Character Development Martial Arts Programme

2008-12-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Parents

do you want your child to develop more of the following: respect, manners, self discipline and self achievement? if so then our character development martial arts programme (CDMAP) is perfect for your child .

'CDMAP' has been developed from experience gained over many years of teaching and studying how children learn and how we can bring out the character traits every parent wants for their child.

Character Development Programme was founded by Mr Darren Hunter using his insights to help children excel in learning. Mr Hunter is the founder of Solo Martial Arts and is an active professional martial arts teacher. He teaches children from as young as 3 1/2 yrs old and includes special programmes for the mentally handicapped so that they too can experience what martial arts training has to offer.

'CDMAP' programme is specially designed for young children aged between 6 -11 yrs old. It's an exciting blend of martial arts training and evidence based learning.

Character development programme is NOT just another after school activity. Football, dance swimming etc are all great activities for children but they can't come close to the development of character and leadership that our martial art activity can.

You may be thinking all karate schools are the same, it that true? any good Teacher can train your child to kick and punch -but is this what you really want?

The Character Development Programme trains your child to take their martial arts skills Out of the Academy and into the World!

Mr Hunter has developed a programme that makes your child become the ACTION hero of their own journey to take real action towards their goals and achievements. Your child will be building confidence and ;leadership skills while creating their own success stories.

Most martial arts classes require your child to learn a set number of movements for their test/advancement. Then come test day, the teacher asks for a set routine and a number of exercises.

'CDMP' way is to test them every day from the moment your child enrols on the programme by recording their efforts towards testing in the form of logging daily exercises completed i.e sit up's, press up's, swimming, bike riding & more. Every parent wants their child to be healthy and exercise; we encourage exercise of all different kinds to go towards their achievements. what sounds better? 1- 10 press up's on the test day? or 10 walks along the beach, 10 minutes home practise, 2 miles of bike riding? who has earned and truly taking the best test?

Character Development does not give out rank to students who can perform a perfect martial art form. your child must complete tasks to show true character. Your child will learn to do small chores around the home to learn the values of what you the parent are doing for them. you may already be taking them to football practice but does your child really show thanks for your efforts? We teach your child that even at a young age, things are not given but earned . The programme call for responsibility, for keeping a good school report and learning the values of respect and manners.

Character Development Programme will set the wheels in motion for your child to start and be responsible for achieving more in life, the programme is designed to encourage children to use their brains as well as making physical demands. Our programme helps reinforce the key stages of learning in school by aksing students to log all reading material to count towards their achievements. Many activities concentrate on learning the skills at hand. We ask your child to develop the whole including their martial art skills so that they Will not only develop their reading, writing and learning skills but also have a good commonsense defence skills to give them confidence to dead almost any situation.

So if you want them to be part of a activity that will assist their school work, give them a good level of fitness, learn to be confident and stand up for themselves then Character Development Martial Arts is for YOU.

for more information on 'CDMAP' and how to get involved visit www.solomartialarts.com

Womens Self Defence Free Safety Tips

2008-07-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Within the UK we have a huge variety of martial art styles to choose from: taekwondo, karate, kung-fu, ju-jitsu, aikido, kickboxing and many more freestyle and hybrid styles. All of these styles claim to have the answer to self defence.
When all is said and done it is not the style but what the individual does with the knowledge they have learned. I myself have studied various martial arts for many years and still enjoy learning the arts today. What you have to realize is that there’s a big difference between learning an art and learning self protection. An art form takes many years of practice to master and earn the coveted black belt but self defence is different. In today’s society we need that skill quickly, not years in the future as an attack could come tonight on the way home.
Within a self defence situation you only have a few seconds to register the attack and remove yourself form harm, your technique must be instinctive and need no thought (which block do I use?). With all this said the best defence techniques to learn first are those that come naturally.
At the Solo Martial Arts Academies we have learned what the most common attacks are from basic grabs to ambush assaults. We teach firstly the techniques that use natural body movement to create power and repeat them on a regular basis, developing more power and speed.
Some techniques used are slap, face palm, thrusting knee, elbow, foot stomps and more. We teach women the vital areas of pain on an assailant and then teach them to hit the area and remove themselves from harm as fast as possible.What this method does is give you instant techniques that can be applied with out years of training. Do not get me wrong, regular martial arts training will increase your fitness for the best defence there is: “run away” and also provide you with so many more tools for your arsenal. But learning a basic martial art ‘form’ for 3- 6 month will mean you’ll take awhile before you will be able to remove yourself from harm.
There is one other vital area of self protection: awareness. I’m not talking ninja skills but using commonsense.
· Why would you walk down an alley that is dark?
· Is it worth the extra 10 -20 mins of your arrival time to take a short cut home?
· Why park your car in the furthest part of the car park?
· Why blindly turn a corner talking on your phone when you do not know who’s lurking around it?
All it takes is a bit of commonsense and thought about your personal protection to keep yourself out of danger. Try your best not to put yourself in dangerous situations.

Here are some free tips for staying safe out side;
· Always take corners wide when walking to give you a chance to see if anyone is lurking there. This stops people being able to grab you.
· Look for shadow, when walking at night down a lit pathway a shadow may be peeking out, this lets you know someone is there.
· In the winter months try and walk with a friend or in groups.
· Don’t walk and talk on your mobile phone, your attention is not on who’s around you.
· Never walk past people with your hands in your pocket. It stops you from being able to defend yourself quickly.
· Cross over the road and walk down opposite side if you don’t like the looks of the person coming towards you.

There are many more simple things you could do to keep yourself safe. I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and it has given you food for thought, I wish every reader the best and please do think about martial arts training. It is a life long journey that will give you so much more in return including:
· A enjoyable workout
· Protection skills
· Greater confidence
· Social environment
· Meeting new and interesting friends
· A great stress reliever

For more information about our short courses, seminars and workshops please go to:
www.solomartialarts.com

This article was written by Mr Darren Hunter founder of the Solo Martial Arts Academies. If you would like to know more about our organisation please feel free to visit www.solomartialarts.com