Everyone wore gloves in case someone accidentally touched the blade. We didn't want any cut fingers. They also had to wear safety goggles to protect their eyes from any pieces of sharp plastic bottle that might harm them. We did the cutting on a rough concrete path so no one would slip. All children have been trained in passing swords correctly. These kids are aged between 8 and 17 years. I'll put a few pictures here and I'm going to make a slideshow for the website. It was an excellent day.
This boy turned 10 last week but he has been training for 4 years. he started at the first kids seminar during Laoshi's first year in Australia. This is a full weight jian. The boy has very good control.
Here is one of our 11 year olds. He trains in Jian, MiaDao and emptyhand. He is cutting with a Huanuo Round Grip Battle Dao, in this picture and he's using it as a MiaoDao.
Another 11 year old, although he looks younger. This boy loves empythand. He also trains in jian, although he does nearly everything with a two handed grip.
One of our 9 year olds. This was only his second time at class but he didn't want to be left out, so I gave him a go - carefully, with the light, not very sharp sword. It didn't seem to matter. He managed a cut first time.
The older kids who had done it before got some of the more rigid botttles for a challenge. This 14 year old girl has cut the top off with Liao and is now finishing the job with Pi.
This 15 year old is experimenting with Ci. They were fascinated by how a little bottle could seem to weigh so much if it was left on the end of the blade, and quickly learnt to thrust and withdraw from the leaky bottle.
The next two pictures show a little girl who trained with me for a few months last year, and how I taught her to cut today. When it was her turn she decided to attempt duo. My cutting stand got a few scars today.
And one more. Interestingly, the older ones are more likely to over cut. I suppose that's because the sword is no longer heavy when you're nearly 17. Matt liked to make as many cuts through the same bottle as he could. His record was 5 ribbon slices with hua.
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