[immoceefe]

I know this will get some peoples undies in a bunch, so thats why Im asking for advice!
My sister runs a program for highschool kids that are considered to be "high risk" -ie will drop out of school, get into trouble often, have a hard family life etc. Every week they have someone come in to do a talk and activity with the kids - so far they have had the police, actors, people from different professions and so on, give talks about what you can achieve in life if you give it a go. My sister has bugged me for ages to give a talk and demo about kendo. Ive never felt comfortable doing it becasue Ive only been doing kendo for about a year. However, while I was away for work, she booked me in.

Apparently the kids love the program and really like to get involved and have a go. Im thinking of getting them to make newspaper shinai and get them kiai-ing and practising cuts at eachother...

The main point of the whole exercise is NOT "come and join", its to stress the fact that culture is a wonderful thing, that exercise and health is essential, and that sticking with something is worthwhile; even if its difficult. I will also be talking about going to university and travelling and so on.

Any ideas on how I should go about this guys? Any imput would be great.

[anderriter]

I think its a great idea but alas I have no ideas sorry

[onlineslotetes]

"Bash the kendoka" is always a popular activity with anyone who is not a kendoka him-/herself. The concept is easy: you show people the very basics of a men cut, give them a shinai that you don't care too much about (because many will hit the mengane) and then let them hit you or someone else in bogu in the head.

[Patamuta]

"Bash the kendoka" is always a popular activity with anyone who is not a kendoka him-/herself. The concept is easy: you show people the very basics of a men cut, give them a shinai that you don't care too much about (because many will hit the mengane) and then let them hit you or someone else in bogu in the head.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

And, when the most nervous-looking one goes to strike you, start screaming in pain upon impact. Hahahaha. That would probably get a good laugh out of everyone.

[oliverlogo]

You can talk about how many people go to live and work in Japan as a means to do kendo training directly from the source. Then you can emphasize how in most cases to get a regular working visa to be able to stay here long term requires a college degree. It doesn't matter what the degree is in, but it requires some degree at least. Hence the whole education opens doors to limitless futures for those who are willing to work for it.

As for activities, I would go more for the hitting shinai held out instead of hitting actual people. They'll have no the tenouchi and some may be lacking in impulse control so you don't want to open yourself to injuries. Demonstrate where the hits go, but actually do them on the shinai if you want to play it safe.

Also you could show them videos from the internet of Shiai so they can see full matches since you may not have a partner to show them a mini jigeiko session with.

[Hmwmzian]

I'm a teacher in a 'high needs' school district (good ol' DC!) and I've considered doing something like this at some point. As you said, it's not about getting kids to go out and join kendo, it's about bringing in a new cultural experience for the kids to see and feel. It's about giving kids exposure to as many new and different things as you can.

The only way I would do it in my school is if I was either able to a) recruit a couple fellow kendoka to come with me so they could demonstrate and model while I talked, and/or b) get the kids out of the school and into a dojo to observe a practice session. I would only do 'b' however once the kids had *some* background info on the sport (info and video exposure).

If you have to do it yourself I'd try to keep it in smaller groups. Brief talk about the history and culture, a little bit of show and tell, and a little comic relief (choose a volunteer to don each piece of equipment as you bring it out to talk about it). Paper mache shinai is a good idea too, though could get messy!!

Who knows how it'll turn out, but it's a great thing to do for those kids and I wish you the best with it. Have fun!!

[GrileVege]

I've done several where I've let people hit me, usually they are hesitant to hit very hard. My advice is to keep the demonstration part of the session short, 15 minutes or less, and don't talk too much. Get some kendo friends to help you if you can.

[Gakeincidoniac]

I know this will get some peoples undies in a bunch, so thats why Im asking for advice!
My sister runs a program for highschool kids that are considered to be "high risk" -ie will drop out of school, get into trouble often, have a hard family life etc. Every week they have someone come in to do a talk and activity with the kids - so far they have had the police, actors, people from different professions and so on, give talks about what you can achieve in life if you give it a go. My sister has bugged me for ages to give a talk and demo about kendo. Ive never felt comfortable doing it becasue Ive only been doing kendo for about a year. However, while I was away for work, she booked me in.

