Kids love martial arts classes because they learn how to protect themselves.
Children love martial arts classes. There is no debate about this. But why? The reasons might surprise you–there are as many reasons as there are children in the martial arts. I decided to pose this question to some of my kids classes, and we came up with some interesting answers. I told the children there is no such thing as a wrong or bad answer, and that they should say the first thing that crossed their minds. I did not judge any answers as we went along. I never knew how much fun “kid brainstorming” can be. We had lots of laughs. But I was very impressed with the maturity of the children and their willingness to put their hands up and comment. Please add your own reasons why you love martial arts in your comments section below. Your feedback is valued and appreciated.
Why Kids Love Martial Arts
1. “It’s fun”. This is the most popular answer by the way.
2. “It can save your life”.
3. “For self defence”.
4. “In case someone is trying to hurt you”.
5. “We learn new things in the classes”.
6. “When we play the games”.
7. “Because we get to spar”.
8. “It is good practice for fighting”. Not sure I wanted to hear this.
9. “Every week we learn something new”.
10. “We play”.
11. “We make new friends”. A popular answer.
12. “We try our best”.
13. “We learn how to do karate”.
14. “It’s fun and we learn something at the same time”. Mature child here.
15. “We play fun games”.
16. “We can teach others”.
17. “We can avoid the punch or kick from the bully”.
18. “Karate is just cool”.
19. “All of my friends think I’m cool because I do karate classes”. Hope there are other reasons too.
20. “We learn good techniques”.
21. “I’m going to be a karate master”.
22. “Good for self-esteem”.
23. “We learn katas and lots of different moves”.
24. “Somebody’s going to get scared if they’re attacking me”. This one had the whole class laughing.
25. “It controls me” (It allows me to control myself).
26. “I learn to talk to the class”.
27. “I learn things from the games”.
28. “Gives me confidence”.
29. “We learn self defence”.
30. “We play games that can help us”.
31. “Defence against strangers”.
32. “We keep our balance”.
33. “We help people if they are sick”. Wish everyone was this kind.
34. “We practice stretching”.
35. “It is good for making friends”.
36. “We get taught self defence and how to get out of fights”.
37. “Because you get to block the soft things” (drills with padded blockers).
38. “It is interesting and fun”.
39. “It makes you feel refreshed and strong”.
40. “It is great for self defense”.
41. “It is fun and active.
42. “If someone tries to hurt you, you can protect yourself”.
43. “We learn new skills”.
44. “We learn the katas for every belt”.
45. “Can beat up people that are picking on you”. Ah-oh!
46. “We learn a new sport that gives us safety”.
47. “The exercise”.
48. “I learn to protect myself as a girl”.
49. “I learn karate because it’s better to block”.
50. “We learn lots of things”.
51. “We learn blocking and kicking”.
52. “We learn punching”.
53. “Because we get our badges”.
54. “Because we get our belts when we do something good”.
55. “We learn how to do all the stretches”.
56. “We get fit”.
58. “Makes us strong and powerful”.
In a martial arts class kids love to have fun and make friends.
59. “If someone attacks, we put our hands up”.
60. “We try our best”.
61. “It is educational”.
62. “We learn how to bow in”.
63. “We do front and back kicks”.
64. “We know how to block the bully’s punches”.
65. “We know how to kick behind us”.
66. “We learn to teach others”. This was another popular reason.
67. “If you can’t do it you keep trying”.
68. “I forgot”. Another popular reason.
69. “We get belts and suits”.
70. “We practice hard”.
71. “You can do karate with all your friends”.
72. “You get to move up a belt”.
73. “We have a good time”.
74. “It makes you healthy”.
75. “If someone tries to attack, use karate”.
76. “The games and warm-ups are fun”.
77. “We can help people if they are getting hurt”.
78. “We get medals”.
79. “If they are attacking, you have to kick the lot of em”. Funny answer.
Martial Arts Classes: 79 Reasons Why Kids Love Them is an original article by Sensei Matt Klein.
Check out our related page about the benefits of kids martial arts instruction.
Martial Arts teaches you self confidence & self respect as if you don’t respect your self how can you ever respect others!
It also teachers you to be Humble as long as you are learning Karate for the right reasons.
Like with all Martial Arts there is two sides ,that being the Physical & the Mental (CHI!) for with out either you will never achieve your best.
No CHI = Street Fighter
No Physical = No Self Confidence
With both = “ Watch Out I am opening a can of Whoop Tail “ 🙂 Cheers
Brilliant list, Sensei! I agree with the kids on a lot of these reasons, especially some of the ones you commented on – lol!
Thanks Cheryl for your comments, and I am glad you liked the post. Readers, Cheryl has a really cool blog at http://thatgirlisfunny.com/
Shandor, you make some really good points here. Used to spar with guys who came in to our dogo on sparring night back in San Diego. Everyone was welcome. The street fighters would come at you hard, but were the easiest to beat. The reason–no chi, no focus, no stamina, no technique.
We learn that the ‘best’ way to avoid a fight is not to fight at all – Your words are always your first line of defence!
We learn safety awareness – you shouldn’t put yourself in a situation where you need to use your karate.
At karate you grow at your ‘own’ pace.
Hi Sinem, need wisdom from the “big kids” as well. Thank you. Like the comments.
Hi Sensei Matt,
Very nice article, it’s so interesting seeing the world from a Childs eyes sometimes.. Their view on things, the positive, the negative, what’s important and what’s not so important.
As a former “Child” Karate student I can appreciate both perspectives and something I started to notice in my late teens was, when you start karate young and participate in the classes, learn the moves, practice and implement your training the reasons for certain technique sometimes get lost in translation.
I found with my own training I was lucky enough to be trained into “good habits”, but at a young age we don’t always know the “why” and it’s not so important, as we may not be able to grasp it anyway.. Just to get it right. But as you get older and HOPEFULLY wiser 😉 you start to question things, which is natural. You might find that you move or kick in a certain way and don’t know why.. This is where your perspective can change as you mature with life experience. Then you find you can not only do it “right” but know more in depth why.
There are many reasons I like teaching but I’ll just share 3 =D
1) Its fun, I love being able to express myself into something I’m passionate about with people – I get a real buzz out of it. Being together with people who are like minded too.
2) I love seeing the individual students grow and change with your own influence, I really feel like we are making a better world – and that’s important to me. To help entrust the right values and principles to not only Karate but life.
3) The look on the students face when they achieve their Yellow belt (their first level and step towards martial arts) or Black Belt (the “pinnacle” step in ANYONES martial arts journey) and the pride I have for them when they perform so well in there tests.
Great article Matt, I personally LOVE the photo of you with the students, perfect timing! A great shot of you with your students.
Kind Regards,
Z
The difference between school & life is in school, you’re taught a lesson & then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.
Right you are Shandor. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks Zoltan for your very insightful comments. You are very fortunate to have started martial arts training at a very young age. I started at a later stage in life, but like you have never lost the passion and the great feeling I get watching young (and sometimes old) people progress in their dreams of becoming excellent martial artists. Yes, the pride on the faces of the little yellow belts as they get their awards is priceless.
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