Editorial

Reaching a large age-group

In recent years the availability of exercise and recreational activities for older people has increased enormously. The main reason is undoubtedly that thanks to modern medical care, the number of old people is steadily increasing. Not only is life expectancy constantly increasing, people are healthier in old age.

Thanks to specific encouragement of health consciousness, there are more and more people who are still fit and agile in old age, and who want to continue engaging in commensurate physical activity.

I recognised this development early on, and for many years I have thought about creating a programme for older people along the lines of Kids WingTsun. Accordingly I asked the physiotherapist Sifu Samuel Lutz, who has a great deal of experience with older people in both areas, to develop an appropriate concept. Now that we have meanwhile conducted two pilot teaching sessions for interested school owners with this senior citizen's concept in Switzerland, a number of schools have started to provide special classes for older people and are beginning to achieve success.

Things are still proceeding slowly because this is new ground, or because many have not yet recognised the potential of this age-group. However, I am convinced that this is the right direction and we are on the right course.
 

Our senior citizens concept in the future

As already mentioned, life expectancy is constantly increasing and looks likely to do so in the future. At the same time the increasing influence of technology and digitisation on daily life means that young people are taking less and less exercise. Day-to-day life is increasingly spent sitting down. This not only causes our muscular efficiency to decline, but also our physical awareness and sense of balance. The older we become, the less exercise we take – although it is precisely in old age, when our bone structures have perhaps already lost some of their strength, that an excellent sense of balance is extremely important. Falls are one of the greatest risk factors for sudden and massive health impairments and problems among 70 to 100 year-olds, and their secondary consequences can even lead to the death of those affected.

In my view our WingTsun is second to no other exercise regime in promoting physical awareness, economy of movement, balance, agility and reactive abilities. All these are immensely important preconditions for living safely in one's environment (town, country, wherever) and being able to live an active old age. Our teaching programmes are unique, and if they are adequately adapted to the target group, WingTsun offers almost limitless advantages. Especially the classic programmes (forms, ChiSao partner forms) contain a host of advantages for our movement apparatus, and do good things to the brain as well. I am not referring to compensating the activity of the two brain hemispheres. Instead the requirements in terms of concentration and divided attention – e.g. one hand does something different from the other – activate the brain and encourage the nerve cells to form new links (synapses) all the time. In other words: we are able to offer all the factors that are also used in so-called memory therapy and dementia prevention, but we teach them in a much more interesting and lively atmosphere.
 

The EWTO is ahead of its time with the senior citizens concept

Interestingly enough, I find that a contrary development is taking place amongst children. Motor skills are declining even amongst the children of health-conscious parents who are well aware of the importance of sport and exercise, who practice sports themselves and therefore appear to set the desired example. At any rate, that is the feedback I am receiving from practically all Kids WingTsun instructors. Although most children engage in physical activity at least once per week, a decline in motor skills is taking place. One possible reason might be the digitisation of their remaining free time. Whereas children once used to spend hours each day at play in the forest or in a playground, it is an unfortunate fact that the TV and the games console have now taken over.

I also find that children are increasingly being deprived of opportunities to move at the limits of their motor skills, and therefore to expand these limits.

Here is an example:

In playgrounds we used to see towers and climbing frames several metres in height, with bars and ropes in manner of configuration, on which children could climb around. When I look at modern playgrounds as they are constructed today, I see everything near the ground and reflecting the highest safety standards. The reason is fear of being sued by the parents of a child suffering an accident. Of course it is important to protect the children, but it is equally important to further the motor skills of these children. The movement experience kids gain in their childhood is the rucksack that gives them the range of movements in old age which will protect them from falls and consequential damage.
 

It is never too late …

In other words: if this decline in motor skills continues, we can look forward to a generation of senior citizens who have gained even less movement experience and will therefore be massively at risk of suffering falls. At first this sounds as if the EWTO is developing the senior citizen concept as a therapeutic concept for the senior citizens of the future, but that is neither the idea nor the objective of the whole thing.

With its programmes the EWTO offers people in all age groups the opportunity to improve their self-assurance, self-defence capabilities and also to a large extent their motor skills, perception and health. Teaching all these aspects while making it possible to have fun at the same time is in my view our "mission".

With the senior citizen concept, we are able to reach a further, large social group after a 40-year success story with adults and a 10-year success story with children. On the principle that it is never too late, we are offering people of advanced age in our society to personally experience the advantages of our WingTsun.
 

Best wishes
Your Giuseppe Schembri