Parents who want to inspire children and increase their self-confidence and focus turn to Kids Karate. Professionals highly recommended it for all children. Therefore, if your child would benefit from improved focus and attention span, you need to consider RMA’s Kids Karate.
Rimmington Martial Arts (RMA) has developed a unique training system for Kids Karate. RMA’s award-winning Master Instructors developed the system after decades of experience. In fact, our senior team has more than 115yrs combined experience in Martial Arts. A history of the RMA karate school, or Dojo, details in its own article on this site.
Kids Karate: Far beyond learning to fight
RMA’s Kids Karate goes far beyond learning to punch and kick. In fact, it is much more than most ever imagine it could be. It is complete way of life. Your child will learn valuable lessons empowering them to face school and life in the future with confidence and a positive attitude.
For instance, some of the most important lessons learned include safety, self-confidence, focus and good manners. Children love the exciting lessons especially the fitness activities, fun and martial arts techniques.
Now, we delve further into the RMA Kids Karate Structure. Here, we will take a closer look at the benefits, methods and philosophy of this proven coaching system. We explain why kids are excited for training day. We reveal why parents love it. Then taking a wider view, we will explain how society in general benefits from the lessons learned through Martial Arts. We even look at the pros and cons of parents being present at classes and special presentations.
Why RMA Kids Karate?
All our instructors are passionate about karate. We love to help people regardless of age, ability or experience. We thrive on empowering our students to be the best version of themselves possible. More importantly, we inspire them to want to be the best they can be. This is all achieved through karate.
By adhering to our comprehensive karate curriculum our team consistently reinforces important values taught by parents and schools. Our lessons far surpass just training the body. They develop sound character and virtuous soul from the philosophies taught in karate.
Our Student Creed
A copy of the RMA Student Creed is given to each karate kid at the beginning of their training journey. The creed is a summary of the values we encourage through our coaching and expect from our students. A copy is provided below.
I will:
1. Listen to my parents and teachers.
2. Do my best to do what my parents and teachers ask.
3. Only use my Martial Arts to defend myself and will never use it unless I am in danger.
4. Always try my best at training, at school and at home.
5. Be polite and use good manners.
RMA Student Creed
Passionate Instructors
Our most senior Master Instructors have each been training in the Martial Arts for more than 40 years. In addition, there are many who have 30-35 years of experience. Our instructors hold qualifications (Government Accredited) in multiple fields. These include:
- Martial Arts Instruction
- Personal Training
- Fitness Instruction
- Group Fitness Instruction
- First Aid
- Strength and Conditioning Coaching
- Sports Medicine
- Children’s Safety Blue Card
- COVID Safe Martial Arts Instructor Certificate
- COVID Safe Martial Arts School Certificate
- Inducted into the ISKA Hall of Fame
- Trainers of multiple World Champions, both junior and senior.
Developmentally Appropriate Classes
RMA Kids Karate welcomes children from the age of three years. Three different groups divide the children. For example, Little Dragons classes cater for the youngest students, while Junior Jedi classes cater for more advanced and/or older children. Meanwhile, very advanced students who show exceptional dedication and enthusiasm receive invitations to join the Black Belt Club or SWAT team. S.W.A.T. is short for Special Winning Attitude Team.
RMA Kids Karate acknowledges each child as an individual. Children develop different skills at different ages. As a result they also learn at the speed their own individual ability allows. Therein lies the beauty of Kids Karate. There is no pressure to keep up with anybody else. Each student progresses at their own speed.
Progression in Age Groups
Progression from Little Dragons to Junior Jedi does not depend on the age of the child. When a Little Dragon is ready, both in competence and in confidence, instructors discuss a promotion to Junior Jedi with the parents. If all agree then a trial occurs to see the student is happy and copes in the new class. There is always the option of staying with the Little Dragons if the promotion is not initially an outstanding success. This is very rarely the case.
The same process governs promotion from junior classes to senior classes. Age is not the deciding factor for changing to adult classes. Some students, despite their great technique and ability, prefer to continue to train with the juniors. We treat the student as an individual and consult with them and parents before making any such important decisions.
Progression in RMA Kids Karate ranks
Gradings:
Students grade at their own pace. To clarify, when the student masters all the requirements for a particular rank, the student attends a grading. At this event, an official will ask the students to display all of these techniques. Afterwards, the instructor will then present certificates, result forms and new belts to those attempting new ranks.
To denote the different levels in RMA Kids Karate, students wear different coloured belts. As the student progresses through the ranks, the colour of their belt changes. Naturally, everyone is striving for the coveted Black Belt. Unfortunately though, this can seem a goal achievable only in the very distant future.
Patience is a virtue:
To justify this statement, just think about how slowly time goes for children. For instance, they can usually tell you how many sleeps it is until Christmas or their next holiday. The younger the child, the slower time seems to go by for them. Patience is not a strength for them yet.
Kids karate is great for Motivation and Inspiration
Visual incentives:
To keep students motivated RMA Kids Karate uses multiple positive reinforcements. For instance, each belt level has four increments denoted by coloured stripes on the belt. This is a VISUAL promotion that recipients treasure. This is effective because most children learn well via visual cues, especially bright colours. We teach in ways children like to learn.
The belt system:
Little Dragons wear a different type of belt to Junior Jedi. In turn Junior Jedi wear a different type of belt to senior students. This structure acknowledges that the curriculum for each system is different.
Therefore, the skill set and ability of a green belt for instance would be completely different for a Green Belt Little Dragon than it would be for a Junior Jedi or Senior Green Belt Student.
