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Is most of your child's free time spent on their electronic devices?
Are your attempts to persuade your child to put the controller for their games console down met with resistance? Do you see a large difference between how you live your childhood and how your own children do? Did you spend more time outdoors being physically active?
At 5 or 6 years old these children should be active every day. In fact, current guidelines from the NHS suggest that children 5 years and above should be taking part in at least one hour of moderate-intensity exercise every day. The recommendations go on to suggest that the children should experience a variety of different exercises and intensities that increase bone density, build strength and develop movement skills.
Being active from a young age is important as this is the time children start to build FUNdamental Movement Skills. Building these skills during childhood has been shown to increase participation in sport and physical activity later on in life.
is your child confident at home but shy in public?
When children take part in a new activity, in a new place with people the children are unfamiliar with, children can find starting new activities a little challenging. Does your child sometimes say they don’t want to participate in a new activity because they are afraid of getting things wrong, even before they have even tried?
Every time a child takes part in a new activity, there is a chance they make not get everything right the first time. This can sometimes cause them to not try at all, following the logic that you can’t fail if you don’t try. The children that think their abilities and intelligence are said to have a fixed mindset. A growth mindset is a view that people can improve their intelligence and abilities, given enough effort.
A number of studies have shown that a growth mindset can help children reduce stress, take on new challenges, build intrinsic motivation, enhance self-esteem and improve confidence.
Is your child full of energy but has difficulty focusing?
Do they often stick with challenging tasks and find it hard to work towards goals? Are they easily distracted and struggle to complete activities they are started?
In the sixties psychologist Walter Mischel performed an experiment called the marshmallow test where researchers asked children to resist eating a marshmallow with the promise of a second if they managed it.
Years later Mischel followed up on his original study and that found the children that were able to delay gratification longer developed a higher sense of self-worth, lower levels of obesity, lower levels of drug and alcohol abuse, chased goals more effectively, achieved higher levels of education and also enjoyed better quality relationships.
Are you looking to expand your childs circle of friends?
Every parents wants thier children to be able to make new friends easily. This enables their children to be dropped into different environments and make new friends easily. Are you also looking for an activity that also have a positive peer group?
As the saying goes ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’. Being able to understand people, show empathy, respect other children’s personal space and understand how to work with a partner or as part of a group is skills that can be learnt.
Social interaction is not only important for confidence building but is also one of the reasons children love physical activities. Children start activities for lots of different reasons but often the main reason they continue to participate is the friendships they build.
looking for a martial arts club where development is the priority?
Have you looked at activities for your child that often require you to pay for a term or buy expensive equipment before your child even get’s started?
All martial arts clubs need to turn a profit (including not for profit clubs). This allows them to pay their bills and improve their facilities. While parents understand this, what they don’t like is paying a fortune for unqualified coaches delivering unorganised programmes.
The Warrior Factory clubs are run as ‘not for profit’ Community Interest Companies. That said, we pride ourselves on providing a professional service. This enables us to concentrate on the students rather than maximing out our income.
Development for life
Age specific martial arts
Our children’s martial arts programme has been up and running since 2008. Based on the MAPLE framework (Martial Arts Physical Literacy Engine), the system is designed to deliver fun sessions that are psychologically, physically and socially age-appropriate for your son or daughter.
After leaving a career as a Network Engineer in 2008 to focus on teaching martial arts full time. After researching new ways to improve his coaching skills, Phill noticed that most martial arts coaches delivered their children’s classes the same way as they taught classes for adults. He knew that the needs of the children were very different to that of the adults but he didn’t know where to look for better methods.
At the time the only training courses he could find were gym based. This led to him to study for the Personal Trainer exam, before later going on to complete a BSc and MSc in sports coaching at Leeds Becket University. The MAPLE system is the result of over £40,000 spent on education and 10 years of research and development.
In most martial arts, all students need to do to become instructors is pass a black belt exam testing their ability to perform the martial art rather than teach it. Although the martial arts field has very little regulation, the Warrior Factory venues have their own unique way of operating.
Not only are our venues built on a theory-based children’s programme (MAPLE), but many of our coaches have studied to degree level in sports coaching or early year’s development. Pairing a programme based on theory and research with experienced and qualified coaches helps the centres to provide safe, fun and age-appropriate classes for our members.
What happens in our............
kids martial arts classes
Martial Arts techniques
Our kids martial arts classes teach strikes, kicks, blocks and stances along with various combinations from our Taekwondo syllabus.
Basic Movements
FUNdamental Movement Skills games are integrated into our kids martial arts classes to build the basic movements needed for all sport & physical activity.
Positive Psychological Characteristics
Our Dragons programme includes a key skills programme to help the students develop positive psychological characteristics
Social Skills
This is the perfect age for the children to develop the social and leadership skills they need to work in pairs or groups.
Physical Fitness
Fitness for this age focuses on the 8 main MAPLE physical skills; locomotion, strength, stabilisation, coordination, flexibility, speed, agility and power.
Cognitive Development
The aim of this programme is to help the students understand the benefits of training and how it can improve their long term outcomes.
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