be a new student.

Our mistake was in the approach we took. We were teaching concepts that would keep us interested, forgetting that we have nearly forty years experience between us. It was like showing someone the finer points of interior design, before teaching them how to lay the foundations of the house. All great information but not really of much practical use to them! All they saw was how effortlessly we performed the techniques and how clumsy they felt when they tried them. They didn’t see the years of practice that sit behind each movement.

So last night we spent over half an hour just on jabs, crosses and palm heels. Another twenty minutes on ducking and side stepping, and we didn’t even scratch the surface. The guys were constantly asking questions and walked away with some basic techniques that they could practice at home. It was a great lesson for all of us.

When trying to teach it’s easy to forget where you came from and immediately assume that everybody is going to be on the same wavelength. Equally, when trying to learn something it’s also easy to become blinded by the sheer magnitude of the mountain of material that needs to be learnt.

From both the point of view of the teacher and the student the topic is vast, complex and time consuming. This is why both parties need to break it down into manageable chunks, build a solid foundation from which everything else can be built. The student needs to understand that the teacher was once in exactly the same position, and likewise the teacher needs to remember that they were once students. Neither the student or the teacher are doing anything that hasn't already been done before. They should take solace in the fact that their relationship exists in the first place, this is proof that both of their goals are perfectly obtainable. It just takes time and needs to be broken down it a format that is workable.

When trying something new it’s easy to become frustrated and quit just because there is simply too much to learn. This is when we need to take a few steps back and look for a different approach. Break the problem down. Learn it a little piece at a time. Remember that lots of little pieces make up one big piece.

As far as my poxy article goes, I’m going to have to do the same thing. Take time to look at the concepts and ideas, see how they fit together. Hopefully then I’ll have an article worth publishing. Till then, you'll have to make do with this one!