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About student levels and progress

The different levels in SMA KARATE. As part of our overall approach to age and skill appropriate learning we have broken up our curriculum into various levels. Every level is a step progress in complexity and effort required.

Level 0 & Level 1 are aimed at instilling the confidence in the student that they can work hard and achieve their goals. Mistakes and lower effort are tolerated as students become aware of themselves and expectations. As their skills and fitness develop so does the requirements for them to increase intensity in grading and display better technique.

Level 2 introduces more complex concepts and a greater expectation to aim higher and work harder. Some mistakes are tolerated but a greater display of technique recall and skill ability is required. For younger students (9-12yrs) this level is a where they typically decide stuff is too hard. Their doubts and confidence in their own abilities due mainly to age development kick in. It is important we build them up to maintain their self esteem and confidence.

As students progress into Level 3 & 4 long pattern sets are introduced, more complex movement and concepts around body control also become more prevalent. Weapons work is fully introduced. At this level the expectation on student intensity and skill level during grading assessment is higher than before. The recall capability and requirement to focus and practice is clear to all students. Without it, progression is simply not possible.

Level 5 students now are expected to be demonstrating maximum effort as well as skill. Execution of technique should start to become second nature with movement and techniques starting to blend in ways that suit the individual student. At gradings little leeway, if any, is now given for incorrect or forgotten technique. Overall a Level 5 student should display the best qualities of a students training.

The levels enable students of various learning and physical abilities to progress and achieve their goals. As students get higher in rank and level the expectation of their intensity, recall and execution of technique increases exponentially. This way we enable students to learn and develop themselves and catch them as they progress into higher levels without crushing their belief and confidence in themselves.

It is important to remember never to judge one students development against another without fully understanding their own personal learning, physical and personal circumstances which all have an impact in a students ability to perform under pressure. This does not mean a free ride is given but that students are evaluated below level 4 & 5, not just at grading day, but throughout classes.

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Little Dragons gradings

Grading is coming up and it can be a nervous time for students and parents. What is going to happen? How will my child do? Will I pass? I am not good enough? ahhh I made a mistake!! I can’t do it!!!

For our younger students who are part of the Little Dragons programme, it is important to understand that grading and receiving their belt is more about recognition of the effort and confidence to get up in front of instructors and everyone else and perform to the best of their ability. It is about saying all that hard work they put in class during the cycle has paid off rather than getting exact technique on the day.

Yes we want them to perform the curriculum requirements on the day but due to the varying development stages of children from 5 – 7 yrs it is natural some students will simply perform better than others. This is ok. Remember it is not about exact performance. It is about them trying and giving their best effort on the day, they need to step up and perform on the day to pass.

Reinforce to your child in the lead up and simply encourage them to perform to the best of their ability without comparing themselves to others. This will enable them to feel competent without feeling out of their depth.

Grading is all about showing real praise to the efforts the child makes and the process they follow that leads to the result. Praise the hard work a child did in preparing for the grading and how they diligently worked on areas that they knew were difficult for them.

Should they practice? Yes.
Should they have their stripes showing they could do the technique? Absolutely.
Should they be expected to try really hard and participate? Totally.
Do we expect them to have exact technique and perfection? Nope.
Do we want to see them TRY? 100% Yes.

I hope this helps pre-frame how we view our Little Dragon gradings and how you can help your child prepare for the big day. Any questions just ask.

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Foot positions for the perfect stance

An important part of your training is to stand correctly. With the correct foot positions, your body will be balanced and be able to move quickly. Bonus point for a good stance is the ability to generate power easily as well.

With this in mind, let’s look at the common foot positions and what is wrong with them. You can then look at your stance and adjust it to maximise your movement and power.

Too Wide

With this foot position, you will lose a lot of your reach potential as you lose your height. You will find the right-hand cross hard to use and generate minimal ower as you will have less rotation opportunity in your hips.

