Monday, 14 September 2009

Disabled Martial Arts

I have been honoured to teach a wide range of special needs students over the years and always welcome people with a disability.

I have had blind students who excel at Wing Chun, chi sao, locking, and groundgrappling. I even had a blind student get up to brown belt in karate. His appreciention of kata was remarkable. He then went on to qualify in Tai Chi. He was a remarkable man who gained a Master's Degree through audio study and braille. I was honoured to be his teacher and his friend.

I have also coached wheelchair people, some of whome have become remarkable at weapons, stick drills and nunchaku in particular.

One wheelchair student came to me and I asked him what he was interested in. He told me "everything except kicks!". We became good friends from the first day he "rolled in" as he refers to it, and he trained in many aspects of Martial Art.

At my classes held at the Church we welcome people for all our activities, not just the Martial Arts.