- Joined
- Oct 29, 2013
- Messages
- 763
That is the point with martial arts - you have to build a base, and prove your mentality to earn the right to train in weapons. In China the masters would accept children at a very young age, but they would have to show quite a bit of determination before getting took on as a student - given impossible tasks, humiliated to test their self control, and made to do chores (remember the Karate kid? Wax on wax off!). Their first lessons would be something like doing all the dishes while holding a horse stance, they weren't even started out with hand to hand combat. The first thing I learned (besides the self-defense class that was offered free as a primer) was a jab. The second thing was trapping the knee. It was a couple years before I learned the entirety of those 2 things (I was taught a lot more, but probably did those same 2 techniques 3,000 times before getting the finer points). It would concern me that he would lose interest so quickly if the end result was arming him with a weapon. It's hard to teach safety, fundamentals, and all the important beginner stuff if you're trying to teach it to a kid with a shiny sword in their hand.
No matter what route you go, I wouldn't throw him directly into swordplay. There is a method involved in progression, and you learn a lot of respect and prove your resilience to the point that when you get to a weapon it isn't even a reward by then, but a milestone - it was a pretty fun experience for me when I was a kid. It worked too, I remember the point that I understood snapping my punches back so I could get back in guard faster, and focusing on form and precision to gain mechanical advantage, and I was just in 2nd grade or so.
