SloMo

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. More and more children are starting martial arts. This is great in promoting the art and parents like the discipline and respect that their children learn. However, teaching martial arts to children is not like teaching adults, as any instructor who has done both will tell you! You are not teaching tiny adults!!! I cannot stress this one enough. Repeat it to yourself whenever you get frustrated. You are teaching kids. Their motivations for coming to class are not the same as an adult. I have broken down the reasons into three categories. I know that there are other reasons but these seem to be the major one's that I see most often. The "How Hard Can it be?" Group: I saw a Jackie Chan (or Jet Li) movie and I want to learn to do that! Okay, these kids quickly learn that it's going to take hard work and years to learn. The trick with them is to show them what they will attain. Have some of your advanced students show off a little to them. Let them see what they will really learn. Either you will hook them right off or they will decide that it isn't what they want. The sooner you do it the better! The "My Parents Are Making Me do This" Group: My child is hyper, inattentive, disrespectful, doing bad in school, etc... fix them! Here you have a double problem, an unmotivated student and parents who expect miracles. First, get the student hooked. Don't talk or focus on the problems the kid may be having. Instead, talk to them like their parents are not even there. Ask them what they might want to get out of coming to class. Show them how much you love the art and they will start to think that this could be a good thing. Show them what they will learn and make sure that they leave that first class having learned something. Teach them a kick, a block, a stance, something that will allow them to feel like they accomplished something. Now you need to manage the parent's expectations. If you have any good parents (they are worth their weight in gold) have them talk to the prospective student's parents. They will regale them with talks about how great their kid is doing and how much they love it, etc. You also need to spend some time with the parents yourself. Find out what they expect and help them understand that it's not a quick fix. Talk to them about some of your other students and the ways they have improved. You might turn them into another one of your great parents! The "My Best Friend is Doing it and I Want to Try it" Group: Joe/Jane talks about this place all the time. I want to see what's up! You almost feel you can't lose with a new student like this. They have a general idea of what goes on. They have a friend already in class. What could go wrong? Lots! Competition between friends – sometimes the new student will compare themselves with their friend. This can lead to the person getting discouraged. You need to teach that student that they have an identity in the class other than "friend of Joe". You'll know that you succeeded in this when they show up for class even when the friend that got them into class doesn't. I try to have them do the warm ups next to their friend to help them get over that initial nervousness but then I separate them for the rest of class. That way, they each leave that first class with a different experience that they can share with each other. Friend does better than the student that brought him to class – this happens more often than I thought it would. Here you need to focus on your original student. We all have to deal with students getting passed by other students but it is different when it's a friend that you brought to class that is doing it! It's not an easy one to handle but you need to boost the original student's morale more often so they don't feel like they are a loser. I know that I'm just touching on some much larger issues, but hopefully this helps some of you.

Here's something that happened in one of our kid's sparring classes. We had two kids ( around 10 years old or so ) sparring. They were doing fine with some of the advanced students and instructors shouting encouragement, hints, etc. When all of a sudden, from the back of the class we hear someone yell "Kick his *butt*!". ( OK, that wasn't the word that was used, the word that was used was part of the problem ) The room went quiet and I was reffing the kids so I couldn't take my attention away for too long but I did turn to see who said it. It was the mom of one of the kids who was sparring. So, how would you handle something like that? I should mention that the grandmother of the other kid who was sparring was sitting right next to her and didn't look happy.

I feel for you, it happens a lot but I've been lucky in that we have some great parents that really help with their kids learning. It's really rough when you have siblings progressing at different rates. But, we need to keep our integrity so I find, like most everyone here, that communication is the best thing to keep it from being a problem. We try to let the kids know well in advance when tests are coming and if someone is or isn't ready to test.

Like I tell all the new students, everyone feels goofy for the first few classes, EVERYONE! So, besides the good advice already given, go with the flow. Good Luck!