Apparently the kids love the program and really like to get involved and have a go. Im thinking of getting them to make newspaper shinai and get them kiai-ing and practising cuts at eachother...

The main point of the whole exercise is NOT "come and join", its to stress the fact that culture is a wonderful thing, that exercise and health is essential, and that sticking with something is worthwhile; even if its difficult. I will also be talking about going to university and travelling and so on.

Any ideas on how I should go about this guys? Any imput would be great.

My undies are in a bunch as we speak. However, if you do a search, this has been covered before with good information.

[Lyikmcmb]

i dono about this but maybe you can get them to bring a blunt pencil, and teach them suburi then do the men game thingy. then you can teach them a small kata. i think those kids would love it.

[PharmACT]

Hehehe, I knew there would be at least one!

Im going to take along some old shinai for them to have a go at me with. Ill find someone else to come along with me, which should look interesting because I wear all white, and they'll be all blue.

[XiWm9O9S]

I have a friend who is a teacher and by the sounds of thing he was in the same situation as Morvran.

He started up a Kendo club after hours at the school and the guys loved it. To get extra training in some of the traveled 2 to 3 hours + on the weekend.

I think the thing was athough they came from difficult backgrounds they were over joyed that someone was taking an interest in them and giving the something to do (rather than sit on a street corner/mall)

When ever they went to a training seminar / comp they were as "giddy as a school girl" (as the saying goes). From what I understand before they started training they were hanging out with the "wrong crowd".

Personaly if I was doing a demo for these guys.

It would be a short set of basic waza (expalin the target areas etc as I go), follows by a sert set of Gegiok and finishing off with Shiai.

I would recommend having 7 people. Best makup would be 2 High kyu grades (for fast agressive shiai), 2 Dan Grades (for a more composed match, which nees tension and strong cuts), 2 women (looks girl can play as well), a good speaker.

If you have equipment/time you could also pull out a couple of audiance member and get them to do basic cuts as well. Make sure they kiai and run through, Makes for a good laugh and show it is not quite as easy as it looks.

If you want to take about the kendo culture talk about road trips the club does and the friend social enviroment that surround the club.

The kids will remember more of what you show them than what you say. You could also make a big impression if you could get your hand on a video of a Japanessen Highschool intensive training.


Tune out now.
Going into my Soapbox Rant.

I don't really see the point in takling to these "High Risk" about traveling overseas or even universty. Home life is such that they are just dreams, there is no forseable was from getting from their present cirmstance to a position where they could save enough money for a plane ticket or year study.
To me a much better option would be to make them aware of the wider community (which it appears this course is doing).

I would let it be known if people were instreated they could "come and join" I would also let it be know up from that it is going to require time and effort and Kendo is not about runninga round hitting people with sticks. And it is about respecting the people around you.

From what I saw with the guy that started the club at his school, his student (which from the"High risk" back ground) showed more courticy and respect to the fellow kendoka than anyone else t the compertition and seminar they attened.

[johnlohanmclee]

well, I agree with most of what you are saying... however, having come from a "high risk" type myself (living in the outback, lack of teachers, crazy family etc) going to uni and travelling are very much within thier reach!!!!

There are programs at uni that will help you get in if you get enough life experience or have done an apprenticship, even if you only do til yr 10 at school. HECS means you dont pay for uni till after, TAFE is easy to get into, and with a trade or skill you can travel anywhere. It may take longer than someone with rich parents and straight As, but it can be done.

Its opinions like that which caused my school that I went through to stop offering students TEE subjects. I had no family asisstance, no money and very limited governement help, but I did it. Ive since travelled and worked overseas and in 3 weeks will finish my post grad and be a palaeontologist as well as an exploration geologist.

