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Last year Daniel came on one of his visits
and told me that he had a new interest, which was kung fu,
and that he loves it.
This kung fu group, which I've been to see, is absolutely excellent
because it focuses attention extremely well
and it's a small group,
so all the children get quite a lot of attention from the teacher
and the teacher is very positive about its effects on children
and how it improves their confidence.
We have a quick warm-up
and then we do some basic drills
and then we start doing some two-person drills,
interacting with each other,
and then we'll do some sort of self-defence techniques
and perhaps a form as well.
We have three forms in the Wing Chun kung fu,
which are a set group of movements done in the same order.
Daniel described to me what happened in the class
and there's some quite complex balance activity.
For example you have to learn to kick forwards and sideways
and there are some quite complicated arm and hand activities
which he told me he found quite difficult to learn in the first place,
but clearly has managed to master.
Kung fu requires both quite specific and skilled balance
as well as quite fine hand and arm movements
and these two need to be combined
in quite complex coordination strategies during the movement.
So that's been very hard for Daniel to learn, I think,
but he's beginning to manage
the combination of the two very successfully.
I think when he first started his concentration was a little bit wayward,
but it happens less and less now, I have to say,
and so he's obviously improved,
his concentration level's improved a great deal.
Just from the different things he's got to do.
The children have an hour of kung fu first
and then an hour of the Chinese lion dance,
which is a two-person dance,
rather like the circus horse,
where two people are inside a costume,
so they have to collaborate with each other quite carefully.
And it's accompanied by a lot of drum and cymbal playing,
which they also get to learn.
As well as the motor skills involved in the lion dance
and as well as two people collaborating to make it work,
there's a very creative element
where two people are making this lion costume
actually look like a cat moving.