Martial Arts for Teenagers

ph 9495 1929
Open 6 days, please call reception

High School Students

Our Junior Adults programme is very focused on Self Defence based Martial Arts. As you may have read in the paper recently both assaults and knife attacks in Melbourne have increased dramatically and many people have started taking responsibility for their own self-protection by studying Martial Arts.

We offer training in many different areas of self defence such as...

Rolling
Punching
Throwing Techniques

Break Falls
Kicking
Evasive Positioning

Stretching
Joint Locks
Pressure Points

Knife Defence
Nerve Strikes
Situational Awareness

Situational Training is best

Virtually all of our training is practiced in pairs against "real life situations", e.g...... a student grabs your shirt with their right hand and punches towards your head with the left hand; we then practice a defence against this situation.

We believe our partnered training methods are much better preparation for real life self defence than standing in a line and doing techniques by the numbers in the air. Surprisingly most school don't train this way, most concentrate on the lining up and "in the air" method of teaching.

News

Keeping up with others in your class
From when you’re 12 to the time you’re 18 you probably go through more changes than you do in the rest of your life.

You go from primary school to high school. Then there’s Year 11 and 12, the exams, the increased workload at school and the larger social activity after it. There’s sport. There’s all the other physical activity you do, even if it’s only running for the bus. And throughout these years there are the friendships, relationships and all the ups and downs....more

Why sport has great benefits for teens
We know that exercise is important for teenagers and sport is an ideal outlet for all that energy. It doesn't matter why teenagers are attracted to sport. In fact, for many of them it is seen as an opportunity to become popular and more attractive. As parents we shouldn't knock that reason! Regardless of why they decide to participate, there is a range of benefits for them....more

Out on the net...
Kids Health.org

Lessons In Mindfulness

However Martial Arts is not just about your body, it's also about your mind and our Lessons in Mindfulness workbook program helps make the right decisions by teaching them about whats the right thing to do.

Here's one student's response to the ” Do Not Disturb ” LIM exercise on using your time constructively.....

"I liked the Do Not Disturb chapter. By reading it I realised that it is an important year for me because I am doing my Year 12 VCE. The more time and effort that I put into it the better my result will be at the end of the year. I have realised that i waste my time by doing meaningless things like watch TV for two hours straight, if I put that time into my homework, the more work i would get done.

Now that I have realised that I waste my time, I am going to create a timetable and allocate important things that need to be done at specific times. By reading this chapter, it has given me a new perspective on time and how to use it more effectively".

Additional Junior Adult Skills

Our Junior Adults students study the Hanbo 3 foot staff and the Bo 6 foot staff. Skills include all of the basic strikes block and spinning methods as well as a selection of prearranged techniques. A Hanbo is a 3 foot staff that originated from the Bo either breaking or being cut in half in battle. In the Junior Adults classes we concentrate on the basic to intermediate levels of training with the Hanbo.

We realise that you are almost certainly never going to use any of your weapons training in real life and we would never want you to. That said all of our students love this training not only for the extra body control and understanding it brings, but also because it’s a lot of fun.

Very Important, knife defence .......... please read in full

Did you know that there are several thousand knife attacks reported in Melbourne each year? And yet if you ask martial arts instructors you will find out the vast majority of martial arts schools don't teach any knife defence at allor just a little, let alone a structured programme. So most martial arts students have no idea about what to do if someone decided to try to cut or stab them.

I believe that if you're not learning knife defence as a regular part of your training then you're not learning self defence at all. When someone takes out a knife and tries to cut you it's too late to be thinking....." I really should have joined the school that taught knife defence instead of a sports tournament one".

How do I know that....... easy, because that's what happened to me!

After training in Tae Kwondo for several years during my late teens I had a guy pull a knife on myself and two friendsin a completely unprovoked random attack. Thankfully, after a few very tense minutes, we talked our way out of it but he did have the knife up against my friend's forehead as he ranted and raved about not going back to jail etc.

The next day I went looking for a Martial Arts school that had a long history of defending itself against bladed weapons and that's why I started training in this style over 20 years ago and have never looked back. Our martial art has centuries of experience in defending against bladed weapons.

Recent extract from the Melbourne Age Newspaper

Knife attacks on the rise, experts say By Alison Caldwell

Updated February 22, 2010 17:23:00

Victoria Police say there were 13 incidents involving knives in Melbourne at the weekend, most of which were alcohol or drug-related and involved young men. Victoria Police say there has been a 9 per cent rise in robberies involving knives over the past year.

The director of the Alfred Hospital's Emergency and Trauma Centre, Dr De Villiers Smit, says the past weekend is one he will never forget. "I worked this weekend and to the best of my knowledge I can't remember it being so busy with regard to stabbings," he said. Dr Smit says the hospital has seen a massive increase in the numbers of assaults in recent years.

"In general, assaults have increased by about 50 per cent in the last couple of years, even more than 50 per cent," he said.

Some researchers believe teenagers and young men carry knives for defence, while others believe they carry them because they think it is cool.

You will be very pleased to know that at Guests Martial Arts not only is knife defence a part of regular training but we also offer seminars through out the year and highly recommend our Junior Adult students participate that these special events.

The most common knife carriers are male and it starts as early as primary school!

Recent articles on this growing problem

Edgy over knife attack Knife culture' fears as four stabbed at weekend State acts to curb growing knife crime
Tackling Melbourne's growing knife culture

Or listen to the experts here