The difference between me and 2 of my siblings who have been on the dole their whole lives and always will be, is that I wanted to do something with my life. Im not a grade A student, I do lack motivation, and there have been heaps of times where I wanted to chuck it all in. But I still succeeded. Having a shit home life was an obstacle, but it was never an excuse.

Ahem.. you can have your soapbox back now....

The video is a great idea too! Ill look into that

[hotelhyatt]

I helped do a Kendo Demo at a High School just last Thursday

Sounds like you have a good plan going.. my advice I would add is they have even less Kendo exp. than you do.. so you might feel nervous but all the little mistakes you might make they will have no idea about.. so relax

In our keiko part we kinda tele-prompted each other.. i.e. whisper ,"ok.. next pass you do men" .. or " hiki-do now" .. while in tsuba-zeriai with each other.. again.. they aren't aware of the subtleties.. so made it entertaining to watch

hope you have fun at your demo

[w4HPpbSW]

"I don't really see the point in takling to these "High Risk" about traveling overseas or even universty. Home life is such that they are just dreams, there is no forseable was from getting from their present cirmstance to a position where they could save enough money for a plane ticket or year study.
To me a much better option would be to make them aware of the wider community (which it appears this course is doing)."

If you don't speak as if they have the opportunity to achieve these higher goals, then they won't. They won't consider it and will never do it. Yes, some of them won't, but some of them will. This is not just rhetoric. Educational research has shown that high expectations do yield results in the performance of students. Yes, there are other factors, but this was one of them.

I'll get off my soap box after one more comment... if no one ever believed in you and never told you what you might be able to do or become, where would you be? Most of us would have ended up somewhere worse off than we are now, or just following along in our parents footsteps because the expectations from others when we are growing up significantly alter what we expect of ourselves.

[echocassidyde]

Yep, in my experience, and from what I've observed, setting impressive goals and working towards them is one of the most important things in education. Even if it's just a matter of showing children what else it out there, or giving them a taste of what they can achieve.

In the school we are starting next fall in DC, college campus visits are a part of the curriculum...and these are 5h graders (ages 10-12). While I do agree that most kids don't get too much out of a speech that extols the virtues of college, they do get something out of being surrounded by academic-minded role models. The worst that can happen is they shrug it off...and for some of them, the idea of higher education will stick.

I'd also like to add that I don't think traditional higher education is for everyone, and so in addition to college, I like to focus on exposing students to a wide variety of avenues, ideas and activities they might be interested in.

Ok, I'd give back the soapbox, but I have to take it to school today.

[PetraCromlich]

well, I agree with most of what you are saying... however, having come from a "high risk" type myself (living in the outback, lack of teachers, crazy family etc) going to uni and travelling are very much within thier reach!!!!

Good for you kid.
My mom was pretty sure I would "turn 21 in prison doing life without parole" but I went to college when I was 30 and law school when I was 34 and then practiced law representing poor people for 20 years. I have always thought of your circumstances as an explanation not an excuse. You can do pretty much anything if you put your mind to it.

[amotoustict]

well, I agree with most of what you are saying... however, having come from a "high risk" type myself (living in the outback, lack of teachers, crazy family etc) going to uni and travelling are very much within thier reach!!!!

The difference between me and ... ...is that I wanted to do something with my life.

Ahem.. you can have your soapbox back now....

Yea. I have the upmost respect for people like yourself.

Yep. And the trick is finding the buttons to push that will cause the person to want to make somehting more of their lives. For some people is is simply traveling interstate. And as mentioned university is not for everyone.

mem. this thread can keep the soap box. I have found a high horse.

I forgot to mention best of luck with the demo.
Remember to put you kote/do on, it is very embarassing when you get half way through the demo then have to stop and finish getting dressed.

[ReggieRed]

Thanks Ignatz!

Thankyou for your opinions Martino, I do get what you mean. Ill try to get some pics of the demo and post them for everyone to laugh at