Kids Karate or kids martial arts as we prefer to call it, has many benifits for children, it improves their Concetration, Listening, and Confidence skills. At Guests Martial Arts this begins right from the first words we say when class starts......... our Student Creed................. I've put my interpretation below in brackets.

My Aim - I aim to develop myself in a Positive Manner , to increase my Mental Growth and Physical Health.
(A positive mental attitude and a healthy body)

My Plan - I plan to develop Self Dicipline in order to bring out the best in myself and in others
( We study martial arts not just for ourselves but for all our friends and family too)

My Promise - I promise to be Truthful, Respectful, Courageous and above all I shall always try to do my best.
(Live life in a way that you can be proud of and give it your best each and every time)

My Goal - My Goal Is Black Belt
(When commiting to something worthwhile have destination in mind)

We teach our students that being a Guests Martial Arts student means that you have both a purpose and values that you live by.

This student creed is said by our Ninja Star (5 - 7yr olds) and Samurai Warrior (8 -10yr olds) students at the start of every lesson. It's our way of starting the lesson right each and every time we step out onto the mats and of reminding ourselves that we need to Focus because training is about to start..........

The eight Jo kata we study originated in the Kukishin Ryu school of koryu bujutsu. I was lucky enough to learn all eight while living in England way back in 93 and training with Abdul Kalim.

Abdul learned them from Ishizuka Sensei on a pervious trip to Japan I think the year before. I’ve since practiced them with many people over the last 17 years and they’re a bit of a feature of our schools training.

Hatsumi sensei taught the Jo for an entire year awhile ago but I don’t believe he taught the Kata at all, instead choosing to focus on flow and variations off the taijutsu movement. Another BJK partitioner that I shared them with didn’t even believe that they were real because he had been living in Japan for the Jo year and had not seen them.

In Sensei’s book on stick fighting published about 2005(ish) he demonstrated all eight Kata.

In main stream martial arts Aikido is the most common form of training with the Jo although all their Jo is based on spear techniques, I’ve seen 5 foot spears in antique shops in Tokyo, so it’s not as strange as it might sound at first.

History

It is said that in the early 1600s, a samurai warrior named Muso Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi came up with the idea after he was defeated in a duel by the famous Musashi, but not killed. His weapon of choice at the time was a Bo staff, but it was too long. So through deep mediation while in the mountains, he came up with the Jo staff which is about two feet shorter than the Bo. After he started using the Jo staff, it is said that Muso was never defeated in a duel again. To find out more simply search the net on Muso Gonnosuke, there’s lots of info around

Some of the key points of Jo training 

• Allow the Jo to slide thru your hands, not gripping to firmly. You can slide the full length of the weapon
• Drop your weight when striking on downwards strikes
• Always be off the cutting line
• You must have your hands close together (thumb length apart )when striking (not like in Aikido which is more centre and the end ) so you have the reach advantage over the swordsman without your hands as exposed.

There are more key points but we’ll cover those in class over August, the Kata we’re going to focus on this month is

Roppo

Uke :- Seigan No Kamae
Tori :- Gedan No Kamae

Tori :-   Steps forward with the right foot to do left Ashi Barai releasing the right hand grip on the Jo
Uke:-    Jumps up to avoid resuming Seigan No Kamae on landing

Tori :-   Continues the motion to move the Jo behind the shoulders and then re-grips the Jo from the right side with the right hand (overarm style) then twists anti clockwise with the hips releasing the left hand grip to strike at Uke’s left Kasumi re-gripping with the left hand
Uke:-   moves the back foot around and back anti clockwise to block using the side of the blade in Seigan no Kamae

Tori:-   Slides the left hand up to the right hand and steps forward with the left foot, releasing the right hand grip to strike down onto Uke’s head re-gripping with the right hand
Uke :-  Parries with the right side of the blade and then steps back with the right foot to move into Dai Jodan No Kamae and then attacks with a downward cut

Tori :-   Leaps in to thrust forwards into Uke’s chest and leaps back out for distance.

If you’ve not read my explanation of the Bo Kata – Wrist Thrust you might want to read that next , particularly the part concerning how to train Kata.


Jo is one of the weapons that we study in our Adults Martial Arts classes

Concerned parents may be suprised to find out that at primary school age, schools actually can't do much to protect your child from bullies without exposing themselves to litigation. Aside from education, mediation and separating the children they have their hands tied by state government regulations. It's extremely difficult to expel a primary school aged child, they have to have done something extreme in order for them to get permission from the education department to move a child on.

​However as a parent there are a few things YOU CAN DO that can make a difference.

