José L. MELERO

melero@fu-ying.es

KUNG  FU

FOR  CHILDREN

          It is important to emphasize the special care that we must have when working with children, from both the physical and mental points of view.  Their bodies are in full development and so, it is essential to train and practice exercises which pursue a balanced development of children’s muscles. Exercises that aim to achieve flexibility, elasticity, corporal perception and mobility. Therefore, we must focus on those exercises that strengthen their joints and improve their respiratory capabilities. In addition, we have to make sure that children do these exercises with the correct technique.

          At this respect, when we give children a kung fu lesson, this must

contribute to the overall development of the following aspects:

          - Body perception and movement control.

          - Time-space orientation.

          - Balance control.

          - Mobility control.

          - Basic skills and abilities.

          - Intellectual development.

          All these topics embrace several fundamental aspects for children:

          - Physical development: Children’s basic skills and abilities.

          - Social development: relationships, interaction and group interdependence.

          - Emotional development: understanding oneself, being self-confident,

          independent and other social and emotional aspects.

          - Cognitive development: identifying and solving problems, making decisions and judgments.

          - Sporting and technical development: kung fu and any other aspects related with sports activities.

          Kung fu classes are very dynamic and totally practical. The main purpose is to strengthen the concept of children’s self-improvement. In order to obtain this goal children take a test every three months where several monitors and two advanced children assess the different exercises performed by children during the test.

          The most important aspects that monitors evaluate in these tests are on the one hand, the way children make efforts to improve themselves and on the other hand, the children’s self-improvement abilities.

          Aspects related with coordination, balance technique and speed are relegated to a second level of importance, as it has been demonstrated that those children who exert themselves for a long and continuous period of time are the ones who really makes progress in kung fu.

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