How to keep kids going? PLEASE read, Senseis!?

Question

Hi! THANKS for reading this!

Well, I am a brown belt, and am extremely dedicated and loyal to karate. Other than God and family, it is my life. I practice every day two hours not including class. I also assist my dojo in training other students.

So, I love teaching, and my sensei said that I am good at it, mainly with children. I am 16, and I would love to teach karate on my own in my own dojo one day. I want to start out by teaching my siblings..question is, if they become very loyal and devoted, and actually very talented and have great technique (and I know a 7 year old 1st kyu is truly talented and has amazing technique)- should one promoted them to Jr. Black belt? If so/if not so, how are we supposed to keep their interest for 7 years ( min. age for adult bb is 14 in our style). I suppose tournaments, demos, and weapons, sure, but would it be wrong to promote a promising, mature child (in between ages of 7-13)? Thank you very much, Senseis.

Answer 1

I started karate when I was 8 years old and advanced to ikkyu by age 14.  Sensei had a policy of no black belt until 18 years old.  That's just the way it was.

Unfortunately, I had to move at age 16 so I never got mine, but whatever.

I train Aikido now and again, I don't really care about rank.  I know what I know.

For younger kids, I understand that rank can be an effective motivator, but once a kid gets to around 10 or 11, if they are so fixated on rank they quit, the rank they would have gotten wouldn't mean anything.

Its a rank, not a trophy and as far as I'm concerned, I'd like to keep the kids interested, but I don't think rank should be a tool to keep them interested.

If they are actually interested, they won't need rank to keep them so.  If they need rank, they will quit when they reach their goal anyway.

We don't play games when I teach.  Somehow, the kids keep coming back.  For these kids, Aikido itself keeps their interest.  It was the same for my peers and me in Karate when I was younger.

I don't know how many times I've seen people quit after their first lesson... or their first month.... or year... of after their first test.... or worse yet, after their black belt.

Black belt isn't supposed to be a mark of mastery or a goal or a prize.  Really, its indicates the person has reached a level where they know the methods enough that they can truly start to study the art.

Its like k-12 and university.  k-12 is just prep for college just like 10th to 1st kyu is just prep for dan rank study.

Answer 2

Nah, don't do Jr. Black belt, I'm sure he's talented but he's not skilled enough to deal with the intense sparring that comes with being a black belt, let him do a little bit of sparring, maybe make him a Jr. Helper or something like that, it will be very difficult to keep his attention for that long, so, maybe suggest another martial art to take at the same time....

Answer 3

Justin had a some good points in his answer.

I would like to add that you do not need to worry about that unless you are running your own classes with no feedback from your sensei or association.

If so, I can add more. Otherwise, let me say that you can make classes interesting in unlimited ways.

1. There is the art itself.

2. There is the way you present the art and the lessons.

3. There are the ways you help the students learn certain skills. For example, to improve timing or balance, etc can be done in "non-karate" ways that can be beneficial for the students in karate and in real-life. Kids will do more stuff outside of class that doesn't require specific karate skills but general ones like balance cardio, etc. if they see that karate has helped them in these areas too they will see the value of karate in their life.

And there are lots of others things to consider as a teacher (mental, spiritual, emotinal, etc) that can be presented to students to help motivate and interest them.

The more you study your art, the more you will see that you can present stuff forever...

Good luck!