Obviously learning how to protect yourself, makes you surer of yourself and makes you not worried that what you say to someone might get you punched in your face; because you know you can handle it. But more importantly, from the first day of lessons, when kids come into a martial art school they’re developing confidence, especially the younger children. It’s an environment they’ve never seen before. It’s very different from the schools they’ve been to or some of their academic school or kids’ playroom. So just coming in and meeting an instructor clad, a black belt, in a white or black uniform can be scary at first but learn that when they actually talk with the person, they find out that this person who might look kind of scary was actually friendly This helps them want to be more outgoing and meet people and instills confidence in a social setting.
Second, is they are constantly trying new things in class. I’ve been teaching martial arts for 36 years, and ass time has gone on the willingness of children to try new things or God forbid fail at something has dramatically decreased. Kids more and more say things like, “I can’t do it” before they even try it. I don’t know where this risk-adverse cultures come from, but just having children try something new and only stick to things, they’re good at it is a real problem. The great thing in a martial arts class is that they try something and even if they cannot do it, the will be encouraged to try it again and try it again until they are able to do it proficiently. As a Child sees that if they work at something they get they get better at it, he or she will develop confidence in themselves, especially when they master something that they didn’t think they could do.
We’ve had I have a game that like you called Ninja Mountain. I picked up from a program years ago that the kids run and jump over kick shields, and each round you would stack more and more pads on At my last school, the record was eight kick shields. This feat was accomplished by a kid, who at first couldn’t jump over even one. When he first came to us he was not very athletic or coordinated, but with constant practice, in an encouraging environment, he was eventually able to do it. And when he jumped over that eighth pad, the look on his face was just amazing.
So, the constant reinforcement of trying something hard, that at first seems that the child can’t do it, but by working at it with someone helping you can do it. You can do it and keep helping them with it until they’re able to do it. This process builds massive REAL self-confidence. I hate the term self-esteem because it’s misused. It’s based on nothing, just you should just feel good about yourself for no reason. But that false self-esteem will shatter if tested
In martial arts, the greatest way that really supercharges a child, or even an adult’s self-confidence is when a student has to spar for the first time with somebody who’s much bigger and more skilled than he or she is. This is the perfect dress rehearsal for the bully on the playground. There’s nothing that is as good for standing up to a bully for the first time. And then learning that even if you get hit, you can survive it and maybe get some likes into all in a cooperative learning helpful environment. This teaches them that even in really scary situations when they may take a few licks they can deal with it and come out victorious, or at least stronger from the experience.