Too Narrow

This position will cause you to over-commit due to lowered hip rotation opportunities. You will find moving quickly difficult and you will be vulnerable to left and right hooks. Left hooks are the second most punch used so being susceptible to them is not good.

Too Square

You are opening your body up as one big open target. You risk being easily pushed backwards or tripping over your feet as you retreat. Your reach for your jab will be greatly diminished and you are open for shots to the body.

Too Narrow

The body can be an open target and you might find yourself easily falling backwards. You will find your reach is less with the jab and you are open to body shots.

Perfect

Strong, heels slightly raised.
Feet on the angle of 40-45 degrees.
This stance will generate a lot of power in your techniques. You will find your stability is strong as your weight should be evenly distributed across your legs.

So grab some electrical tap and mark a straight line on the floor. Assume your fighting stance and see where your feet are positioned. Adjust as you need to get the perfect stance.

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Punishment vs Discipline – Which is best to develop good behaviour?

Like everybody our youth have their own emotions and impulses. As adults, we sometimes forget they are building their own roadmap. Good behaviour is a learning process. Helping our youth know they are not on their own in building their future and we are there for them is important.

The funny thing we forget is that being a parent is a learning process too. Sometimes we rely too heavily on our own emotions and impulses which means that when a child misbehaves and we jump straight to punishment we are missing a valuable opportunity to teach them.

Discipline vs punishment is a fine line that if you can learn how to walk the tight rope (and it is hard) you will see amazing benefits.

Let’s compare the two words and what they actually mean:

  • Punishment – means to inflict pain or suffering as a penalty. 
  • Discipline – means to teach. 

When your child makes the same poor behaviour choices again and again it can be very frustrating for you as a parent. However, the better we respond the better the results we can expect. The better we respond and reinforce good behaviour skills, the better the results we will see in our youth’s decision. 

  • The first thing to do is to decide what you actually want to achieve. What are your goals for your child when they misbehave?
  • The primary short term goal is to get them to co-operate
  • Your second longer-term goal that is usually forgotten is that it is to teach them to make better choices without the threat of punishment or consequences.
  • Think PPI. Patient, Present, and Intentional when interacting with your child.

So when developing good behaviour skills how do punishment and discipline compare?

Punishment vs. Discipline:

  • Teach your child and they will develop self-discipline skills to manage their emotions and impulses. Punishment is behaviour shut down action.
  • Discipline will develop a higher level of trust and self-confidence.
  • When you punish you will build a proverbial wall and decrease trust and self-confidence.

It is important to develop a strategy and have it in place when you are faced with disciplining your child when they misbehave.

There are 3 key steps of discipline:

  1. CONNECT – this doesn’t mean to be permissible or passive, but to set clear expectations. When your child is upset they are less likely to hear what you have to say. As your child calms down emotionally and feels your caring approach you must be patient. You must try to remain as calm as possible which is the hardest but most stress-free way to discipline. 
  2. RE-DIRECT – spell out what the poor behaviour choice was. Follow that with what the better choice may have been. Engage and be fully present in this step as it is crucial to ensure they hear you and see you are there for them. 
  3. REPAIR – Once calm has been in place and the behaviour has been discussed then discuss necessary steps on how to solve the current behaviour problem, review better choices, and set ground rules should the poor behaviour choices continue. Show them you are there for them and in this together with them. 

A good tip is that it is better to say ‘consequences’ instead of ‘punishments’ so that you are setting your intentions as goal orientated and not pain orientated. One key thing to remember is that this strategy won’t work all the time, you need to have back up plans as well.

Once you have clearly outlined the ground rules consequences are ok if you have worked through the above 3 steps and your child still disobeys the ground rules.

The key though is to match the consequence to the behaviour and make sure it is considered a reasonable consequence. For example, if they lose their temper when using a device, take that device away for 24 hours. 

One thing to remember is that children do not sense time as adults do. A week is a long period of time and will probably trigger additional anger and rage. Smaller timeframes allow them time to remember and self-correct their behaviour. It also allows you opportunities to acknowledge the behaviour change back to the incident while it is freshly in mind for both of you reinforcing the good choices.

