How Martial Arts Can Increase Safety Awareness In Children

This article informs the reader of how martial arts can help increase their child's safety awareness.

Parents enroll their children in martial arts classes for a variety of reasons. Some kids are overweight or otherwise lacking in physical fitness. Martial Arts can help them slim down and become physically active. Others need the discipline and structure inherent to studying martial arts so that they can focus in school and be more helpful around the house. Then there are others who want their kids to learn martial arts so that they are better able to protect themselves.

This is not meant to imply that at Sun Martial Arts we go around turning kids into little Jackie Chan-like fighting machines. However, we do provide them with certain tools and training through martial arts that if the situation demanded, it would allow them to defend themselves against a bully or give them the good sense to extract themselves from a bad situation. The fact is that studying martial arts does help protect children by increasing their overall awareness level and making them more conscious of any potentially dangerous situation, from crossing a street to avoiding a dimly lit alley.

The unfortunate fact is that potential dangers for children can arise just about anywhere these days. Whether you're an adult or a child, learning martial arts demands that you increase your awareness of your surroundings. This awareness allows true martial artists to stave off most conflicts before they even arise. Sometimes, it's by doing something as simple as crossing to the other side of the street where it is better lit and there are a greater number of people around.

Part of the martial arts training we provide in our Dynamite and Youth programs at Sun Martial Arts is to always be aware of their surroundings, especially when they are walking or biking home from school or from a friend's house. Martial arts is about using your eyes and ears both on and off the mat.

At Sun Martial Arts, we have developed unique programs that are specifically designed to teach martial arts to children between the ages of 4-7 and 8-12. These programs are intended to help kids become more conscientious in every aspect of their life, be it at school, at home or in their social interactions with their peers. Along with that conscientiousness, comes a greater sense of being more safety conscious in general. We teach all of our young martial artists to avoid dangerous situations by using their heads.

If you are interested in finding out more about Sun Martial Arts and how our programs may be able to help your child become more safety conscious, give us a call at Sun Martial Arts 704-743-8317 or visit our website: www.SunMartialArts.net

Stay Safe!

Primers

A primer is a book that covers the basic elements of a subject. A reading primer would start with the abc's and present basic short, simple sentences. A math primer would begin with addition and subtraction of small numbers.
I consider kata to be primers. The early kata introduce the most basic techniques in a non-complicated short form. Even the most advanced kata use the same abc's but in a more complicated and dynamic fashion.
The more experienced practitioners will use all the kata as launching pads to further study what I call the art of movement. Ebb and flow, soft and hard, center lines, placement, diversion, impact, mass, speed, body-part dynamics, application, etc.,etc.
So, don't just read the primer and put it down. Explore it. Dissect it. The simple primer can be a master piece.
But please remember, the primers/katas are all-important and shouldn't be altered even if you think you have found a better way to execute a technique, as undoubtedly you will. Those just beginning the martial arts and those learning new kata need to learn them the same way you did, i.e. this move is attached to this move is attached to this move, etc.
I think a good rule of thumb is, when teaching, be dogmatic. The kata is taught as Master Rhee put them down years ago on the videos. However, when demonstrating, bring out the Art of Martial Arts. Read between the lines and demonstrate from between the moves.
SUN!