Other incentive programs:
RMA Kids Karate has lots of other incentives to inspire students to train to their potential. They can earn Merit Badges for mastering different techniques. Instructors award honour bars for excelling at Gradings. Our S.T.A.R. program is a great incentive for Junior Jedi to become involved in.
The S.T.A.R. System:
S.T.A.R. is an acronym for Stop – Think – Act – Review. This a program designed to coach students to be responsible for their own actions. There are exciting challenges for the students to complete each month, culminating with the presentation of awesome badges to wear on their gi (uniform).
The challenges ultimately teach the central values of Martial Arts, such as honesty, respect, humility, tolerance, self-control and self-discipline among others.
Benefits of Karate for Kids
From the very youngest of students, every RMA Kids Karate member is gaining valuable skills preparing them for school and for any challenges life may present in the future. Learning happens in a group environment, promoting communication, tolerance, self-confidence and co-operation.
Goal Setting
By the very nature of the RMA Kids Karate system, kids learn goal setting techniques from their first training session. They are unaware of the concepts they are learning at the time. This happens subconsciously as each student strives to master the next technique or strength milestone listed in their individual training plan.
Consequently, before long the students are setting short-term, medium-term and long-term goals for themselves. They even know what they need to do to achieve these goals and practice to achieve the goals they set for themselves.
Respect
Contrary to what many parents believe, Kids Karate does not encourage children to fight. Neither does it condone bullying. In fact students are taught to respect others, including and especially family members. Coaches emphasize tolerance and patience and lead by example.
Students learn respect for others as well as to respect the property of others. RMA Karate teaches “If it does not belong to you, then do not touch it”.
Resilience and Perseverance
Resilience is another important quality achieved through karate lessons. Martial Arts teaches our children that inner strength is much more important than physical strength.
We teach our students “It matters not how far you fall. It is how high you bounce that counts”. This is similar to the well-know quote “If you fall down seven times, get up eight times”.
Anti-Bullying
Statistics:
Bullying is a serious problem in Australian Schools. The statistics are alarming. Four out of every five students believe bullying is a serious problem. Even worse, three out of every five students have experienced bullying and two in every five experience it on a weekly basis.
Bully Proofing Kids:
RMA Kids Karate acknowledge the enormity of the problem and work with students to Bully-proof them. We achieve this through building self-confidence, learning prevention strategies and learning how to diffuse confrontational situations. Lastly we teach effective self-defence.
Self-defence:
This self-defence needs to be effective for the size and age of child learning the techniques. The techniques need to be functional. There is no point in teaching a technique to a child that will not work for a child of their size, gender or age.
Children’s self-defence is different to adults’ self-defence:
In keeping with this concept, children are anatomically different to adults and need to be trained accordingly. Strength has not fully developed. Likewise coordination may not be have matured sufficiently for some techniques.
To counter these handicaps, we teach techniques that maximize the power of the child while minimizing the strength and power of the attacker. To achieve this, we utilize concepts from Aikido, Jiu Jitsu and plain old anatomy.
Leadership Programs in Kids Karate
Leadership qualities are among the most important attributes students benefit from in learning karate. It is so rewarding to see the shyest of young students grow in self-confidence and become assertive, well-spoken, well-mannered teenagers. Our students often evolve from having poor eye-contact and communications skills to enjoying public speaking. They are not phased by speaking in front of crowds.
Competition
Competitions are available to all students, but are totally optional. However there are many benefits to competing at tournaments. Therefore instructors offer generous support to those who choose to compete.
Some of the benefits of competing include:
Testing your skills:
Karate is one of the only sports where you can choose from a vast number of events. You get choose which events you want to enter. These events range from non-contact to full-contact, to weaponry, sumo, self-defence, ground fighting and kata. You may enter as many or as few events as you like.
Kid karate is great for overcoming your nerves:
Competition is a great way to overcome fears and anxiety. This ability to stay calm and focus is a valuable asset to take into everyday life. For instance, it will become very useful in exams and job interviews in the future.
Stepping Out of your Comfort Zone:
Performing in a different environment, in front of different people and perhaps in front of judges and referees you do not know can be daunting. Overcoming this fear will assist you to better deal with new situations you may encounter in the future.
Putting your Skills to the Test:
You may have become complacent competing against or training beside your club mates and peers. Tournaments give you the opportunity to test your skills against a whole new group of Martial Artists. Some may study completely different styles of Karate to the one you learn. It is always interesting to see how you perform against different styles of competitors.
Build Team Spirit:
Although there are a few team events at tournaments, most of the events are individual events. There will still be a team of competitors from your club attending the event. Your team will your cheer squad and your instructors will be there to encourage and give advice. Tournaments build a tight bond between team members.
Having Fun:
The main goal of attending any event is to HAVE FUN! You may even be lucky enough to come with a trophy or a medal. Prizes are awarded to First, Second and Third place.
Careers
The RMA Leadership Program has proven to help many of our students decide on the career they would like to pursue. For instance, some students enjoyed teaching younger students so much that they chose a career in teaching. Many are still teaching in schools today, some decades later.
Other students enjoyed the physical side of training so much they decided to study more in the anatomical and fitness areas. Some have become personal trainers, while others have successful careers in physiotherapy and Exercise Science.
RMA has been extremely blessed to receive awards from the Dept of Education of Training Qld for “Trainers of the Year”. We are also very proud of our school-based trainees who have won awards for Qld School-based Trainee of the Year.
Safety
Our coaches are blue card certified for safety when working with children for more info see https://www.qld.gov.au/