Kuzuri Keza Katame For Beginners

Kuzuri Keza Katame For Beginners

Kuzuri Keza Katame For Beginners is a surprisingly complex activity. Though most don't realise it, it is made up of many separate movements. The following video is my way of helping beginners get the hang of it as quickly as possible.

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I discovered a long time ago that if you give most kids more than three steps in a process the chances are that they won't remember any of the steps. It's not the complexity of the instruction that is the problem, it is that the instruction is broken up into too many parts.

This was brought home to me when my eldest son was having trouble at prep school. We had him assessed and he had "short term audio memory loss". This basically means that at that age, he could not remember more than 2 instructions at a time. If you gave him more than that he would not remember any of them.

I Forgot The Instructions

It reminded me of my childhood. There was no such diagnosis back then but given the amount of trouble I got into because I forgot instructions, there is a good chance that I had similar problems to my son.

It turns out that with most children, in fact with many adults also, if you give them more than 3 instructions at a time the chances are, that they will not remember any of them. Whereas if you give them just three they will remember all of them. Of course, my son (and possibly me also) was the exception. He could only remember two.

This video is the perfect example of how I use the rule of three to make sure that most children are able to learn a throw or hold down.

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4 Instructions Or 3 Instructions

You could argue that I actually use 4 instructions in the video:

1. Make a handle with your arm that is closest to your partner's head
2. Feed your partner's arm that is closest to you through the handle
3. Feed your other arm under your partner's other arm
4. Turn your legs toward your partner's head

But if you try and make instructions 1 and 2 a single instruction you end up with:

1. Make a handle with your arm that is closest to your partner's head and feed your partner's arm that is closest to you through the handle
2. Feed your other arm under your partner's other arm
3. Turn your legs toward your partner's head

Then it only becomes 3.

I Don't Always Get It Right

I'm not saying I always get it right. Particularly if there are a lot of interruptions as there are in the video. But I do find that trying to get as close to 3 instructions as possible is very successful.

Few if any child is going to get it all the first time. The younger they are the less likely they are to get it the first time. But I find as long as the child is never criticised for forgetting, they are happy for me to go over and over and over the instructions until they can remember them. This is enhanced by physically moving their bodies into the correct position whilst they are practising. This is where I usually do this repetitiveness, while they are trying to practice the hold or whatever. There really is nothing like individual instruction and physically doing the action to help them remember.

I know, I know, there are actually multiple instructions in each individual instruction. But I find that as long as you treat it as an overview and do not criticize the kids for forgetting they do retain part of it. they retain enough to get them started. Then you can break it down even further when you are doing individual instruction.

Make A Handle With Your Arm

For example, a child has only remembered the "Make a handle with your arm". Now you can tell them it has to be the arm that is closest to their partner's head. I then tend to move on to the next pair practising to give them some of the bits they are missing.

When I come back I find the child has remembered not only the handle but that it has to be the one nearest their partner's head. The rest is forgotten. Now the arm, its handle and that it is the arm nearest the head is one instruction and I can repeat it as one. 

Now I can tell them to feed their partner's arm that is closest to them through the handle.

When I come back I may find they have got the idea of feeding the arm through the handle but they are feeding the opposite arm instead of the one that is closest to them. I correct this and move on.

When I come back the fisrt instruction is now one whole istruction."Make a handle with your arm that is closest to your partner's head and feed the arm that is closest to you through the handle" and I can start on instruction 2, "Feed your other arm under your partner's other arm" and so on.

By The Time The Session Is Over

By the time the session is over, provided that no child has been critisised for not remembering they have turned mulipul instructions into just 3. As in:

1. Make a handle with your arm that is closest to your partner's head and feed your partner's arm that is closest to you through the handle
2. Feed your other arm under your partner's other arm
3. Turn your legs toward your partner's head

There are plenty of other nuances with Kazuri-Kesa-Katame but as long as you just keep building on what they have learned by tring to keep the seperate instruction to 1 or 2 or 3 at a time you can get just about any student to learn the most complex movements.

Sure you could just go straight into the practice without the overview but I have found that the overview definatly helps to give the student a place to start. Even if they can't remember any of it, they know there is a clear starting place and will do their best to figure it out.

Enjoy
Sensai
Richard