The core values created within your family are amplified at Cascade Village Karate: self-management, assessment & management, responsibility, and character. Confidence comes from having a solid foundation, a core that can serve oneself through life; we help with this during those key formative years.
Self-management: truly in Karate, the individual defines their reward; here effort deployed is effort rewarded. The more the students put this into practice, the greater they serve themselves. This precept will apply in most all endeavors and serve them well throughout life.
Many find this surprising but a strongly taught -and sought- outcome is de-escalation, the avoidance of physical confrontation. This is also accomplished through prepared self-management.
Assessment & Management: we help your child(ren) work with realistic expectations; a seventh grader is not likely to take down a 250-pound man. They will learn body mechanics to both execute the movements but also to minimize injury. We also see life-long benefit: some of the chronic pain folks suffer is caused in part but the accumulation of bad movement over years. Good body mechanics help one to avoid pain in life. To study in traditional Okinawan Karate is to learn good body mechanics.
The discipline of the martial art utilizes these and other techniques:
Balance is to move fluidly with a focused center.
Breath-control helps one accumulate and project power.
Deep breaths at the right times calm and focus the individual – which applies throughout life; like in an exam, an important exam; yes, especially in the case of an important life event, breathing matters, it is a big part of mastery of the situation, any situation, not just in Karate. One must not know this; one must do this.
Responsibility: We think it begins with respect, so respect is the first thing a student learns. We bow when we enter the dojo to show respect to the training space. We bow to the shomen (front of dojo) at the onset of every class to show respect. Respect to those who came before, those we established continued and passed on Matsumra Seito Shorin Ryu. We bow to the Sensei and the lead student says, “Sensei ni” which means respect to the teacher. Responsibility begins with respect.
We expect to see proper respect shown to other students, to the space in which they train, and respect to the instructors. We know that respect looks greatly different in a 9-year old versus a 16-year old; we help you get your child to where they need to be.
Let us agree one outcome of a person who is responsible is that others know they can depend on that individual to do what they said they would do. Simple enough right. My money, and probably yours, in a bet would be for the more responsible person to be more successful – in all areas of life. Your charge as parent – ours too if you will let us – is to help develop responsibility in your child(ren).
Character: an inner certainty in an area of life, infuses other parts of life. To work at mastery in Martial Arts is to develop confidence which helps quell insecurities.
There is a cycle of growth: work, attainment, and a plateauing of “getting there;” then a realization that one is not “there” yet as there are other levels to achieve, seeking in a life-long cycle. One establishes core confidence, in Karate at all levels along the developmental pathway. To set a goal, work towards it and achieve is foundational to establishing success traits in life.
We truly believe there are no failures, just opportunities to learn and to improve. A failure would be to not learn from situations when they present themselves. Your students will learn to receive feedback: we point out and celebrate the good, we work on the bad. Acceptance of feedback is central to our discipline and your student’s growth. False praise serves no one, rank is not just given out; what is worth having must be earned. We will teach your child(ren) to earn what they want.
The true reward in Karate for children is the foundational base it provides. They learn and practice in class and they should also learn and practice at home. Help your student find time and space of a minimum of 30 minutes every day(even the days they have class). Help them create a practice calendar and record their sessions (we will talk more about this).
Confidence: If as parent I could only choose a couple of things to instill in my own children, you would find Confidence in that short list. Practice in Karate breeds success which translates to all areas of life. The learnings here come over time; growth must be earned, there are no shortcuts in Karate; we believe this knowledge/achievement is good for children’s development. And that builds confidence.
Confidence comes from having a solid foundation, a core that can serve oneself through life; we help with this during those key formative years, after all you are not rearing kids, you are rearing adults. Let us help them be the best adults they can be.