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It’s testing week, so this is just a note about how I test for belts.

Jimmy Johnson once said: “I’m totally consistent; I treat everybody differently.”

My testing procedure is the same. Every student is different. Every student is having a different experience. The goal is to have each student do the material well enough to pass to the next belt, but how each student gets there might be different. There are physical, mental, and emotional elements that go into it as well, and it’s important to remember that it’s an art, not a science.

If I have a student lacking in confidence, I might make them stay up in front and hit them six different ways with forms and techniques. Or I might push them as far as I think I can, and then pass them to the next level. Or make them wait, and come back, and do it again. It’s an individual decision based on may factors, some of which I might not have even quantified myself.

And then the next student might do each thing once, and pass in what appears to be an easy test. But the second person didn’t need the work, and the first person did. If someone needs physical conditioning, they should expect the test to be physically demanding, while another student might face a more technical test. If someone is pushing ahead of the curve, either by age or by time on the mat, they should expect a more challenging test – because they need to prove to me that they are ready to move up when he or she is already ahead of the curve. The hardest Brown Belt test I ever did was for a student who was so far ahead of the curve that I would have felt comfortable promoting her with no test at all; but she had something to prove.

You might see someone walk up in front and pass, and not understand why it was so easy, and not know what happened yesterday, or over the past month. Without the big picture, you don’t know what’s going on. And I will admit that I am less than willing to spend a lot of time explaining the decision making process, in part because it’s not easily tied down to scores on a page. We don’t have a clock or a scoreboard here, and a win for one student might not be enough to let another move forward.

You might see someone fail a test while apparently doing everything well, and then another person miss some kicks on kicking set or forget some techniques and still pass. Those cases come down to whether or not the total body of work was good enough to justify passing them up, and sometimes the overall level is enough to overlook one big miss. And sometimes there was no big miss, but the overall level didn’t sing to me. I know when someone is good enough to pass, and when they are not, and I go with what I feel.

And sometimes it’s about taking someone who’s been working hard, understanding that it’s a step, not an end, and moving them into position to move ahead with some positive energy.

It may seem arbitrary, uneven, and sometimes even unfair. That’s why, even though there are some aspects of science in what we do – it’s still an art.

Like Jimmy Johnson, I am very consistent in that I treat everyone differently. This isn’t about banging a square peg into a round hole.

It’s easier to understand when you are on the mat then when you are sitting in the bleachers.

This should be a good week of testing! I’ll see you on the mat.

Sifu

The best way to develop self defense skills is to join a martial arts program and train on a continuing basis.

We CAN help you develop some useable, practical self defense skills in a short period of time, though. While not as good as ongoing training, two hours of training is a lot better than no training. We’ll be basing what we do on American Kenpo Karate, Kali Escrima, and Combat Systema, three very powerful systems of self defense.

Friday, July 9, 7PM to 9PM, we’re doing a Self Defense Seminar at the Carrollton studio. This seminar is open to all adults; if you’d like to bring your teenage child, email or call and we’ll make sure he or she will be a good fit.

Click to download regristration form. Space is limited – reserve early!

PowerKenpo
972.358.0378

Great class last night from 7PM to 7:30.  It’s an Adult/Junior/Family class, open to all ranks and ages, and we cover forms and techniques and basics from some different angles.  Last night, we worked Long Form One and Kicking Set, and a mixture of techniques from Yellow through Purple.  It’s an interesting class to lead, because we are presenting material that can be very advanced for some people, review for others, but it has to be done in a way that is good for everyone.

It’s becoming one of my favorite classes of the week.  If you can make it in the next few weeks, you should try it with us.

March was a busy month – classes have been going well.  Lots of students have been moving up, and the energy level at the studio has been great.  We had 23 new students in March, including 10 adults, and our retention rate has been great!

News:

This week – we will have a special Junior Sparring class on Thursday from 7PM to 7:30PM.

Saturday – no change to classes in Carrollton, but we do have a schedule change at Stonebriar. The new schedule at Stonebriar is:  3PM – Juniors  /  4PM – Little Dragons  /  4:45PM – Adults

April 13 will be the last Tuesday class at Stonebriar until after summer.  We’re thinking about adding another Junior and Little Dragon class during the day – suggestions about times would be appreciated.

