April 2019

A question I ask aged care residents when I’m running a Chair Chi workshop is “Who was Johnny Weissmuller?”

TARZAN 1934 Johnny Weissmuller by LALO VAZQUEZ

Usually one or two will know the answer.

Why ask this question? To stimulate residents’ long term memory and also to get a laugh.

This is how I go about it.

I’ll say, “Now it’s time to do the Johnny Weismuller”. I then ask “Do you know who Johnny Weissmuller was?”

Anyway, Johnny Weissmuller was a champion swimmer and a movie actor famous for his portrayal of Tarzan during the 1930s and 1940s. And when he thumped his chest with his hands and yelled, you knew he was nearby in the jungle.

I get the residents to do a milder version of Tarzan by lightly tapping their chests with their hands … but the yell is optional. Occasionally we get one or two residents who do the Tarzan yell as well. 🙂

So far the funniest response to my question was when one resident smiled and replied, “It’s Mrs Weissmuller’s husband!”

Recently I had a very enjoyable time running my Sports Chi presentation for the Waverley Warriors women’s football team.

We covered Tai Chi basics, adapted for football, which included mindfulness, correct body structure, breathing, balance, relaxation, protecting yourself and Chi.

Twenty five women attended plus one eight old boy who did an outstanding job performing the ‘don’t think, sink’ drill. We trained for an hour and it was pleasing that the women came into the session with an open mind and were willing to have go at some drills and concepts that were different to their previous sports experiences.

Sports Chi is a concept I’ve developed that help sports people to improve their skills and performances in games. I’ve had this idea in the back of mind for a long time – to combine two of my passions, Tai Chi and Sports and now it’s time to launch it on a wider scale

We all had a few laughs with the ‘make em laugh’ drill which has a specific purpose in developing a key Tai Chi skill. I’ve used the ‘make em laugh’ drill with primary school students in our Pozitive Kidz are Happy Kidz workshops and with senior managers in business and the result is always the same – a good laugh and the learning of an important skill.

Working with the women brought back memories from the time I used to coach junior girls and women’s basketball teams in the 1970s and early 1980s besides junior boys and men’s teams.

I suppose I have always been coaching over the decades but in different environments; schools, aged care, business, etc.

Now I’ve come back to where it all started – sports.

The Johnny Weissmuller Question

Sports Chi: Waverley Warriors Women’s Football Team

Archives for April 2019