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We’ve had a lot of students moving up over the past few weeks. That’s good – because forward progress makes it easier to stay with it. In any activity, plateaus are dangerous. You can get stuck, and when that happens, you get frustrated. When people get frustrated, there are two options – get through it or do something else.
There are lots of plateaus – lots of sticking points – where progress stalls. Jumping from Green to Brown, and from 3rd to 2nd to 1st Brown – it takes longer and the gains are smaller, because more is expected and because you’re already pretty good. Think about how much better you could get at tennis in the next month with some private classes and a few hours of week on the court – and then think about how much better Serena Williams could get with the same effort. You’d get a lot better – but she’d see little or no gain. She needs a lot more to make that small incremental gain, while you, at a lower level, would improve rapidly.
Or, as you push that rock up the hill, it gets steeper near the top. And stopping is easy.
The Black Stripe helps. Once you add the Black Stripe to your belt, you’ve made the decision to stay for a year. You know that you’re paying for a year, whether you come or not, so you’re committed. You might get stuck, but you’re going to get through it. If you’re a White Belt and you take the Black Stripe at Yellow, you’re really saying that you are going to make it to Blue Belt over the next year. Maybe even Green. Even with slower progress near the top, taking the Black Stripe (or, more likely, keeping it) guarantees you to more promotions.
Before you know it, Black is the next belt, and suddenly it gets easy.
Things were pretty hectic leading up to the Secours seminar, and the weekend of the seminar was extremely busy – far busier than normal. We learned something – we have the urge to maintain a full schedule of classes even on weekends when we have a seminar, so that people who aren’t attending the seminar don’t miss anything. The problem with that is – our instructors miss out on valuable training, and it makes it less likely that students will go to the seminar.
When we get an instructor like Kevin Secours to come to town, that’s a waste. We need to take advantage of that level of skill when it’s available. The next seminar will be Friday, January 29 through Sunday, January 31 for adults and advanced Juniors. There will be a Junior class from 9AM to 10:30Am on Saturday, January 30 at the Irving studio.
In order to make sure all of our instructors attend and also, to encourage students to attend and get the most out of this, all classes at Carrollton and Stonebriar will be cancelled for the weekend. We want everyone to understand the importance that we place on this special training. Everyone should attend at least one day – two would be better – and the whole weekend will be demanding but very rewarding.
I say this as someone who’s not usually big on seminars. There have been times in the past where energy level was the problem, but marathon training and eliminating most sugar from my diet fixed that. It’s just that it seems like I hit a point where I’ve had enough…where I’m not absorbing enough to make it worth the time. And let’s face it…a whole day of training can lose it’s excitement.
With the last seminar, though, I found my interest rising as the weekend went on. The demands of classes limited my time on Friday. By Saturday, I was enjoying it, even though I got little sleep on Friday night and was falling asleep on my feet at the start. By Sunday morning, I put off my run because I was excited to go do Systema. And when I had to leave an hour early to teach at Stonebriar, I was really wishing that I didn’t have to go.
Kevin Secours will be here every 3-4 months for the next couple of years, helping us provide a more consistent approach to Systema and integrate it into our Kenpo. I’ve made it mandatory for Instructors and STRONGLY RECOMMENDED for Assistant Instructors. It’s incredibly valuable training with a world class instructor and if your instructors think it’s important enough to clear the weekend and get as much as they can – shouldn’t you come see what’s going on?
Check out these youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kevin+secours+systema&search_type=&aq=5&oq=kevin+sec
As we go along, there’s always a struggle to provide enough attention to each individual student. We have 5 Black Belt Instructors at the studio, 1 Black Belt Instructor making the transition from Junior to Adult, and 2 Junior Black Belt Instructors. Everyone works with everyone, which is comfortable and informal, but it means that nobody has specific responsibility for any individual student’s progress. Except for me, of course, and I have responsibility for 300+ at any given time, which stretches me thin and occasionally lets someone slip through the cracks.
I’ve looked at different activities, and we’ve already incorporated some of the things I’ve seen. In Ballet and Ice Skating, for example, people take beginner classes. At a certain point, they drop out or move up. If they move up, they usually get a personal coach or instructor, move into more advanced classes, and make a greater commitment to training and staying in the art. We do the same thing – with a Black Stripe on the belt. I’m pretty sure that everyone knows that the Black Stripe means that the student has committed to reaching Black Belt, committed to a year of training from the date of the last test, and that, for children, the parents have committed to supporting the child through regular attendance and help with practice.
