Ernest Cadorin

Pandemic Interactives

2020/10/10

Action at a Distance

Interactive drills are preset exercises that are done with a training partner. They usually involve practicing attack/defence scenarios, and they are an effective way to develop form, timing, and sensitivity to another person’s movements. They are an important part of every karate-ka’s training regimen.

Despite the current need for physical distancing, I believe that we can continue to do interactive drills in class. Interactive training is about reacting to our partner’s actions, and this is something we can practice even if our partner is two metres away – or for that matter, two cities away and connected by video conference.

Let’s look at a typical interactive drill as an example. Imagine an exercise that requires one partner to attack with a lunge punch to the head, and the other partner to step away and defend with an upper block. Done normally, the defender would move back as the attacker approached, intercept the punch as it neared their head, and deflect it away before it reached them.

Now imagine the same drill being done by two people who are staying two metres apart from each other at all times. As soon as the attacker moves towards the defender, the defender starts to step back. As the punching arm extends, the defender’s blocking arm rises (matching the pace of the punch). Finally, as the attacker completes their punch, the defender completes their block. In this scenario, the defender never actually makes contact with the attacker’s arm, but he or she must still react appropriately to the attacker’s advance and harmonize his or her movements with those of the aggressor. Despite the fact that the students never come close to each other, the exercise is helping them develop several essential skills.

As an added bonus, this modified format can be used for more than just traditional interactive drills. It can be used to work on self-defence maneuvers and multi-attacker sequences as well. Just because we have to practice physical distancing doesn’t mean we can’t practice our favourite techniques!


Tips for Interactive Drills

  • Attackers can sometimes move within the count instead of always moving on the count. This will ensure that defenders are reacting to their attacker’s movements rather than simply reacting to the count.

  • You can always make a drill more challenging by adding an element of randomness to it. Let each attacker chose between one of two attacks, for example, so that the defender must discern what the attack is and deal with it appropriately.

  • When modifying an interactive drill for physical distancing, it’s not actually necessary to pair students up one on one. If you prefer, you can have one attacker working with multiple defenders at the same time.