What consequences are not ok and will do more damage than good?

  • Retroactive ones. While taking away good things such as karate lessons may seem to be a good move because it’s an activity they like a lot and the pain of losing karate will teach them a valuable lesson, it’s actually doing the opposite. Taking things they like away may cause more bad behaviour and instilling long-term distrust for you. Also consider the fact that they lose all the positive benefits their karate class teaches them such as discipline, confidence, fitness, positive social interaction, and more. 
  • Decreasing their morale. As a child’s self-esteem and morale decrease the less chance you have of them believing and making proper choices. They lose trust in themselves and begin to believe they are simply incapable of making the right choice.

So, what do you do if you have a child that is misbehaving all the time with bits of rage, back-talking, and defying the rules? 

Map out with your child good behaviour strategies:

  • If they hit someone then they must write a letter apologising or meet face to face with a pre-framed apology.
  • If you throw something then you lose a personal item for 24 hours
  • If you use poor manners you write a letter apologising and explain the proper manners you should have used
  • If you cause drama at bedtime then you must go to bed earlier the next night.

You need to ensure that for your consequences to work that you also provide rewards. Reward them if they go a week without misbehaving. But remember the reward should not always be material things. Use more relationship building rewards more often. They can pick the family movie or place for family dinner.

I would suggest you sit down and make a list of rewards and consequences you can refer back to so that you are prepared.

Like any change in approach be prepared to give the new strategies time. You need to be reasonable in your expectation of how long it will take to consistently make better choices. There will be ups and downs but stick to the plan and the ups should quickly outweigh the downs.

I hope this article and these strategies help you and your child make better choices.

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How to create your own Vision Board
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How to create your vision board – What do you want?

As we continue our discussion from classes on goal setting we move into the realm of vision boards. A vision board is one of the most powerful weapons in your arsenal of life. Understanding what you want to achieve and have happen, and being able to visualise it is extremely powerful. Without a target to aim for you simply drift through life. Achieving this, not doing that, but not focusing on what you really want to have happen.

A vision board is a great tool and one supported by just about every successful person on the planet. But how do you create one?

Luckily I have some insights for you. There are many ways and types of vision boards and they can be laid out any way that suits you and with any number of items. Let’s make a simple 9 quadrant one.

1. Grab an A4 sheet of paper.

2. Fold it into thirds then fold it in half. You should now have 6 quadrants when you unfold it.

3. Starting top left to right and working our way down number them 1 – 9

4. In each quadrant write the following words – 1. REWARD, 2. DESIRE, 3. MENTAL, 4. RELATIONSHIPS, 5. PERSONAL, 6. FAMILY, 7. WORK, 8. MATERIAL, 9. TRAVEL

5. Now grab another sheet and write 5-6 things for each heading. Take the first thing that comes to mind when you read the words written down. It can be anything. Now write short(6 months or less) or long term(more than 6 months) next to each one.

6. We are going to create a 6-month board. Of your 6 items pick the top 3 you would like to achieve in the next 6 months.

7. Go to the internet and search in Google for the 3 items you have written down. Grab any pictures or words that you find that envisions the item you have written down.

8. Here is the tricky part. You can either print out the pictures and cut them to shape or if you have access to a graphic software package like photoshop you can use this. Arrange the words & images you selected in each corresponding quadrant. Don’t worry about neatness but focus on your internal expression.

Hey, presto. You now have a Vision Board of your own. Place it up somewhere you can see it every day. I have mine on my wall in the shower and as a background of my computer screen.

Take the time every day to look at your board. Perhaps focus on one area. Dream of your goal. Picture yourself achieving that goal. Then go do your day. Watch what happens over time.

You can make Vision boards for any length of time but you must revisit them. Reassess your goals and create new boards every time from scratch. The effort of creation solidifies the desired outcome in your mind’s eye.

I would love to see your Vision Board and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. The only thing that holds you back from achieving everything you want is yourself. So why would you hold yourself back?

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