Children can gain unique value from learning the martial arts.
Parents often enroll their kids into classes in order to teach them how to defend themselves. While self-defense is certainly one advantage to pursuing any given fighting style, it is the least among several benefits. Kids are at a stage in which they absorb everything around them. They’re deeply impressionable. They adopt others’ influences into their own perspective of the world and those with whom they interact. Kids martial arts classes play an important role in that development.
In this article, we’ll describe the powerful lessons that young people learn as they pursue the martial arts. If you’re a parent and are considering enrolling your son or daughter, you may be surprised by the valuable lifelong lessons to which you’re giving them access.
Discipline And Focus
Teachers across the country complain that the attention spans of their students have plummeted over the last several years. Whether this is due to the fast-paced environment in which these kids live or other reasons, they lack the focus of the previous generation. Instruction in karate, judo, aikido, and similar systems can help young people regain the discipline they need. The repetition of moves encourages a deep focus as children struggle to master those moves with precision.
The discipline and focus they gain from the instruction has value far beyond the classroom. Eventually, they’ll use these traits when performing their jobs and interacting with their families.
Physical Fitness And Coordination
Obesity continues to spread and people are living more sedentary lives than ever. Making matters worse, many public and private schools have eliminated physical education due to budget cuts. Parents are observing their children, dismayed that they would prefer to sit inside and watch television rather than go outside. This trend has led to a weight problem among young people. The lack of exercise has taken a toll on their physical fitness.
When parents enroll a child into martial arts classes, that child is able to take advantage of a rich source of physical activity. It improves their cardiovascular health as well as their coordination. What’s more, dojos offer year-round instruction. While Little League and other team sports are seasonal, martial arts classes provide a source of physical fitness throughout the entire year.
If you would like your child to train at a safe and exciting martial arts school that is family oriented, than contact The Dojo of Karate & Fitness at 303.920.4500 or email at [email protected]
They are located in the Safeway Shopping Center on 128th Ave and Zuni St. in Westminster / Broomfield.
This is the 2003 5,280 Challenge Karate Championship hosted in Denver, Colorado.
I believe this is my 2nd fight for the 18-34 year old Black Belt Men Heavy Weights. I don’t know who I was fighting, but I am the white fighter closest to the camera.
This fighting style you see from 2003 probably resembles my current style right now. And probably my most effective to be quite honest. I don’t do a whole lot of hand moving, rather pick my points by moving the body, and beating my opponents with speed.
This is the 5,280 Challenge Karate Championship, but in August 2003. I had been out of national tournament competition for a couple of years because college took a priority. I still competed randomly in local tournaments, and would train at Denver Karate Academy during my free time, but I didn’t have time to do serious training like before… which sucked…
Anyways, this fight is part of our Team Fights. A few days before, we just had a seminar with a friend of ours, World Champion Jadi Tention – one of the nations best fighters from NYC. We put together a team which he anchored as the last fighter, and I was the 2nd fighter. Our 1st fighter was a student named Dan who didn’t have much tournament competition experience, so we needed to make up points during the fight.
In this fight, I’m the white fighter, furthest from the camera. I started pretty strong, but ended up getting kinda tired due to my previous fights during the day. Overall, though, it was a good fight.
And, if you were wondering, we lost the fight. Don’t know how, but we believe it was local politics…
So, recently I had a students’ dad convert most of my fighting videos from back in the day into QuickTimes. I guess they were looking for videos of me fighting all over the net and couldn’t find anything. So, he approached me and asked if I had some. Obviously I do, but I they were sitting in a box, untouched. I haven’t seen some of those videos for about 5 years…
He offered to help compress them, and eventually make a movie real — which would be AWESOME!!!
Anyways, I have a bunch of fights from tournaments in Colorado and around the U.S. Some of the matches I would win, while others I lost. But that’s sports, right? Look at the Yankees…
With that said, I plan on having a Karate Fight of The Week, where my readers will be able to see various matches from my competing days. They are short, but kinda fun to watch.
Let me warn you guys though… This is Sport Karate, so all we are trying to do is to score a point at legal targets. Legal targets is the entire head, face, chest, ribs, kidneys, and in some tournaments, the groin. But don’t think we don’t hit hard. Some techniques hurt like hell. It’s the stronger person that doesn’t show it.
Enjoy!
Click Here to see the 1st Karate Fight of The Week.
What does sportsmanship mean to you? Displaying a great attitude to the sport you compete in, whether you win or lose? TheFreeDictionary.com defines sportsmanship as: conduct and attitude considered as befitting participants in sports, especially fair play, courtesy, striving spirit, and grace in losing. It looks like we both have similar definitions about Sportsmanship.
The reason why I am brining this up is because of what took place in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing during the Tae Kwon Do Bronze medal match. Angel Matos, one of Cuba’s athletes displayed an act that is quite disappointing to the spirit of martial arts, but more importantly – the spirit of the Olympics. Read the rest of this entry »