How to Teach Level One Sparring

Today I'm joined by Geno Guevara, founder and head instructor of Alamo Ranch Martial Arts and a Joon Rhee taekwondo black belt turned kickboxing coach.In this episode, Geno begins by recounting his journey into the ecological approach as a martial arts instructor and school owner. Like all of us, Geno struggled at first to transition to the constraints-led approach because his old habits were so deeply engrained. Geno is still figuring things out, but he powered through that initial doubt and now his program is better for it.In fact, Geno redesigned his entire curriculum to allow his students to have agency and self-direction in their own training. In a class of 20 students, they could all be practicing 20 different things throughout the course of a session. This is a clever combination of both Self-Determination Theory (which is primarily about fostering intrinsic motivation) and the individualized emphasis of the constraints-led approach. Then he moves into the fascinating changes he's made to his program to make most of his training live but still balance safety and power development in strikes among his children's kickboxing members.Of particular note is Geno's use of equipment constraint manipulations and task parameters to teach students how to develop powerful, fully chambered side kicks WITHOUT direct instruction on chambering -- or rote drilling.Geno also explains how he starts kids in sparring without being too rough or accelerating member attrition.We haven't explored the ecological approach to striking as much as grappling yet, so this episode is full of insightful gems. Geno is a listener of Combat Learning who reached out to me to tell me what he's doing. If you're trying out things from this podcast, making discoveries, and seeing positive results, please do not hesitate to reach out to me through the Combat Learning website or Instagram.Like with Pedro Sierra, I was impressed by what Geno has done on his own with a few papers, podcasts, and trial and error. I'm confident you'll be impressed, too. But more than that, I'm confident you can what he's doing, too. A quick note before you jump in: for some reason my side of the conversation is not recorded, and for that I'm deeply sorry. This was recorded on a new tool, but it shouldn't happen again. So a warning up front that this will sound more like an audio essay from Geno than a conversion.The questions are as follows:- You mentioned in email correspondence with me that you discovered some unique design elements for teaching striking to groups. Can you talk to me about that?- How are you using external focus of attention in your martial arts program?- Do you find it difficult to apply the ecological approach to striking?- What do you do to keep things alive but also safe?- Do you still do kata?Now, if you're excited to jump it, hit the subscribe button on your podcatcher and enjoy the show!---Join the email list now: combatlearning.com/newsletter---Find Geno: genoguevara@gmail.comWebsite: https://alamoranchmartialarts.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/alamoranchmartialarts/---Produced by Micah PeacockIntro Theme by Micah PeacockOutro Music is Synergy by Juche

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.combatlearning.com/subscribe