Welcome to our great martial arts school! You have taken the first step to providing your child with a powerful array of tools that will empower them for the rest of their lives. Here at Karate America we are dedicated to three core values:
Believe: Your child will learn that the first step to any success is belief in themselves. Belief turns into goals, achieving goals builds confidence, and soon you have an unstoppable child!
Work Hard: We believe in hard work at school, at home, and in life. We know that short cuts don’t work. Hard work builds discipline, character, and strength. Watch as your child grows physically fit, mentally strong and socially prepared.
Be Nice: The foundation of our program is built on courtesy, respect, and honor. Rather at home or in school, students carry their responsibilities with them at all times. At Karate America we still say yes sir and yes ma’am. Our environment fosters an attitude that will supercharge your child and propel them to reaching their full potential.
Four to five year olds love physical activity and anything involving play. They have a rich imagination and strong desire to be less dependent on their usual caregivers. The problem we discovered is that many children this age have a hard time with structure in a group environment like what is commonly found in most Martial Arts schools. The solution we found is to provide them with their own program that targets their stage of development in a manner that keeps them entertained while at the same time building skills that set them up for success. With that said a structured program introducing early skill-based training in Martial Arts has proven to be very successful.
Here's an overview for the stages of development of children in our early skills Kinder Kicker program:
Physically - they typically have low tone and poor hand-eye-coordination.
Intellectually - they typically have a limited vocabulary therefore learning is normally limited to visual and kinesthetic activities.
Emotionally - they typically have strong preferences and fears therefore they will normally act out of bounds when their emotions get out of control.
Socially - they are typically very self-centered. Also, due to their limited vocabulary their common form of communication is mainly physical.
By understanding the stages of development, we were able to select 8 age-appropriate skills that make up the Kinder Kicker Program:
We cover one of the above skills per class (in order.) During each class we run a warm-up; deliver a mat chat about the skill; run two or three skill-building drills; and then we have them demonstrate the skill to prepare for or earn their skill-stripe. Once a student earns all their skill stripes they are ready to graduate to their next belt.
Here is an example of what a student must demonstrate for each of the 8 skills above in order to earn their next belt:
As you can see we take Martial Arts training to a whole new level! We use early elements of traditional Martial Arts curriculums to build skills that are appropriate for 4 and 5-year olds. This means that your child will learn and grow at a pace that is not too easy, nor too challenging. The best part is the Kinder Kicker program will equip your child with skills that they will utilize in every area of their life!