Finish strong

One of Nick Vujicic’s inspiring life lessons, is to “finish strong”; no matter how many times life knocks you down, what’s important is that you finish strong.

Jeremy fought hard for his blue belt on Friday night. The week before, Jamison was in his place, earning her green belt. They had to re-grade after falling just short of the passing mark a few weeks back.

Chris accepted no excuses. For every mistake, they paid for it with conditioning exercises. Every time they dropped their guard, there were push ups; every time they straighten their knees, there were squats. They had to repeat every technique until Chris was satisfied that every detail was correct. Exhausted, their focus waivering, sweat dripping in to their eyes, the temptation to wipe off that bead of sweat would mean more punishing exercises or starting all over again. They pushed past pain, pushed past exhaustion, and finished strong.

Both kids found out what it took to achieve 100% during a grading. Their new belts represents a new level of expectations. They delivered beyond what they thought they were capable, so their realm of possibilities have increased. That change, although isn’t tangible, is very powerful. As I watched them leave the dojo, it’s like they’ve grown several centimetres. The pride eminating from their parents expressed it well.

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Kids and weapons

Should we or shouldn’t we teach kids weaponry? It has been the topic of many discussions at our dojo, and I’m still not certain if we have a solution, but we’re getting closer.

Regardless of how we may feel about kids with weapons, it’s a reality. It’s something we have to deal with rather than ignore because it’s uncomfortable.

We hosted our very first Kids’ Weapons Defence Seminar yesterday, and the attendance and feedback indicated that many parents felt it’s important for their kids to learn this aspect of martial arts; and the kids demonstrated that they were capable of being respectful and understanding of the dangers involved.

Weapons classes at our academy are currently restricted to 13yrs+. We need to consider lowering the age limit, as the incidents involving weapons and younger kids are increasing. Our intention is to focus on defence, however, part of learning defence is knowing how to handle a weapon, so the lines will easily blur. Due to this, having a minimum rank requirement will also be wise. Weaponry will not be part of the kids’ curriculum. Instead, it will be an optional component to their training and parents will make the choice for their child/ren.

There are many schools that teach weaponry. What are the rules there? What’s your opinion on this?

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Falling with grace

The grading on the weekend was a difficult one for us, as we had to deal with the issue of students not quite making the grade. We were caught off guard, and handled the situation awkwardly. We’re talking about a 9 year old grading for blue belt, and a 10 year old grading for green. At intermediate to advance levels, there’s less room for leniency; so although both performed well, it wasn’t quite enough. They missed the mark by a mere 3-4%. However, how they handled our clumsy efforts with the delivery of the news, made me swell with pride.

My heart broke to see Jeremy cry… a little boy, angry and disappointed with himself. But before leaving, he wiped off the tears, strode across the mat and shook hands with all the instructors, earning the applause which followed.

We mistakenly awarded Jamison her belt and had to tell her afterwards that she didn’t make the grade. Although she could keep her new belt, she was still required to do a re-grade. When she walked in to class tonight, she handed me her green belt and her certificate, stating “I don’t want it until I’ve earned it.” I was stunned by the maturity of the gesture.

There were many things we could’ve done better, and how we go about doing so, is being discussed amongst the team. However, there were also many important lessons learnt from this experience… one of them being:

Everybody falls; but only few manage to do so with grace.

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