Chestnut Grove School Healthy Living Day, 30th January 2006
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At the end of January 2006, the UK Kung-Fu Federation were invited by Chestnut Grove School in Balham to participate in their special one-off Healthy Living Day. This educational event was the brainchild of Mrs Parneeta Davies, a teacher at CGS and also an intermediate-level student of the UKKFF. Her aim was to expose as many pupils as possible to the different aspects of a healthy lifestyle, including diet & nutrition, anti-drug use, and many types of fitness training. Each year group rotated through different areas throughout the day, finding out more & more about healthy living from qualified professionals in each discipline. Besides ourselves, Mrs Davies had also managed to secure the assistance of world-champion bodybuilder Rob Hope, and Olympic finalist Jade Johnson to further inspire the children (see the right sidebar for more information.) The day was destined for success, so UKKFF Head Instructor Lee Heron and assistant Russell Benham fought through the early-morning London traffic to expose CGS students to the joys of Kung-Fu training!
We were aware that a common concern for many parents was the increasingly sedentary lifestyles of their children. Television, the internet and of course computer gaming has in many cases replaced sports & outdoor pursuits that previous generations enjoyed. Therefore our job was to get the pupils moving & their heart-rates up using some Kung-Fu fitness training methods, and perhaps touch upon some fun exercises for self-defence too. We planned a routine which started with an aerobic warm-up, then moved through exercises for the upper body, the core of the body, down to the legs, and then finally a stretch to finish - all based upon movements used in real fighting. We quickly discovered that everyone became very motivated when they realised being fitter would help them to perform Kung-Fu techniques to a better standard, so once the shock of actually having to work & sweat was overcome, all groups got into the swing of things and really worked hard. Even the most disenchanted pupils began to smile & enjoy themselves when it became clear that everyone was having a great time.
After we'd finished the group warm-up everyone was excited & ready to go, so the first task was to educate the pupils to give a correct WingTsun punch. This uses a vertical fist rather than the more common horizontal configuration. Everyone then paired-up and practiced striking to their partners interlaced palms (which is kinder to virgin hands than hitting focus pads.) In no time we were progressing to multiple punches, and the work-rate was building up nicely. Next each pair sat on mats, interlocked their legs and began doing sit-ups with their punches too. It was great to see kids having fun, working up a sweat & being motivated by something so simple, but so beneficial to their health & fitness levels. After maybe 500 punches had been thrown, it was time to change the exercise, building upon the techniques and positions already practiced.
We also wanted to give our pupils a little idea to build confidence, and for many their worst nightmare is falling to the ground, with an attacker standing over them and not knowing how to cope - some just curl into a ball & hope for the best, which cannot be considered an effective strategy! So we showed them how having a good defensive position on the ground can turn a bad situation into a much better one, leaving the attacker with much more work to do. Once we demonstrated just how many possibilities the defender has, all the kids were totally keen to go and practice on each other - with everyone wanting to be the defender, rather than an attacker! This exercise developed still further, as the pupils began to ask excellent questions; "What if he grabs your leg? What if he kicks you? What if he runs around you?" ...and many more. We were able to quickly, easily and safely give them the answers to all of these questions, giving them quick demonstrations which elicited the usual gasps of "No way! did you see that! when one of the instructors performed the techniques on each other with speed & intention. Of course our job was not to entertain, but rather to instruct entertainingly - judging from the feedback from every group afterwards we managed to do just that.
Huge thanks to CGS and Mrs Parneeta Davies for inviting us, to the other instructors we spent time sharing knowledge with, and of course all the wonderful pupils we trained. See you on the next one!
- Author: Lee Heron
- Sources: None
