There is an older gentlemen at one of the dojos I attend. He is
maybe 65 years old (although it is sometimes hard to tell with Japanese
people!) and I don't think he has ever studied any other martial arts
very seriously. He may have done some kendo when he was younger.
He's
a very kind, friendly, and genial man. He attends classes quite
regularly, and seems to be trying his best. But the problem is, he just
doesn't "get it".
Now, I don't expect everyone to be a martial arts
genius. God knows that I am on the low end of the "athletic aptitude"
scale - I can't dance, can't really swim, am hopeless at ball sports -
and I'm not even very good at martial arts when I consider how long I've
been doing them.
But this older fellow, I'm sorry to say, has real
problems with co-ordination. Sensei, or a senior student, will show him
a simple movement, such as stepping forward and cutting, but he will
transform it into something quite different. It is very common for
Sensei to lose his patience with him. "Your right foot! RIGHT foot
forward! That's your left foot! I said your right foot!" "Ahh," the
old fellow will chuckle with some embarrassment, and blink a few times,
and then change his footing. This makes Sensei even angrier. "Don't
say 'Ahh' all the time, just remember it and do it properly!"
I
haven't practiced with him very often since he joined the dojo last
year. The other day, though, we were doing a partner rotation. I got
to the end of the line, and rotated down to the beginner end of the dojo
where he was waiting. I was on the jo side, he was on tachi. He came
in, but none of his attacks were even close to reaching me, so I just
stood there, hoping that he would pick up the hint that he needed to get
closer. He didn't, he was just confused because he couldn't think of
what he should be doing next. I explained, and we tried it again.
Numerous other problems surfaced. For one thing, I found myself getting
annoyed because he wasn't even walking back to his original position at
the end of the kata, but rather going back on a diagonal and ending up
shifted 2 or 3 meters to the side. I started to wonder whether he has
some serious spatial perception issues, or issues with balance, or some
other problems. It really came to a head when we did a kata that
involves the swordsman coming in for a cut, and the jo side moving into
close range and blocking/jamming up the swordsman so he can't cut. We
did the technique, but instead of moving back to take the second cut as
he is supposed to do, he just leaned around to the side and slowly
twisted his arms, kind of bopping me in the shoulder. It didn't hurt,
but I wanted to ask him, "What the hell are you doing?"
I say again
that he is a really nice guy, who seems sincere in his desire to learn.
I was getting annoyed in spite of myself, because I was really trying
to be patient. But he does seem to be the "perfect storm" of bad
characteristics for a martial artist - a poor memory for techniques, an
inability to perceive what Sensei is trying to teach, a low awareness of
space, and a very poor awareness of what his own body is doing.
So,
what do you think? Should some people just be encouraged to take up
bird watching? Weapons kata are not usually very dangerous, but I'm not
crazy about the idea of training with somebody who often does the
totally unexpected, or without any control of his motions.
I imagine
that, somewhere down the line, he will quit. Sensei will stop teaching
him, if he doesn't manage to internalize any of the corrections he's
been given. Or, he will try a grading and fail, and then fail again.
Or (and I hope this never happens) he will hurt somebody, and be so
embarrassed that he will stop coming to practice.