from the April, 2010 issue of Kiai!

Parent Pitch: Thousand Waves is a
“Great Place to Grow a Human Being”

By: Nancy Lanoue

The parent on the phone inquiring about classes for her kids was not pleased with the schedule options I laid out for her 4, 7, 11 and 15 year olds to study karate at Thousand Waves. “Why can’t they all just be in the same class,” she asked with annoyance. Ironically, at almost any other dojo they WOULD all be in the same class.

It’s a big investment of resources for Thousand Waves to provide four separate age-limited children’s programs. We do it because it’s important to us to create an optimal learning environment for each of our 275 students under the age of 18.

If we had the space and the staff to offer classes for different age groups at the same time we would, but we just don’t have that capacity.

What we do have though are large numbers of kids who stick with their martial arts training from early childhood to adulthood. Three of our current staff instructors came up through the programs themselves and gained a professional skill as a result of their dedicated training. When we ask kids at their black belt tests to speak about how karate has influenced them, they are often at a loss because it is so woven into the fabric of their lives. As one teen, Senpai Nick Elitzik, who started with us as a Little Kick explained to a board member, “Thousand Waves is just a great place to grow a human being.”

Age Appropriate Goals and Methods

Our pre-school and kindergarten aged Little Kick members need a playful, games-based teaching model consisting of extremely short lesson blocks appropriate for their limited ability to concentrate and attend to instructions. For them, our focus is on gross motor skills, learning to work cooperatively in a group, and building a relationship with a teacher.

Our first and second grade Junior members can focus for longer periods and learn more complicated sequences. They need support and encouragement to be more independent in their self-care. They have more understanding of the idea that it can be fun to do hard things and that achieving anything of value will be hard work.

Third graders are ready to learn how to navigate training partnerships and eager to show they are mature enough to train with the “big kids.” Our Youth members relate to technical feedback and understand that there are layers of knowledge that can only be reached through repetitious practice.

Teens need a safe and welcoming place to escape from whatever pigeonhole they’ve been cast into at school. At Thousand Waves, they try out new ways of relating to people. Free from the fear of being labeled “un-cool” they eagerly embrace the hard physical challenges and rituals of respect we share with them. By the time they are 15 and begin training with adults, they can hold their own in multi-generational relationships and even play leadership roles as senpai with people quite senior to them in age.

Upcoming Graduation Ceremony

The children perceive this developmental progression and look forward to graduating to the next program, even though they feel some trepidation. Every spring the six year olds entering first grade in the fall and the second graders entering third grade in the fall “fly up” and make the shift from being the oldest members in one program to being the youngest in another.

This year, on Sunday, May 23rd, from 3 – 4 pm, we will have a graduation ceremony for these two groups. There will be a short demonstration by the junior black belts, and senior level kids from both the Junior and Youth programs who have agreed to be “buddies” will be there to meet and greet their new training partners. Black belt teens will supervise play activities for the kids downstairs, enabling us to talk with parents about our expectations for the children and the new opportunities and challenges the new level of training will present.

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