ArmorOfGod
Senior Master
I work at a public middle school (6th-8th grade) and was recently approached by the people who run the school to start a martial arts club for the students. This is to held every Friday during school hours for 2 months.
Every student in the school must be in a club during that time. There are lots of clubs: bowling, soccer, jewelry making, etiquette, board games, and more.
Each club has 8-10 students in it, but mine has been alotted 25 due to the massive number of kids who requested it. One of the teachers at the school has experience in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, so she will assist me with the large number in the club.
We had the first meeting 3 days ago and it went great. The kids were beyond excited when I covered martial arts history, some Japanese language, did a kata, then tossed around my assistant. Several of the kids had never heard of Bruce Lee, tang soo do, belt colors, or many of the things we take for granted in our little martial arts sub-culture.
We then went to the garden area of the school and worked out cardio-kickboxing style for about 20 minutes. That was a bit sad. You can tell that several of these kids have NEVER done ANY kind of excerise in any way, shape, or form.
Still, they all behaved and were obvously excited.
I have a general curriculum where we will cover martial arts or Asian culture for about 10 minutes, do basic techniques, then work on something specific for that day. That is set up over an 8 week schedule.
Obviously, I am stressing that there is to be absolutely no contact of any kind between the students due to liability and parental concerns.
Still, you have to give kudos to the school for thinking outside the box and trying to give the kids something fun and unusual to look forward to.
AoG
Every student in the school must be in a club during that time. There are lots of clubs: bowling, soccer, jewelry making, etiquette, board games, and more.
Each club has 8-10 students in it, but mine has been alotted 25 due to the massive number of kids who requested it. One of the teachers at the school has experience in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, so she will assist me with the large number in the club.
We had the first meeting 3 days ago and it went great. The kids were beyond excited when I covered martial arts history, some Japanese language, did a kata, then tossed around my assistant. Several of the kids had never heard of Bruce Lee, tang soo do, belt colors, or many of the things we take for granted in our little martial arts sub-culture.
We then went to the garden area of the school and worked out cardio-kickboxing style for about 20 minutes. That was a bit sad. You can tell that several of these kids have NEVER done ANY kind of excerise in any way, shape, or form.
Still, they all behaved and were obvously excited.
I have a general curriculum where we will cover martial arts or Asian culture for about 10 minutes, do basic techniques, then work on something specific for that day. That is set up over an 8 week schedule.
Obviously, I am stressing that there is to be absolutely no contact of any kind between the students due to liability and parental concerns.
Still, you have to give kudos to the school for thinking outside the box and trying to give the kids something fun and unusual to look forward to.
AoG
