It was during the summer of last year when my husband decided to enroll our second child in a karate class near our place.

It has been a little over than a year since then and I’d say that my second son has benefited a lot from his karate lessons.

When he first joined a karate class, it was just a small group of five kids. He was the youngest in the class. I liked that it was a small class because the teacher can see them well as they try to imitate the actions. The teacher can easily notice if they make mistakes and correct them right away.

He finished their karate summer class and joined the exam for promotion to the next belt color. The practical exam was done in Walter Mart in Sucat with all the other club members. It was my husband who accompanied him to his exam. The teachers/coaches forgot to call him with the other students for his age level. My husband raised this concern and Mateo, my second child, was asked to do his kata on his own or solo while everyone else is watching him.

Thank God that he was able to do his kata right and he passed the exam! He was not self-conscious or nervous.

He was struggling to imitate the actions and drills in their class since the beginning because following instructions is not one of his strengths. My second child is dyslexic. That is one of the challenges of children with dyslexia.

Thus, my husband and I were delighted to see him memorize and do his kata right, which enabled him to pass his practical exam and get promoted to the next belt color.

The following month, my husband enrolled our eldest son as well in the karate class. The brothers became classmates. But after several weeks, their previous classmates did not continue with the class anymore. So, their teacher/coach decided to merge their class to the karate class in Walter Mart in Sucat. This venue was much farther and the class size is much bigger. It’s more challenging for my boys to learn the actions and drills this time because both of them are easily distracted. They are also not very good in imitating actions, especially in big group settings. The only advantage is that they met more friends here in this class venue and the registration fee for their class is cheaper.

They persevered and eventually learned the moves and drills. They joined the practical exam and passed. They both got promoted to the next belt color.

They even joined the club tournament that was held last year and they both won medals. My eldest got 1 medal. My second child got 2 medals.

Our two boys continued their karate classes until last summer. My second child just had a vacation for a month and enrolled again this month.

My eldest, who is now 10 years old, had 2 belt promotions already. He is now an orange-belter in karate. My second child, who is now 7 years old, is now a green-belter in karate. He already had 3 belt promotions! His goal is to have at least one more belt promotion before the year ends.

Mateo, our second child, also joined a national tournament last summer and he won a bronze medal for his age group.

We’re very proud of our boys’ accomplishments!

Let me enumerate some of the benefits or advantages of enrolling kids in karate classes.

BENEFITS OF KARATE CLASSES

1. The kids get to exercise.
2. They get more practice in following instructions and directions.
3. They learn to persevere so they can eventually master a set of actions or movements. If not for their perseverance, they would not be able to memorize and master their kata and drills.
4. They learn to develop better focus. This is important for our kids because as I have mentioned earlier, they easily get distracted. They have heightened senses so they notice more things around them compared to other kids.
5. They learn to be disciplined. Their daily karate practice teaches them discipline. When they do not practice, it shows in their actions. This is most important when they are going to have their practical exams and when they join tournaments.
6. They get to set goals for themselves and achieve the goals they have set. I ask my kids to write their goals daily. Through their karate class, they got to practice setting goals like what belt color they want to achieve by the end of summer or the year.
7. They develop self-control. Karate teaches kids to control their movements. Boys can be so rough and they could move so often. With karate, they learn to develop self-control by controlling their movements.
8. They learn to defend themselves. One of the main reasons my husband and I enrolled our kids in karate classes is because we want them to learn to defend themselves when they face bullies or bad people.
9. They meet new friends.
10. They get to join tournaments or competitions and win in these competitions. Since we were independent homeschoolers, we did not have a lot of opportunities to join contests or competitions that most schools have. Through their karate class and club, they had this opportunity in the past year.

Another thing that I liked in their karate class is that the registration fee or tuition is cheaper than other extra-curricular classes. When the kids were attending classes once a week, we only had to pay P1,000 per child per month. When the kids attended classes twice a week, we only paid P1,500 per child per month. That was the advantage of the big class size in Walter Mart. It was an affordable sport, I would say.

What I liked the most about my boys’ karate experience is that they were able to overcome their innate challenges through the sport. It was a feat for my boys to learn in a big class setting. It was a feat for my second child to master his katas despite him being dyslexic. It was a feat for him to even win in karate competitions, including in a national tournament.

I thank God that we found classes for our kids that are affordable and at the same time provide numerous benefits to them.