Testing this week at the studio! Tonight, we promoted:  Renee to Junior Purple, Amanda to Junior Purple, Giani to Junior Yellow, Marquelle to Blue and Jim to Purple.  We also started the testing process on William for Junior Brown.  The promotion to Brown has become more intense – rather than a single class, it’s a process that can last two weeks, or two months.  It involves  the student taking a leading role in classes, helping to lead and teach, going to sparring classes, working the techniques and forms for all the belts.  It’s the point where he or she makes the jump from intermediate to advanced rank, and although there are three classes of brown, brown is still the last color before black.  It’s a big step, and we take it seriously.  William lost his place, recovered, completed coordination set, and we’ll be working with him to move him up in the coming weeks.

High School and College Self Defense – we have a special program this summer for high school and college students. It’s two months of group and private classes with some extra material included, intended to develop specific self defense skills in a short amount of time.  More information can be found at http://powerkenpo.com/handouts/studentSelfDefense.pdf.

Like all parents, sometimes I have to figure out how to keep my kid excited about activities that I think are important.  There was a point in first grade when she wanted to be home schooled, but we talked her out of it.

I teach karate to a lot of kids.  I think it’s a good activity that helps develop kids in a lot of ways, and my biggest challenge is to keep it exciting and interesting and to keep them focused and interested over long periods.  Keeping a kid interested in something for 3 months can be tough - but doing it for 5 years can be a huge challenge, particularly when we teach a lot of group classes and one-on-one time is limited. But when I  see a class of 50 kids and 45 of them have made a personal commitment to black belt, and have been here for a while, I think it must be working.

Getting it through to my own daughter, though, can be challenging.  She’s a busy girl.  Her main activity is figure skating, and she’s been doing it for 5 years.  She’s really good, and getting better quickly.  She also does ballet (ties in with the figure skating) and rock climbing (builds strength and endurance).  And, of course, karate.

Betsy is definitely a girl.  She tried soccer, but the clothes aren’t as pretty as skating, and she doesn’t like the mud.  When she wanted to quit soccer, we told her that she had to keep her commitment to the team and finish the season - and she did. Karate isn’t her favorite activity.  Sometimes I have to make her come to class.  This weekend, I was trying to figure out how I could explain to her how important it is, and I started thinking about the STUDENT SELF DEFENSE classes we’re doing this summer.

I sat down with her and showed her a picture of Chelsea King, and explained what happened to her.  I did a google search for GIRL ATTACKED, COLLEGE STUDENT ATTACKED, GIRL KIDNAPPED and showed her a few links.  There are a lot of stories out there. It’s not hard to find them.

And I told her that, while karate can be fun, the important thing is that she be able to defend herself.  I told her that she’s going to be on her own at times, and I need to know that she’s got a chance of stopping somebody if she needs to do it.  Most adults are pretty defenseless against someone with even a small amount of training, and kids even more so.

I probably have a different viewpoint about self defense because of what I do…but it amazes me when there are big stories in the news about kids getting hurt, killed, kidnapped…and the response from most parents is to do nothing about it. I’ve had parents sitting in the studio crying because their kid is being bullied; and then not show up for class with the kid, because they are too busy.  Often, they’re looking for a quick fix, but there is no quick fix.  It takes time to develop self defense skills, just like it takes time to develop the ability to shoot a goal, hit a ball, or block a shot.

I also pointed out to her that there are times when she’s going to want to do something in the next few years, like go to the movies by herself with friends, and she’s a lot more likely to get a “yes’ from me if I feel like she can protect herself.

The other stuff - balance, coordination, flexibility, range of motion, confidence, leadership, teamwork - you can get that in a lot of places.  Karate teaches all of those, but with the practical application of knowing how to fight.  Of knowing how to protect yourself and the people around you.  She’s heard me talk about it before, and she’s seen me teach and train her entire life, but I think she now has a better idea of what it means to her, and how it can help her down the road.

Even if it only means that she’s more likely to be able to go to the mall with her friends in a couple of years because I feel better about having her out of my sight.

Christmas Party at PowerKenpo

Saturday, December 19
6PM to 10PM

Drop the kids off for the evening to see Santa and play lots of reindeer games!

Click here for information and to download registration form!