"I'm pretty strong." said the 7 year old perching on top o fthe swing sturcture he had shimmied up "because I measured my muscle with my brother and my muscle is almost as big as his. Or pretty much the same size."
"How old is your brother?" I asked.
"13" was the answer.
We talked more and sooner or later Noah mentioned Kung Fu to the 5 year old and I saw they were playfighting. The other boy was much bigger and stronger. I knew that eventually Noah would get hurt a little, or at least lose, but that's good for him. I just moved them away from the swing because they were not able to pay attention to each other and the swing.
"You have to protect your balls Noah." because he wasn't. And that was they way he would get the most hurt. The other boy wasn't aiming there, nor was he hitting hard because he was pulling is kicks and punches. But I it can still happen. The 7 year old started talking about Karate and other stuff and showing me some of his spin kicks.
Grace called me over to do some filming of Kung Fu stuff, but I didn't feel like doing wheels on the bus in front of these particular kids. So I did a form, and then I tried to do this new Pirate Kung fu song, but having only just worked it out in my head, I couldn't do it right away, while I was out of breath from the form. Then Noah started crying.
I had seen what happened out if the corner of my eye.
Playing (and losing) je had suddenly cried out "Stop!" several times, and then turned away, no longer engaging, he got kicked in the thigh. The other boy paused suddenly in that "oops I think I'm in trouble" type of look and not knowing what to do with this smaller boy (Noah) crying like this. I've been in that situation myself as an adult. The thing is, Noah is the one who started on the Kung Fu stuff.
"Shao you can't just turn away like that. You have to defend yourself." Now I had to stop what I was doing and intervene. Jonah came over and started throwing his baby touch punches at the 5 year old who sort of ahd to block but sort of didn't have to and kind of thought the little touch punches were cute. But it's the thought that counts. To make Noah feel better I encouraged the other boy to say sorry and then talked to Noah a little bit. One of the other boys mother came over and I explained they were just playing before they got in any real trouble. She knew her children were a little rough. But ultimately this experience was a good one for Noah.
You could call it a little kids fight, but both in terms of Kung Fu and just growth there are a lot of things learned here. For the American, the things to learn are this.
1) there will always be people stronger than you
2)some sort of lesson in being tough or whatever.
But for Martial arts there is a ton to learn
1) the importance of keeping your eyes on your opponent even when retreating and there fore practicing backward moving stances while throwing strikes.
2) Getting to a safe distance before calling out stop
3) Training to make your strikes blocks and stance harder so you are able to take hits and strike hard to keep the other person at bay.
4) The importance of getting inside if that is your style. Even though I do White Crane and taught Noah white crane, his style is much more like Hung Gar or Bak Mei. Not sure why, but yes my son's Kung Fu is fundamentally different than mine. To explain to him the importance of practicing moving around is useless when it comes to "doing your own" in a dance of movements. Explaining arbitrary applications like "someone could kick your stance" is also useless. But referring to an experience he actually had will make him understand. So now I can get him to understand why ne needs to train his moving stance, and also GET DOWN in his stationary stance when he is inside so the kick will glance off and defend, but also to understand the importance of distance. That some techniques are more for in close and others are more for outside.
We did some stuff on video because Noah no longer wanted to do songs with me. He wanted to learen right there and then, how to do protect himself. If he hadn't been kicked, he would not have this interest. Plus he got the experience of getting HURT, without getting INJURED.
Grace wanted to leave because the situation "could get bad" but Noah did not want to leave on a bad note. My boys went back over to the playground and played some more with the slightly older boys, and soon it was time to go. I had them say goodbye to their friends. (And there is another even more important lesson. That you can lose to someone, even at play fighting, and still remain friends. And this may be a very American thing. But the truth his, someone who is stronger than you is someone good to stay friends with, and continue to spar with, and it is good to have that person on your side when you come into a situation where you may have to actually fight for real. Like someone trying to abduct you.)
In the car I talked to Noah a lot about his experience and how it was a good thing and how actually this was a fundamental issue between Southern Fist and Northern Kicking. Chinese Northerners tend to be taller and focus on their legs, fighting on the plains. Southerners tended to be shorter and focused on their hands, fighting on boats. Both systems have their advantages depending on their distance and environment and of course amount of training and experience. Some people say this story is just BS mythology. But true or not there is a lot to be learned from that story. But of course Noah's experience with a taller kid kicking (and kicking lightly) meant he got to learn the concept and importance of these philosophies from personal experience without getting hurt seriously.
My Sifu's White Crane Kung Fu incorporated both Northern and the Southern Philosophy, but the truth is ultimately the origin is the same Shaolin. And even the Tibetan side is from exchange with Shaolin. And so it is all ultimately Shaolin Kung Fu, and before that, different styles that went into Shaolin that were still probably pretty similar.
My Kung Fu is more about Song and dance, creativity and imagination. But in terms of fighting strategy, I haven't really changed anything. On the inside, my Kung Fu is exactly the same as my Sifus. But on the outside, it is song and dance. (With maybe some exceptions in terms of my own psychological approach.)
As to Noah, he will have his own style and path. But again, there will be an element of a lineage that is passed on from Sifu to student for thousands of years. But also an element of learning from yourself, through training and experience. And that aspect is in a way, new with every individual, but at the same time, older than Kung Fu itself, because it's how animals learn. And so that way of learning, so simple, and so obvious, goes back millions of years, and is perhaps even more important than the moves.
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