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Black Belt Candidate Essays

Black Belt Essay: What It Is and What It Takes by Shawna

snicklefritz
Shawna in her provisional black belt. Aiming for 1st degree!

Shawna is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. Here’s her black belt essay! I love how she talks about what a black belt DOES, how they interact with others and how they treat their own goals.

Kindness, awareness, respect, and persistence–check out Shawna’s essay after the jump to find out what she really thinks it means to be a black belt!!

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Benefits of Martial Arts LIFESKILLS

Lifeskills: Persistence & “Sticking With It”

Howdy, folks! I’m kicking off 2015 with a blog series on “Lifeskills.” In other words, the skills that we teach our martial arts students that transfer over and apply to other areas in life.

  • Like respect, performance skills, confidence, resilience, leadership, balance, the ability to handle pressure, etc. ALL of these can be used ANY time to meet school, work, and life goals.

Today, I’m going to talk about persistence. The ability to stick with it. Until the goal is met.

test anxiety

I was thinking today about how to have a conversation with a student who is ready to quit. Obviously, I wanted to talk to them about not quitting. People quit martial arts for a lot of reasons. But this student needs martial arts. A lot of us need martial arts, more than we realize.

I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts about persistence, martial arts, and quitting–and why it’s so vital that kids get a chance to wrestle with these skills before they become young adults.

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General

Celebrating Our Youth 2014!

NWSMA Donation to Stanwood Food Banksm
NWSMA students with their Food Bank donation.

Students from NW School of Martial Arts donate 100 pounds of food to Stanwood Camano Food Bank! Students also helped a local church fill baskets of food for families in need.

School owner Doris Eastbury believes that, “As martial artists, we want to make the world a better place by serving others. Our annual donation drives are a great way for our kids to help make a difference.”

NW School of Martial Arts donates a portion of their proceeds to Bikes for Books, and as a part of their annual summer camp, collected school supplies for the Caring Place.

It takes a village to raise a child. –African proverb

Big thanks and mad props to NWSMA PARENTS, for helping these kids be a part of something bigger, for encouraging them through struggle, and for supporting us 100% of the way. We couldn’t do this without you, and we are so grateful that you have chosen us to be a part of your village. 🙂

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General

Change Drive & Guess-Off Results!

Howdy, folks! Just an update on the change drive:

We raised a grand total of $207. 96!!!!

change

Whoa! That’s a lot of change! Nice job, and thanks to everyone for their contributions. 🙂

We’ll be using this money to buy some new focus pads, and probably a few pairs of new Arnis sticks for the school. And of course, your instructors will be making an additional $100 donation to Bikes for Books!

The BIG WINNER in the guess-off was Snicklefritz, who guessed that we raised $215!!

Black belts

She’s second from the right in the photo there (and stay tuned, because her black belt essay is upcoming)!

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General

2014 Pot Luck & Awards

2014 Students at Pot Luck

Thank you, all of you: moms, dads, grandparents, siblings, friends, teachers, assistants, mentors, students, sons and daughters for your support for NWSMA in the past year. We would not exist without you and all that you do for us and & with us.

All of our students are AWESOME and work really hard all year round–congratulations! The yearly awards acknowledge those students who have shown extra-special growth, admirable maturity & black belt attitude, and (in some cases) overcoming life struggles behind the scenes or outside the dojo.

Here’s to another year of sweat, nuf, struggle, and progress! YOU are worth it! ~Sensei/YDN Caitlin

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Black Belt Candidate Essays Instructor Resources

Top Instructor Do’s and Don’ts from NWSMA Black Belts

Black belts

A bit of introduction here: NWSMA holds a “black belts only” class once a month. We split the class time between practicing advanced material and talking about what it means to be a black belt and an instructor.

They are assigned a reading the week before class, and this month I gave them an excellent piece from Black Belt Magazine, titled, “How Karate Sensei Can Avoid Mixed Messages in the Dojo.

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Black Belt Candidate Essays

Black Belt Essay: What It Is and What It Takes by Jasmine

Jasmine is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. Here’s her black belt essay, which tells the story of how she got interested in martial arts and how much she’s grown since then.

Jasmine was 12 at the time she wrote this, but she makes some observations that are really quite mature (I’m sure this is not surprising to anyone who knows her and her family). I highlighted a few quotes that I really liked.

1st place sparring!
1st place sparring as an advanced brown belt!

“Black Belt: What It Is and What It Takes” by Jasmine

Before I started Tae Kwon Do, I watched the movie “Kung Fu Panda” in a theater. I thought all the tricks and maneuvers the “Furious Five” and “Po” did in the movie were awesome, and I decided I wanted to do Kung Fu. At that point in my life, I was eight, so I also thought that ninja-like abilities were the thing to have.

After the initial inspiration, my parents found a 2-week deal at Trinity Martial Arts in Arlington. At the end of those “nuf”* two weeks, my siblings and I made the decision to stick with it, and later my dad joined too (mom stuck with her yoga). Chris Aprecio, the instructor, made it look like being a black belt meant you could do cool things.

It’s been a long time since then, but now I know that being a black belt doesn’t just mean to have a black belt and be athletic (and that becoming a black belt doesn’t make you a superhero).

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Black Belt Candidate Essays

Black Belt: What It Is and What It Takes by Nathan

Nathan is a provisional black belt candidate for 1st degree. Here’s his black belt essay, exploring what black belt means to him.

I really love this essay, and I love that Nathan is such a strong example for his kids and for other students in our school. I took the liberty of highlighting a couple quotes that really resonated with me. Enjoy!

awesome
Nathan with two of his three kids.

“Black Belt: What It Is and What It Takes” by Nathan

The goal of reaching black belt has been no small task and one that NWSMA does not take lightly. For this, I am grateful. I feel to wear a black belt, it should mean something both to the wearer of the belt and to those around them. A black belt should never be a stop along one’s path in life, but rather a continuous road in itself, a life long attitude of learning, humility and challenge.

The training at NWSMA has been just this. It has been intense, focused and very, very fruitful to me personally. I have gained so much understanding, strength, and growth from my time with them both in the martial arts and outside it, that it’s hard to describe concisely all the benefits. However, what black belt truly means for me, now, is the same as what it meant to me when I started this journey about 5 years ago with my children. Black belt, to me, means family.

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General

Summer Camp 2014 & How Incredible Your Kids Are

NWSMA Summer Camp 2014

Wanna hear about how awesome & inspiring Summer Camp 2014 was? Click that “more” link!!!! 

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General

Teaching Assistants in Martial Arts Class

Practicing wrist escapes in kids' class.
Practicing wrist escapes in kids’ class.

Have you ever wondered why the assistants are working with your child? Perhaps you notice that they’re leading groups, and the senior instructors are watching.

In today’s post, we’re going share our thoughts on teaching assistants. Who they are, why they’re there, and what they do.

Click “more” to keep reading.