Information for Adults

Information and advice for the parents and guardians of young Shoto Budo members.

Benefit of Shoto Budo Training for Young People
Shoto Budo Instruction for its Younger Members
Training At A Junior Level
Junior Member Requirements
When To Begin and How Often To Train?
Grading At A Junior Level
The Transition From Junior To Adult

 

The Benefit of Shoto Budo Training for Young People
Shoto Budo Martial Arts provides a safe, positive, dynamic learning environment for young club members. Our training benefits young people in many ways:

Martial arts training should be seen an opportunity for the student to develop many positive qualities. By attending regular training sessions, and through having to pay attention to what is asked of them in order to be graded, students learn discipline. Additionally, through the development of new friendships, there is the creation of positive peer pressure to do well. Competition to succeed is therefore available to all students rather than the few exceptional students.

Young students ultimately enjoy the opportunity to be active, meet new friends and have fun while learning new skills.
top


Shoto Budo Instruction for its Younger Members
Shoto Budo clubs are registered, for insurance purposes, with MADEC (Martial Arts Development Commission) and adhere to their coaching and child protection guidelines. Furthermore, Shoto Budo has developed and delivered several intensive instructors’ courses with the aim of ensuring a high level of instruction throughout the organisation.

Instructors will deliver a range of training sessions that take the needs, abilities and personality of each young person into consideration. Generally, students will be taught in a group environment with others of a similar age or skill level. However, each child will receive the individual attention, support and encouragement they need to achieve personal success.
top


Training At A Junior Level
Young students train at a pace which is appropriate to their age, skill level and physical ability. Training sessions are likely to begin with a warm-up and stretching to prepare muscles for the work that lies ahead. Throughout each class, juniors will have the opportunity to learn and improve upon a series of technical skills, including:

Equipment such as focus pads, shin guards and hand mitts are used to allow students to practice/ play at the skills needed to learn about fighting/defending while protecting them from injury. It is continually reinforced that the objective is not to cause harm to others. Instead, there is an emphasis on the prevention of injury through self- control and cooperation. Ultimately, both Junior and adult training sessions share a focus on the promotion of self-defence, health and well being.
top


Junior Member Requirements
Members are expected to follow a general code of etiquette: To be punctual, to come fully prepared to train, to be dressed appropriately and so show respect to instructors and club mates. Satisfactory progress in the early stages will be made with regular attendance to weekly practice sessions. A short time during the week spent stretching and practicing techniques and kata will also aid development.

Note: The technical director has written a book specifically for children called “My First Look at Karate” which gives some tips on training and etiquette which can be purchased through the club or through “Blitz Martial Arts Equipment Supplier” which can be found @ http://www.blitzsport.com/
top


When To Begin and How Often To Train?
Each club sets individual age limits to ensure they can look after everyone and you should check with the club leader for the details. All children develop differently, and training should only begin when the student is ready, willing and capable of learning and practicing martial arts. Please contact your nearest instructor for more advice
How often a young person should train depends on a lot of factors, and individual development should always be discussed with your child’s instructor. It must be pointed out that young people take time to learn and one hour per week is not a long time. However the use of new modelling techniques allows us to give valuable learning experiences to all our young students.
top


Grading At A Junior Level
We use a coloured coded system for the children’s grading system with striped and single-coloured belts representing equal stages i.e. 1st coloured stripe, 2nd coloured stripe 1st coloured belt, next coloured tab etc. This allows the opportunity to reward the children on a fairly regular basis (usually twice per year provided they have been training regularly). Most gradings take place at club level, where they will be asked to demonstrate a range of skills before an external examiner. When the children reach brown belt they have to attend special courses in order to be graded to 1st black tab, 2nd black tab and black belt as we consider these as national grades rather than club grades. After attaining black belt they will receive a certificate for one year which also follows the coloured system and they have to be tested each year to ensure that they continue to develop skills such as maturity, respect etc
top


The Transition From Junior To Adult
When the instructors feel a junior student has reached a certain skill level and/ or a certain psychological and physical maturity level, they will be invited to participate in the adult training sessions. In the case of those who have reached the level of Junior Black Belt, we would expect a transfer to 1st Dan Black Belt between the ages of 16- 18 years old. Please direct any queries you may have about your child’s development to their club instructor.

Back to top