Someone asked me once about my relationship with Rick Fowler, and I said that he’s not just my Sifu – he’s my guide and companion on my journey. That relationship didn’t happen overnight; it grew up over a period of years as we trained together and I climbed the belts. It happened pretty much accidentally, and it’s a major reason why I have a studio and 300 students today. I think we need to do what we can to encourage the growth of those relationships between students and instructors.
Starting this week, we’re changing the tuition structure for new students to help make this happen. The new tuition level applies only to NEW students at the studio. The main change is that, when they reach Blue Belts, tuition increases, but it includes a 30-minute private class each month with the instructor of their choice. More than that, those students will choose an instructor to be their mentor. That instructor will taking a more personal interest in the student’s development, paying closer attention to progress, and working to insure that the student makes it through the sticking points to reach the next belt and, ultimately, Black Belt.
Existing students can choose to join the mentoring program – more on that below.
Tuition for students enrolling or returning on or after 7/20/09:
Adult White, Yellow, Orange, Purple Belts: $100/month, $270/Quarter
Adult Blue and above: $150/month, $500/Quarter
Junior White, Yellow, Orange, Purple Belts: $100/month, $270/quarter
Junior Blue and above: $150/month, $500/Quarter
Little Dragon White, Yellow, Orange, Purple Belts: $95/month, $260/Quarter
Little Dragon Blue and above: $145/month, $475/quarter
If you choose an instructor but, for whatever reason, decide that it’s not a good fit, you’ll find that all the instructors are concerned primarily with making sure you have the right instructor and feel comfortable with who you are working with. There will be no hard feelings and your move to a different mentor will be as seamless as possible.
Current students won’t see the automatic rate increase at Blue Belt. On the down side, they won’t be moved automatically into our mentoring program, but are encouraged to either move to it or sign up for private classes separately. Having a personal mentor, a Black Belt Instructor who instructs you privately, takes a more direct role in helping you advance through the belts, and is more familiar with your progress and areas where you might need more attention will make you a better martial artist and improve your long-term chances for success.
Blue Belt isn’t a threshold for entry – students at all levels can move up to mentoring at any point. If you are, or your child is, at White, Yellow, Orange or Purple, and you want to move into the mentoring program, talk to me and we’ll start the process. If you are a current student ranked Blue or higher and want to join the program, let me know.
As always, thanks for your involvement in our program, and email or call anytime with comments/questions/suggestions.
Ed Parker is Senior Grandmaster Ed Parker’s son. Choosing not to rely on name recognition alone, though, Mr. Parker has built a career and a following of his own in the community. He has been featured in Black Belt Magazine and has done seminars worldwide. As a martial artist, he has focused his talents on creating innovative learning tools and visually dynamic art pieces for his community. He is also responsible for close to 1,000 portrait renderings of martial artists. During the past 20 years Mr. Parker has taught, lectured, produced, published, written, illustrated, designed, choreographed and acted in various Martial Arts related areas and has a Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate.
Would you like to do karate with your child? We have a class during the summer on Wednesday from 5:30 to 6:15 for families - all ages, Little Dragon, Junior, and Adult - on the mat at the same time. It will be a fun class and will give you the tools you need to help your like your child to move ahead more quickly. Whether you decide to stay in and follow your own path to black or just make it a fun summer class for the family, you’ll have fun with your kid in class this summer!
Saturday, June 13, 9AM to 10:30AM - Ed Parker seminar at PowerKenpo on Saturday morning for Kids. THERE WILL BE NO OTHER CLASSES AT THE STUDIO THAT DAY - All of our instructors will be at the seminar on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday. Kids should do the seminar on Saturday at Carrollton, and Adults really should make every effort to go thte seminar in Irving for at least one day, because it’s gonna be a great seminar!
Tournament this Saturday at Rick Fowler’s in Irving! It’s going to be a great tournament, with lots of forms, techniques and sparring. WE WILL HAVE CLASSES AT THE CARROLLTON STUDIO ON SATURDAY if you aren’t in the tournament, but we encourate everyone to do at least one tournament a year just for the experience. If you’d like to schedule a private class this week to prepare, email back or call anytime!
© 2009 Martial Arts, Self Defense and Karate Classes in Dallas - PowerKenpo Inc. | 3108 Old Denton Road, Suite #111 ( Map ) | Carrollton, TX 75007 | (972) 394-7385
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