I'm 38 myself ( wow that seems old when you type it! ) and I'm not as fast or flexible as I was when I was 18 either... but who is? My change didn't come from age so much as getting into a career and having a family. They take up a huge part of my life that I used to spend on things like bike riding, playing football, martial arts, etc. I still do those things but not nearly as much as I used to. My dad's favorite saying, which I agree with more and more as time goes on, "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill!"

Thanks! It looks like a great article.

My son ( who is in elementary school ) is doing a science project for school entitled "Why Do Martial Artists Yell?". He is trying to find some references ( other than me ) that he can use. Does anybody know of any good articles or discussions about this? I know the answer ( at least, what I tell my students ) but he is looking for some other points of view.

Well, I'm going to find something good in the show ( I did spend two hours of my life on it! ) and here it is. I wish the entire show was just showing the people who were demonstrating the weapons. I've seen a couple of them at the US Open tournaments and Ming ( The woman doing the fans and wu shu sword ) is extremely talented. But I wouldn't call what she does "Xtreme". She doesn't flip or do twisty things in the air. Matt ( is that they guy they were following? ) was pretty weak in the weapons form because ( IMHO ) he showed no proficiency with the weapon at all. He could have been holding two hot dogs in his hands for all the actual weapons moves that he did. I think XMA has it's place and it doesn't try to pretend it's anything more than what it is. I think PEOPLE try to make it more than what it is. I hope nobody gets too insulted with this comparison but it reminds me of pro wrestling. It's fun to watch, you appreciate the skill, and you can see the training it took. It's entertainment.

Couldn't have said it better myself! Don't worry about what is a good fit for your body, find something that you enjoy. Try out a few classes. If it doesn't feel right then it probably isn't right for you.

Hey TKDMom, Don't try to meet force with force. I have a student in my kids class who is small for his age. He's very accomplished but his sparring is very weak. He makes the mistake of trying to spar like he sees the older ( and taller ) students do. Because of his size he doesn't have the physical mass to be able to counter the way some of the other people do. I'm teaching him how to evade, and use the other persons force against them. If someone throws a round kick he steps back out of the way and uses his hand to push the kick past him. It usually will throw the other person off balance and give him an opportunity to get in, which is the proble he's having. He also moves a lot which tires out most people he spars before he gets tired. If you are enjoying TKD, then stick with it. You will get better at everything over time. The important thing is that you have fun.

I just watched the Discover Channel show on XMA. I'm beginning to think that the Discovery Channel is forgetting that it's supposed to educate and entertain. I was hoping to see more "science" of what the people were doing and why but..... oh well. OK, now my question. Do you think the back flips, tumbling and 540 kicks are here to stay or are we trending back toword the traditional stuff. The reason I ask is that I saw a video for last years US Open and while some of the top winners were the extreme gymnastics, one of the top people was a traditional form ( I wish my forms looked that good! ) Do you think judges are looking less at the jumping around now or are they going the other way and looking for more flash and less substance. I apologize now to anyone I offend with comments like "flash vs substance" but the most gymnastic thing I've seen any style teach is a dive roll.

Beaches Martial Arts out at Jax Beach. We mostly work out of St Paul's gym.

For the good schools it is. My personal opinion is that not every martial art is suited for every person. So giving a few free lessons helps everybody in the long run.

There is nothing wrong with asking for clarification. Although it is the responsibilty of the head instructor to make sure everyone is teaching things consistantly. In our school we run into things that someone learned a little differently. We have regular meetings where we bring these up and come to a consenses as to the way we are going to teach. But I would as for clarification from the assistant first. Odds are it's a simple misunderstanding or just a slight difference in emphasis. I'm sure the assistants do not want to have you do something wrong in front of the head instructor and then be told that you were taught that way by one of the assistants.

7 - 14 is a pretty big range. I find that you can keep a 7-8 year old's attention for no more than 1/2 hour. If possible you might want to break up the class into smaller groups based on age. Sometimes the younger kids and cause the older kids to feel left out because of all the extra attention they require.