 The front kick is one of the most common kicks in karate and the martial arts. I mean sure it has some variations depending on the style, but there's no question about the power you can put behind it when applied properly. In this video I want to talk about a way to demonstrate a creative kicking drill I use with the children to teach them the proper form of a front kick and it helps them understand the mechanics behind it and how to deliver it properly. The following episode contains footage from children's classes. Now we do have several martial arts purists who watch this channel and many people tend to scrutinize against children's programs. I do ask anyone going forward who watches this episode to keep an open mind as this is a more casual school and a children's program that focuses on confidence building, thinking skills, and character development. We also live in South Florida so the kids are allowed to wear t-shirts on casual days or fun activities. They are however required to wear full uniform during formal classes and testing. These kids work extremely hard and I just wanted to share with you one of the drills that we use to help them develop their skills and build great character. I thank you all in advance for being civil and respectful to these children. Okay the front kick again one of the most common kicks you'll find in the martial arts it varies between different arts but for the most part it's got some similar mechanics. The basic principle behind it is the power principle of backup mass or you're taking your whole body weight and you're putting it behind the kick so it's not just the leg doing the kick it's your whole body into that one little inch the ball of your foot. Okay so that's one thing that's the first thing we teach them is you know it's not just your kicking power it's not just your leg power it's your whole body's power and energy focused until like an inch of the pad using the ball of the foot. The other thing that we really stress with the kids is chambering. Chambering is very important chambering of course is load up the kick throw the kick out reload it and bring it back. This teaches them one gives them some balance to work on two it helps them focus their kick and also loads it up for the power and additionally with chambering you know you can always convert to a different kick if you have to you know something changes they move you can switch to a different kick change directions or orbits so that we work with them on that. Basically this is a drill using a wave master these wave masters are awesome great kicking tools great teaching tools kids love working on them so they can throw their whole body weight into it they're not going to hurt it okay but what I like to do with this drill is first of all I'll demonstrate the reaction of the kick on the pad so they can see it with their own eyes and they can feel it if they're doing it properly or not. So I also like these wave masters for this particular drill versus hanging bags because of the dead weight hanging bags are great to work on I love them but they do react differently than the standalone bag this will give a little bit of pushback to it whereas a hanging bag will swing and for the purpose of this drill this is what I mean. There's two common problems we see the kids do or young students or new students when they're first learning the front kick the first problem is pushing especially with the kids now when I say kids I'm not talking about the four-year-olds five-year-olds the six-year-olds the young ones we don't do these kind of power drills with them because they're just too young but I'm talking about like the middle school age group 10 12 this really works for them but the common problem I see number one is they don't really apply the kick so much as they push so do the chamber they'll get the kick out but they find that when they get here they're pushing the pad and coming back instead of delivering power into it they push and then the energy just comes kind of right back so they're not really delivering the full power to kick now this is not a teep you see in like Muay Thai they do that little push kick a teep that's not what this is I'm talking about a full power front kick so there's that first problem they're pushing the second problem is they chamber but they kind of redirect the energy wrong and I have them listen and I tell them if they hear this if they hear I ask them what's wrong and they said oh well you're just scraping the pad right so I'm not just swinging my leg upwards if I do that the energy is not going into the pad it's going up and kind of glancing off it's not going to be affected that way so now they have an auditory clue if they hear this they know they're not applying it correctly so how do we fix this well basically I have the lineup in front of the wave master and the whole idea is if they deliver the kick properly if they push into the pad or not push but if they deliver the kick into the pad and it doesn't skim upwards the pad should actually give a little bit of a hop okay if you if you push it's going to come back on you it's actually going to take a little hop towards you that means you're not putting your energy into the pad if you put it fully into the pad actually gives a little bit of a jump and you'll see as they keep doing it eventually as they keep kicking it pads should slowly work its way that way if it's coming towards them creeping on them well then the energy is coming back so the chamber they kick give it a little hop and it should give a little jump now to make this a little bit of a competition because kids love competition and put a little bit of the pressure on them what I'll do is I'll get two wave masters and like I said these wave masters are fantastic teaching drills if you own a school and you don't have these I highly recommend at least getting a couple of them um if you're interested I have a description in the description below the link to them so what I'll do is I'll line up two of them and I'll make two lines and the kids will line up and especially if you've got these kind of puzzle mats with different colors or square formation I put the pad on the far edge the red line and the competition is each line has to kick the pad properly and as a team they have to push it out of the square so the first line to get the pad completely out of the square wins and it can be whatever prize you want to give them you know they get to choose a fun game to play the whole idea is get them focused and working together as a team because they're going to try to get that out of the out of the square and the only way to do that is if they apply it properly now they learn real quick if they're doing it wrong because if they do that push it slides back on them or then they've lost some gains the other team goes ahead so it's kind of fun watching them do this drill and see how how they can apply the kicks especially if you got like a bunch of big kids and one smaller kid in the group they tend to encourage the little one and it also builds confidence for them because they think they're contributing and they might not have the same power as the older kids but they feel like they do so you're giving them part of a goal to work towards so line them up the whole idea is they kick it the pad gives a little bit of a jump and they proceed that way so that's a creative drill that I like to do with the kids it really gives them an understanding of the delivery of the kick as well as gives them a sense of a fun sense of competition and once again if you're interested in picking up a wave master you can find them at the link below in my description they're great for workout most schools will have them and they're also great for your home dojo too so what are the some of the ways that you like to practice the front kick or tell me about your favorite wave master and heavy bag workouts thanks for watching and please remember to share and subscribe these videos thank you so much