1. Build your child's confidence and physical responses by enrolling them in Martial Arts. Sometimes this can be enough just by itself, the bully finds out they know martial arts and the problem goes away.
2. Document all meetings with staff, this can be with a diary during the meeting or you can ask to record the meeting but will need permission to do that I suspect.
3. Sometimes you can speak to the parent, they may be unaware and open to your point of view. Not all parents are receptive and sometime bullying is a learned behavior. Be very careful though as I did see a Women get punched by a "Man" and knocked out cold in front of the school gate many years ago.
4. Start a file with the police just in case something happens and you need to go to court for an AVO etc. We did this with a violent underage neighbour and his father when my son was 13. Schools are not outside of the police jurisdiction they just prefer to hand ball it back to the Principal.
5. Any marks bruises etc should be documented by a visit to the doctors and the information passed on to the school
6. Change schools, it sounds like a cop out but if it can't be resolved and your primary concern is your child's well being then change schools. Sometimes this is the best solution.

Things YOU CAN'T DO legally

1. Confront the child, they are children and have very strong protection under the law (as it should be), you could find yourself being arrested and charged.
2. Threaten anyone with harm. I know its hard but keep your cool, if you can't do that then it really is best to stay away.
3. Hit or strike anyone outside of legal self defence applications. 

If it has reached any of these points you should be thinking about changing schools, which is what we did with our oldest in grade 2 when after many attempts to resolve the issue with both the parent and the school but it became apparent that nothing was going to change. 

What are your thoughts?

 
A little while ago I recieved a phone call from a concerned mum, she had on of our flyers and wanted to know about how Kids Martial Arts training could help her son improve with his Concentration and Self Control.

She was at her wits end and was thinking about taking her son to the doctors to be "assessed".

Apparently he has a lot of problems with being able to Focus, it was effecting home and school. Mum hoped  we might be able to help. After listening for a while and asking a few questions we made an appointment to come down for a chat and to watch a class like we always do for someone that’s interested in finding out more.

He was a great kid, lot of energy and questions, but every time I tried to answer one of them straight away he would start to look around the school and fidget in his chair in a really uncontrolled way…….Mum just glanced at me with that “see what I mean” kind of look.

So I said his name a few times until I had his attention and we had a chat about the mind and the body that went something like this….

“Billy”  in our kids martial arts classes we learn lots of amazing things that normal people just can’t do, Awesome Kicks, How to do Somersaults and even for our best behaved students we teach them Weapons training and the way that we learn them is by Focusing on each moment that we are at training, by Listening to our teachers and Concentrating on what we are doing when it’s our turn to practice.

In our attention stance, which is our learning stance, there are three things that you need to do

• STOP moving
• LOOK at your teacher &
• LISTEN to what they are saying….. just like at school and at home.

I always link things back to school and home when I can because it’s important for people (kids and parents) to understand that this is not just about kicking and punching, but about life.

If your teacher at school says “Can I have everyone’s attention please “, then you need to Stop moving, Look at your teacher and Listen to what they’re saying so you can learn what to do. We go through this in depth as a part of our Kids Life Skills programme

However if you mind is thinking about what’s next or what you did last week then it’s not right here right now with your body in this moment. Your body is here at the table with me but your mind is not, it’s away thinking about other things.

​So your Mind and your Body have to become one thing and do one thing at a time, not two things trying to do five things at a time. He nodded his head and then went back to looking around and fidgeting in his chair.

We then did our 10 minutes mini practice to help him get ready for the next time he comes in to do a 45 minute class with all the other students. He had trouble with his Concentration and his Focus but we’re working on it and I’m pretty sure we will see a big improvement over the next few months.

If you think this would help your child then check out our Kids Martial Arts programme

I can’t express just how important knife defence training is and this is why we start learning those skills at 11. Also character development life skills when they’re younger it all combines to together to help them be ...

1. More likely to be able to defend themselves
2. Less likely to commit these type of violent crimes
3. The Character Development training means they possibly won’t find themselves in this situation in the first place
   
   

The most important life skill for kids is swimming then once they can swim the second most important has to be martial arts, especially Teen Martial Arts it’s much more important than soccer, football, gymnastics and all the other activities combined. Their life may actually depend on it someday and its not something you can learn once a week for a few months.

Every year parents pull their kids out of martial arts to play soccer, or football, I have to admit inside I think what the hell are you doing. Have you forgotten what it's like when you're 15 to 25 and going to parties, pubs or out clubbing etc and that was 20 years ago.

One morning in Preston we woke up to police tape outside our house and apparently there had been a running knife fight and three teens had been stabbed in our street while we slept. They had gone to a party uninvited and a fight had broken out.

We've had more than half a dozen students disarm knife attackers in real life and none have been cut because we train for urban defence and not against knife welding experts. Untrained people use knives in a completely different way.

Think back to the attacks in Sydney shopping centers or around Melbourne streets over the last few years. What the footage looked like and it wasn't someone with 20 years of advanced knife skills doing the damage.

It was untrained and unskilled people.

It takes a lot of practice over many years and its a skill set that that needs to be regularly studied. We spend three months each year in the adults martial arts classes only doing knife defence training.

