Sanchin in the Bluegrass state

[KYUechi]

I hadn't broke out the camcorder in awhile. However, I took this footage of my son recently and thought I'd share.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=435835289774879


Bert

PS: Glenn you may enjoy this if you remember Shane when he was 6 or 7 years old, and I'd bring him to Dave Lamb's class there in Lincoln.

[Bill Glasheen]

Thanks for posting this, Bart! It's good to see Shane again. Please give him my best.

I would like to share some comments if I could, and hope Shane appreciates them in the spirit in which they are given.

The pieces are all there. What's lacking is getting the parts to work together properly. Shane is young, and so shows a youthful interpretation of athleticism. He probably just went through that final body change (growth and physical maturity), and so is trying to get all his new body parts working in synchrony. Right now they're all sort of doing their own thing. What's needed is "essential synergy." That's when the movement of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

I'll pick a few things I see which illustrate the concept.

• Freeze-frame his turns. You'll note that the front foot completes its turn before the body rotates half of the full turn. That shouldn't happen. The navel and the turning foot should move as one. When he plants that back foot pivot into the new front foot position, the navel should have rotated exactly 90 degrees. Have him do just that move back and forth and back and forth until he feels the connectivity between his foot and his center. The same goes for his stepping, by the way. The center should move in perfect synchrony with the foot. You shouldn't see a foot move and then the body catching up with it a fraction of a second later.
  ...
• Check the posture. His upper body is flexed quite well, showing off his his six pack and his lean build. However it's flexed to the point that his arms can't quite take advantage of anything his legs are doing. Note the extreme thoracic kyphosis (look that one up). Rather than the spine having a "C" appearance from neck to tail bone (when viewed from the side), it should have an ever so subtle "S" appearance.
  
  
  
  There should be very, very slight lumbar lordosis and thoracic kyphosis. In Sanchin we seek (at first) to minimize these two sways. But whatever the degree of the sway, the kyphosis shouldn't exceed the lordosis. This is a more natural "athletic" posture that'll make it possible for him to generate arm power with his legs when he gets a more advanced understanding of sanchin and the potential of core energy.

This is really subtle stuff and takes some working, but getting this right will give him the potential to be a superstar later on. He shows a lot of promise. A few tweaks will create the potential for bigger leaps later on.

I'd be happy to work with him one-on-one to help him with these details. If you get it, then by all means run with him on it.

By the way, I think your testing of his Sanchin is spot on. Just the right amount of checking and stressing.

Anyhow thanks so very much to Shane for putting himself out there. You should be very proud. He's come a long way, and we all expect great things from him.

- Bill

[KYUechi]

Thanks for the feedback Bill! Excellent points. Shane is always looking for constructive criticism, and the foot thing is something I hadn't caught. Its probably a result of how I break down the turn for white belts, when trying to help them remember which direction to turn.

Note the extreme thoracic kyphosis (look that one up).

Despite having passed A&P, Kinesiology, and Biomechanics in college, I did have to ask the wife/LPN about "Kyphosis".

This is something we've been working on. If you'd seen him a while back, you'd notice a vast improvement. When Shane started putting more effort into his Sanchin a while back, I noticed extreme curvature. It took me a short time to realize what was wrong, he was bending his legs to much, which put his body totally out of alignment. Then when he tilted his pelvis forward, it caused him to have to arch his back waaay to much, in order to get his shoulders in line with everything else. When I figured out what he was doing, I had one of those "duh" moments.

I think your testing of his Sanchin is spot on. Just the right amount of checking and stressing.

Thanks.

I'd be happy to work with him one-on-one to help him with these details.

I'm sure he'd love working with you. We'll have to come to the "Ville" sometime, and work out w/you.

Bert

[Glenn]

PS: Glenn you may enjoy this if you remember Shane when he was 6 or 7 years old, and I'd bring him to Dave Lamb's class there in Lincoln.

I do remember, and I enjoyed the video. Good job you two!

[KYUechi]

I do remember, and I enjoyed the video. Good job you two!

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!