Researching Together
Getting together a bunch of people with varied opinions and varied skill levels to discuss and train can sometime prove to be quite a challenge! A first step to help keep people working together is probably for people to agree on how they would like to conduct their session, even if it is just some very simple guidelines.
Here are some suggestions of things that might be useful in a session.
Moderation
Chose a moderator for your group. This person will help keep things flowing and constructive.
A moderator might:
- Coordinate the activities of the group.
Make sure that people understand how they are working together and what they are trying to accomplish.
- Keep discussions and exercises productive to all participants.
Stop debates from getting personal, make sure that people are not struggling with drills.
Make sure that people are interested in any proposed drills, suggest moving to a new one if any participants seem uninterested.
Limit debates/discussions even when they are interesting and friendly. People are likely mostly interested in training. A little theory and discussion is valuable, but martial science is very much about making sure our bodies understand theory, not just our minds. If you find discussions getting too long, attempt to move onto some drills.
For example:
A moderator might solicit suggestions for an exercise and defer the explanation of the exercise to the person suggesting it. The moderator might then ask people to join in this exercise and ensure that everyone involved understands the intent and approach. After a while the moderator might decide that most people seem to have had enough and that it might be time to move on to something different.
Judging
For some exercises, with 3 or more people, it is very helpful to appoint a judge. A judge observes the others while they practice and decides who is doing the exercise best. The person designated the best then immediately becomes the new judge and the process is repeated. Using a judge and cycling an exercise quickly can make a very simple boring exercise very instructive and rewarding.
The benefits of using a judge role are numerous. First the participants will try harder and better. Second, the participants gain valuable feedback on the spot allowing them to improve. And possibly, most importantly, everyone focuses on observing others and what works well and what doesn't!
The beauty of the judging pattern is that the judge is appointed by his or her peers. The person whom others believe performs best judges others, not the "master" or "teacher". This helps people think critically and evaluate technique with regards to performance. This evaluation sets up a process of evolution whereby everyone gains insight into progress and effectiveness, unlimited by authority.
Dynamic Partners
One of the reasons many people attend a MARG session is to have a partner to practice with, an "Uki". The primary objective of an uki is to be helpful for "Nage", the defender, so take your queues from Nage and see what they want/need. It is likely that both partners will gain more from an exercise if both partners are involved in an exercise. So, while it is sometimes tempting to master a technique with a completely passive uki first, this is actually unlikely to ever allow anyone to actually master a technique.
Consider this, to master most techniques means understanding the dynamic nature of physical interactions between people, this means that many techniques are not "safely" executed unless they position the defender in a place where he is less susceptible to further attacks. An uki is best positioned to help a person understand when he/she is more or less susceptible to attack. A dynamic adapting uki is therefor actually vital to nage's tactical progression. A dynamic uki also keeps both partners involved in the learning process.
Playing uki should be more than just being a dummy, dummies can be purchased and do not require a group to train with. After all, experienced martial artists aren't dummies, and are unlikely to enjoy acting as one very much, they want to train and evolve too, encourage this when you are nage!