We train specifically for this type of situation.

Here are a few weapons confiscated by a friend that does security, close personal protection and body guarding for business men and celebrities in Melbourne.  He has trained extensively in the same style of Japanese Jujutsu we study here at GMA .
​
This is what is around, this is what your child and teen may have do deal with sometime in the future.

Make sure they're ready 

At Guests Martial Arts in Melbourne, we are used to students coming from all over Melbourne for Adults Martial Arts and Kids Martial Arts classes. Our reputation as a birthday party venue is well established and also has people attending from a large area.

Suburbs we service include Fitzroy North, Viewbank, Heidelberg, Ivanhoe, Bellfield, Eaglemont, Ivanhoe East, Bulleen, Kew, Abbotsford, Carlton, Kingsbury, Macleod, Bundoora, Heidelberg West, Heidelberg Heights, Carlton North, Princess Hill, Clifton Hill, Collingwood, Pasco vale, Fitzroy, Brunswick East, Thornbury, Preston, Northcote, Coburg, Coburg North, Reservoir, Rosanna, Fairfield, Alphington, Brunswick. A mix of adults and children attend from these areas. Lately we have also begun to have parents drive their children to classes from as far away as Surry Hills.

Adults have traveled or continue to travel from Geelong, Dandenongs, Hurtsbridge and even further, but i think the record would be for a student that came all the way from Leongatha (near Inverloch) for 3 years which is about 150km each way or 2 hrs travel time each way and he attended 3 times a week.

Myself I have flown all over Australia, and when able flying to Japan for training (my 18th trip to Japan very soon) and even moving to the UK at one point all to learn how to improve my martial arts skills. It take a willingness to commit and a certain amount of self sacrifice to achieve to results you are after no matter what you want in life.

Martial Arts is no exception

Fitness Kickboxing workouts combine martial arts techniques with heart-pumping cardio, which means you can get a total body workout and whip yourself into shape in no time and you get to hit something, hard ... a lot.

All of that combines to melt away that pent up tension around your neck and shoulders and save you from a short stay at one of Her Majesty's hotels.

Whether you're a fitness newbie or long-time gym aficionado, undertaking a kickboxing workout even just once per week can help you feel completely relaxed.

​For more information on Fitness Kickboxing 

Ok so I've been thinking about this for along time now and it's time to put this in place as a permanent part of our Guests Martial Arts policies. From now on all Police, Military and Paramedics as most often the First To Respond to violence will be permanently be entitled to a 50% discount on all fees and any associated costs for training conducted at all GMA dojos.

Over the years we have had many Police, Military and the occasional Paramedic study at our Dojos, From Officers on rotation at Simpson Barracks to VIC Police and PSO's currently serving our community. As many serving personal have told me over the years the Jujutsu techniques taught in our Adults Martial Arts classes we use for Restraint and Removal have been extremely useful in real life situations with many current and prior students successfully  defending themselves in unarmed situations and even against people with knives. 

If you would like to study with us then we would love to have you at our school, simply fill in the form, let us know you're eligible for the 50% discount and provide some evidence that you are currently serving and we will take it from there. 

​Thanks for your time and your service

Craig Guest
​Owner

Wow heard this today, several local dojo's are charging $300 for a child to test for Black Belt pass or fail. Considering a Black Belt generally costs about $10 - $20 to buy from a supplier or about $50 for their name embroidered on it seems very excessive.

Wonder if the parents thought to ask if grading fees are included in the training fees when they first went down for a trial......... Happy to say all our grading are free, always have been always will be. 

Don't get me started on 2.5 - 3 years to Black Belt for a child, there are no shortcuts.

Training Takes Time.

This will surprise many reading this but one of the things I strong disagree with in Martial Arts is sparring (kicking and punching not wrestling) for primary school aged children, the idea of small children hitting each other and being rewarded for it with a trophy I just find really unnecessary.

It’s the psychological aspect of it, that it’s a good thing to hit someone else and that you will be rewarded for it if you do it well.

check out this clip I came across on YouTube last week to see what I mean.

4 Year Olds Sparring

At 4 years old do they understand the real purpose of sparring, highly unlikely.

What they do understand is that adults are applauding and smiling and congratulating them from the sidelines for the very thing that they would be in trouble at preschool for doing. If you read further down you see that their child (now 6) can do tornado kicks and launch complex strategies for defeating an opponent.

Any psychologist will tell you that you reward the behaviour that you are trying to instill.

A fantastic children’s programme will offer relevant self defence training and gross motor skills development as well as an amazing character development programme. It’s focus will be on making the children better equipped for life and the daily challenges that they face at school and at home.

I know I’m at odds with 99% of martial arts teachers on this but what are your thoughts as a parent or concerned adult?………….  Should 6 year old little Johnny with all his life experience and ability to reason take his tornado kick to school or not?

Kind Regards

Craig Guest