Physically challenged students

[Oso]

I have a student who was in a motorcycle wreck years ago and shattered his ankle. It has been reconstructed and he has great basic mobility on it. He lifts, bicycles and gets on the stairmaster and cranks out 3 miles several times a week. He's in his 40's and earned a black belt in Ed Parker's Kenpo before the wreck. Now, he is training with me for about a year and as we move out of basic horse and hill climbing stances into crosses/twisted stances he is having a real problems with the ankle. He does not have the ability to twist the foot towards the outside of the body and limited ability to twist to the inside. He is also concerned with sparring at an advanced level. He has watched the full speed, medium contact sparring that I do with advanced students. He is concerced with damaging the ankle of course and after 9 surgeries on it, I concur.

Now, after all that, the question is this: If someone is completely unable to perform movements of a form or intermediate stancework or doesn't want to spar at an advanced level, what do you do with them? I guess that most of you folks would agree that the sets are only complete if there is proper execution of the footwork and handwork combined. He has asked me if it is possible to continue and I don't really know what to say to him. I certainly don't want to lose a student, especially one who WANTS to learn.

Thanks for any serious consideration of or response to this,

Matt

[SevenStar]

keep training him. he knows how it's supposed to look, right? If he sees a student doing the movement wrong, can he point it out? ifhe is anxious and eager, he may still make a good teacher/coach even if he can't do the movement himself. A 75 year old boxing coach can't get in the ring anymore. he still has the knowledge and skill to train boxers though.

[Oso]

...but I still have to get rid of that kenpo look : )

sevenstar, you make a very good point and I have hoped to bring him up as an assistant. I've only been teaching a bit over a year and he's been there the whole time and I teach his daughter as well. I know it's frustrating for him and a little frustrating for me.
We've talked about some concentrated stretching and looking for some sort of brace for the ankle so he can spar.

thanks for the input !


Matt

[Royal Dragon]

You could try haveing him hold the posturs he is having difficulty with and really concentraiting on that. Unless he has metal pins preventing the range of motion, the body CAN and often does adapt, even if it takes a really long time.

The question is wether or not he is dedicated to that type of persuite.

The other thing, if he CAN'T rehab the ankle enough to do the moves, you are going to have to teach him how to fight around the problem. Forget about being glued to your style. The style you teach was designed to train people to fight. if it does not work for this individual, invent a new style for him.

If his injurie does not allow for YOUR footwork, develop new foot work that works for him. You have the knowledge and the experiance, now it's time to see if you have creative geniuss enough to show this man how to develop skills.

[neptunesfall]

alter what you have to fit what he can do.
i wouldn't go as far as inventing a entire new style as RD said, it's not necessary.
make sure he knows difference between the correct way to do things and the way he can do things.

[Oso]

"You could try haveing him hold the posturs he is having difficulty with and really concentraiting on that. Unless he has metal pins preventing the range of motion, the body CAN and often does adapt, even if it takes a really long time."

He does have pins and 2 plates !!!

"The question is wether or not he is dedicated to that type of persuite."

That kinda takes us into another direction. He is in his mid 40's with wife, kids and a very demanding job. My basic response to him was 'yes, you can do it if you train' But I know he's not really willing or able to put in the time to move past this point.

"The other thing, if he CAN'T rehab the ankle enough to do the moves, you are going to have to teach him how to fight around the problem. Forget about being glued to your style. The style you teach was designed to train people to fight. if it does not work for this individual, invent a new style for him."

Teaching him to fight around the problem isn't a problem. I don't draw on the twisting/coiled stances as much in my own fighting. But they are part of the system and I feel like I need to stay as true to it in the training as possible. I teach that even if you don't care for a specific aspect of what you are learning you still have to learn it to at least a good level of competency to feel where it fits. But, I think I know where you are coming from as far as the tai tzu goes. Correct me if I'm wrong.

"If his injurie does not allow for YOUR footwork, develop new foot work that works for him. You have the knowledge and the experiance, now it's time to see if you have creative geniuss enough to show this man how to develop skills."

well h*ll, I'm a 'suppa genius' so that's no problem at all : D

but, back to the quandary of trying to teach the forms as they are passed down...some of the techniques derived from the movements REQUIRE the type of energy developed from the coil.
I'm not particulary glued to the style...I've been exposed to too many different things to feel that one style is superior to another, but I don't know what I'm going to do with him on that big turn and drop into a coil in the middle of 36. ( I think you refer to it as 37 which I've been meaning to ask you about, I'll email you )

anyway, I'm supposed to be working....

thanks

Matt

[Royal Dragon]

"Teaching him to fight around the problem isn't a problem. I don't draw on the twisting/coiled stances as much in my own fighting. But they are part of the system and I feel like I need to stay as true to it in the training as possible. I teach that even if you don't care for a specific aspect of what you are learning you still have to learn it to at least a good level of competency to feel where it fits. But, I think I know where you are coming from as far as the tai tzu goes. Correct me if I'm wrong."

Reply]
I'm not sure what you mean directly, I didn't bring up Tai tzu, but I think you are trying to teach him the pure style whern he dose not have a pure body.

Teach him what works FRIST, you can preserve historical styles another time.
In the 37, don't do the coil, have him step back into a bow or a 60/40 or what ever works good. Change it if he can't get it to work anyway. OR teach it to him, but don't work in it's applications. With pins in his ankle, he may never be able to do the skill as metal does not grow and change like living tissue does. If he can't do it, he can't do it. It's simple. Just make sure he knows he's gettting a modifed version for his speacial needs.

I did this with my Shaolin form Wu Bu Chaun , only I ADDED 4 postures that really help me back. I figured if I had to work my back anyway, I might as well find a Kung Fu way to do it. This allows me to practice more Kung Fu instead of only doing back therapy.

I really don't care about preserving the form, Wu Bu Chuan is a new Shaolin set anyway, and not really traditional. Also, it's everywhere.

As for the 37, it's taught in Taiwan as well, so you don't have to worrie about preserving it. Change it up for your student. It is better to have a skilled student, than a historically accurate student who is physically incable of developinbg that skill anyway. It's not like he could do it even if you teach it to him. No matter what it will be *******ised. That being the case, make sure he has real skills.

I'll give you my theory on the 36/37 thing in a PM.

[Oso]

My mistake, I thought you were referencing the natural fist stuff.

I'll drop you a line when I get home from class tonight.

thanks for the input,


matt

[Oso]

Thanks, that is basically my intention but I did have quandary over sticking to the sets as taught to me.

thanks for the input,

Matt