SUN "Military" Techniques

Martial Arts & the Bullying Epidemic

The bullying epidemic is as large as ever & receiving more attention & awareness than at any other time in our generation. Everyone from Talk show hosts, TV personalities, professionals & news anchors discuss & debate effective ways to combat this terrible & unfortunate reality. While their hearts are certainly in the right place I believe most of their efforts will be ineffective. I believe that the best way to diminish the likely hood of a child becoming the target of a bully (& most will at some point in their childhood) is to teach them self defense. I like to compare one’s ability to physically defend themselves to a home alarm system or car insurance. In either case, you feel a sense of security knowing they are there. You hope you will never have to use it but you are covered should an event arise.Too often I hear people say “Violence is not the answer”. Learning self defense through martial arts training has nothing to do with violence at all. In fact, statistics show that when a person knows how to defend themselves, they usually never have to. The reason is simply this: When you know how to defend yourself by physical means, you walk with confidence. Bullies sense that and look for a different target. Imagine this: You’re a bully who targets a kid on the playground. Right before you walk up to him/her, someone came up to you & said “Just so you know, that kid will fight back fiercely if you get physical with him”, would you go for it anyway? I think not! Bullies look for easy targets. People they “know” won’t stand up for themselves.The old adage says every one should know 5 important life skills: Reading, writing, arithmetic, swimming, & martial arts. Let’s look at the last 2 skills. When you break it down, swimming is self defense against water isn’t it? One day most people find themselves in water & if they can’t swim they can get hurt or worse. Well, martial arts is self defense on dry land & statistics prove that at 1 time or another you will find yourself in a situation where you need to “hold your ground”. That doesn’t mean to fight or be violent but simply have the confidence to look a bully square in the eyes & let them know he’s chosen the wrong target. The only real way to do that is to know you have the physical skills to back it up. You can “bluff” confidence only so far as somewhere in the back of your head lies a fear, big or small that if the bully calls it you may be in trouble! The bottom line is that everyone should know how to defend themselves. You wouldn’t send your child out into the middle of the ocean on a raft if he didn’t know how to swim. So why would you send them out into the world without self defense skills? It’s a jungle out there & predators are lurking!

Controlling Distance

In my last post, I talked about "going the distance". This time I want to discuss the actual distance between you and your training partner, sparring opponant, or attacker.

Most people think Martial Arts are about controlling others and to a certain extent that is true, however, the experienced practitioner will work hard at controlling the space between themselves and others. To accomplish that, we need to be constantly working on perfecting our perception of space and the mechanics of changing the spacial relationship.

Whether you are training with promissed sparring, Hapkido,  self-defense, free sparring, etc; you have to have good perception of the space between you and your partner. You begin to improve your perception of that space by way of observation. In other words, you look at the space with your eyes. It is also important to perceive the length of your partners reach and your own know how to control the space.

Often, students will find that their techniques feel awkward and off balance. 90% of the time it is because of poor positioning.  To move beyond the initial stage of observation, you must learn to "feel" the space between your partner and yourself. Once you are able to feel that space, you will begin to instinctively move into the best positions to execute your techniques. Being sensitized to this can enable a person with less technical skill to overcome those with better skills who do not posssess a great perception of space.

OK, so how are we supposed to perfect our spacial perception? We are in luck here because it is built into Yahk Sohk Deta, Bobo Sool, Son Mok Sool, etc. All the basic daily skills we train with in class with a partner are exercises to hone in our spacial awareness. So the next time you work on stuff like that in class, try to focus more on your distance (beginning) and less on the actual technique (end).

SUN!

Going the Distance

Most of us have seen the classic "Rocky" movie. Before the big fight at the end, Rocky tells his girlfriend that he just wants to "go the distance", in other words...make it to the end of the fight.
Sometimes everyday life can be a fight, and we all need to have the stamina to go the distance effectively.

Everyday stress attempts to beat down all of us. Stress can come from the people around you, your family, your job. Most of the time it seems like stress comes because of events that are out of your control, like disease, death or disasters. Anyone can get knocked down, eventually we all will. Not getting knocked out and getting back up again is the key.

With life we have to learn to take a punch and continue to fight. In other words, we must be determined to go the distance. We must have the attitude that we won't give up on people, our jobs, or our dreams. We won't let the things beyond our control "knock out" our passion for living and to excel.

I believe that if we make the choice to go the distance and stay determined to achieve our goals, anything is possible.

SUN!

Revisiting the Basics

With the recent addition of a number of new White Belts in class, the curriculum of late has been focused on the basics. I was initially concerned that this would lead to boredom for some of our senior students and not provide the challenge new or more complex techniques provide each week. I have been quickly reminded that the basics, such as they are, are the foundation that everything else is built upon. Not exactly an “epiphany moment” but an acknowledgement that revisiting the basics has downstream value. We can continue to build the house bigger, add rooms, additional levels, etc… but if we ignore the foundation eventually it will all collapse. Metaphors aside, if we do not revisit and refine our basics often to strengthen our foundation the rest of our techniques are only as strong as what we’re building upon.

My $.02 – the basics are never mastered and should be revisited often - not just when new White Belts are in attendance.

SUN!