HI, I HAVE HAD SOME ONE COME TO MY CLASS WHO HAS A VERY MESSED UP ARM,HE HAS NO REAL LOWER ARM,FROM THE ELBOW DOWN BUT HIS ELBOW IS A LOT BIGGER THEN ON SOME ONE WHO IS NOT DISABLED,WHEN HE SHOWED IT TO ME HE SAID HE HAD BEEN TURNED AWAY FROM ALL THE CLASS`S HE WENT TO,I TOLD HIM THAT IN JKD WE STRIVE FOR ADAPTABILTY AND WE COULD WORK WITH WHAT HE CAN USE ON HIS LEFT ARM,ONCE THE CLASS HAD DONE FOOT-WORK WE MOVED ON TO STRIKEING TOOL`S,KICKING WAS NO PROBLEM THEN WE REACHED HAND`S,I HAD HIM DOING LEAD HAND PUNCH`S FOLLOWED UP WITH ELBOW`S FROM HIS BAD ARM,THEN TRAPPING I HAD HIM DOING LOP SUO WITH HIS LEAD HAND AND AN ELBOW FOLLOW UP.IF ENY ONE HAS ENY IDEAR`S ABOUT HOWTO TRAIN HIM PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS IT TOOK A LOT OF GUT`S TO COME TRAINING FOR HIM THANK`S PAUL

Hello Paul!

That is highly commendable of you for accepting this man as a student and helping him! I would have done the same thing myself! It sounds like you pretty much hit the nail on the head as to what to work with him on. Concentrate on developing and maximizing his use of his lead side weaponry, as well as his footwork and evasive skills. Work with him on angling his body to better enable him to evade shots from an opponent while delivering shots of his own. Also, work with him more than you would another student on developing his rear leg kicking abilities. His rear leg can make up for much of his imbalance with the upper body. Train him to snap back from the waist, allowing a shot to barely miss his face, then snap forward and return fire immediately. Work with him on double jabs, double hooks, jab/hook and combinations involving ping chuie to the lower torso of the opponent. Train him in the use of the drop step with the ping chuie. Also work with him on riposte (attacking right off a defensive movement using the same hand) with his power side, attacking immediately off a defense (no pause or hesitation in the attack is the primary key here). It would also be a good idea for him to almost overwork his lead side defensive tools, concentrating on tan sao, bil sao, jum sao, jom sao, woang pak sao, boang sao, goang sao, ouy ha pak sao and loy ha pak sao, and also use of the elbow for smothering attacks. Train him to use lop sao and then hit with that same hand, pulling the opponent into the hit! If the opponent is in matched leads (right to right or left to left, depending on his power side), teach him to lop their lead hand downward, then release and hit to the face with a palm smash or chung chuie. If the opponent is in the opposite lead, teach him to execute an inner lop sao to their lead arm and then release and hit with a qua chuie to their nose or sat sat to their throat. That will give you some material to work with for quite a while! Good luck, and once again, I am proud of you! Take care and God Bless!

Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
Hardcore Jeet Kune Do
Sifu@HardcoreJKD.com
http://www.HardcoreJKD.com
http://www.RealCombatOnline.com
Phone (205) 956-1901

"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"

i would say to avoid focusing on his genetic mutation as much as possible. i am in a similar situation to the mentioned student, and i have always hated it when people have dwelled on my difference unnecessarily. sometimes one must mention the difference, but not constantly.
despite my difference i have trained myself to the point that i now lead my jkd/mma class whenever the head insructor is unable to attend. i also used to teach tkd, but resigned due to the owner's telling me to lessen the street emphasis and realism in my teaching methods.
i specifically sought jkd as a martial art for the emphasis on the strong lead.
i despise the term disabled because i dont feel that at all, but instead consider myself adapted or just different.
really focus on kicking and footwork to avoid attacks and of course strong side punch combos.