[Rumblyguts]

All,

I have some concerns about my daughter’s karate classes and am looking for some guidance. If you have the time to read this and reply, it’d be appreciated.

My 10 year old daughter is a mid-belt student in American Freestyle Karate (kick oriented) here in town. The teaching methods rely heavily on kata/forms and choreographed responses to “one punch” that includes an initial block then follows with a counter attack/throw (4-6 moves). Sparring is 30 minutes per week as a class. The school combines teens and adults for a different class that I haven’t observed.

I spent a year in Shorin-ryu taught by a bodyguard who stressed "practical" in the mid 80’s and a brief stint in the airborne infantry after that. What seems lacking is for my daughter is realism: quick counters to the groin, knees, eyes, throat, breaks, feels very little contact, etc. Not much of just letting her go, letting her react, nor developing an “attitude” of winning the fight, if that makes sense. Perhaps they’re teaching is tailored to the age group (6-12 years old), but it seems like they’re teaching a dance class rather than something more practical.

This is the only place in town, so I’m coming to you for a bit of guidance about how to enrich her self-defense and make it more practical. A few questions follow regarding what/how karate is taught to children:

1) Are children’s’ advanced classes typically repetitive in nature?
2) Is realism typically left out for kids?
3) Cautions about enriching/interfering with her lessons and learning?
4) Do you have some suggestions for ways to make her self-defense more realistic? Resources? I've read this thread and "Does your Martial art Work" thread and noted those resources. She's a mature 10 year old.

Thank you for any insight,

Rumbly

edit: This was emailed to my former sensei from 1985ish, and he actually called back. His response was that she's young, and learning a foundation. He suggested that while not teaching her the more disabling techniques, plant that there's something more effective out there. Along the lines of "You're learning this and keep it up. But there's more than one way to do things that can be more effective, and you can learn these later." He pointed out that some schools are very black/white with their instruction and might not react well if she does something different. He also stated that by hinting at something different in the future that she won't get brainwashed into "this one way is the right way" and not be able to adapt to something different.