A sense of direction at the Independent Karate School

One of the really interesting things about martial arts training is just how many different skills are involved.

For example, one pretty important skill to develop is a sense of direction, the ability to map your own location in space and move along the correct trajectory as required.

This may sound kind of obvious.  But it can be harder than it looks, depending on how fast you have to decide which way to go, and how tricky the angles are.  Fortunately, as with many things, it turns out that practice makes perfect.  So at the Independent Karate School, our students work on spatial orientation quite a bit, sometimes through specific movement drills, sometimes through the practice of "forms," set sequences of moves that our students learn at each new rank. 

At the most basic level, our youngest students are often still not quite positive which side is their left, and which side is their right.  So you might hear something like this from their instructor: "Half moon forward with the right.  The right.  Right foot, please.  Your other right.  Other side.  OK, switch your feet.  Right foot forward.  That's it!"  This can be kind of tough going for all concerned until one day . . . the child has learned, and is whirling through a fairly complex pattern of movements with confidence.  It is a lovely moment to witness.

Care to see for yourself?  Independent Karate School classes in Merrimack are held every Tuesday and Thursday night at 6 pm, at the VFW post near the Common Man.   Visitors are very welcome!