Denny Strecker’s Blog

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Many years ago, a martial arts student lived in a temple. One day, his teacher and the temple elders decided to send the student on a quest. Upon being summoned, the student was both elated and fearful as he appeared before the elders. They told the student that he must travel to a temple in a far-off foreign land to complete his training. When he arrived, the teachers there would share all their secrets with him.

The student’s travels were filled with many trials and tribulations; he battled many vagabonds, bullies and street thugs. He finally arrived at the distant temple, after walking for almost a year, tattered, weathered, but a different man. He was greeted as a champion and was led directly into the chamber of elders.

The elders handed him a beautiful, leather-bound book, The Book of Knowledge. The book had only one page, which was a mirror. Of course, the student/warrior only saw his reflection. He became frustrated and asked, “Is this a joke?” The elders said, “You are the only one besides us who has made the journey and survived. You are the living example; you can now take our place as the elder and run the temple, so we can leave.” The warrior threw the book to the ground, breaking the mirror. Loudly, he said, “I am happy to be able to have lived the lessons, but I will not waste my time in this jail when so many things are still to be learned.” He then left.

This story is a fine example of the quest for martial arts training. Today, students are not as patient as they once were and they do not realize that lessons are not always clear. The lessons are their experiences, failures, successes, bumps and bruises, frustrations, and their trust in their teachers.
Lessons are constantly presented to you, if you chose to learn. The road to success is paved in sweat, hard work and determination. A very wise man once told me, “The only thing of any worth is something you worked hard for.” Trust in your teacher, but work hard and live the lessons - train to live - live to train. Be the example - live the Black Belt, don’t just tie it around your waist.

The other day I saw a father talking to his daughter after she finished her karate class. It was easy to see that he loved his daughter and wanted her to do well… but his desire to see her do well was the very thing that made her feel like a failure - like she couldn’t do anything right. The girl looked like she wanted to run off and cry.

Children, more than anything else, want to be loved and appreciated - especially by busy parents. The amount of approval a child gets from her parents is often the measuring stick by which the child gauge how much they are loved. That’s why children often check to see if Mom and Dad are watching…

As grown-ups, we know how important it is for our children to pay attention while they’re in class… to not miss any piece of information that could be critical to their success. As loving parents, we want our children to do well.

And that’s where the mistake is often made - kids, looking up to see if mom and dad are watching, are sometimes met with a scowl and a quick gesture to turn around and pay attention to the instructor, when all they were looking for was a smile and a thumbs up.

Of course, parents would be horrified to learn that they were unintentionally hurting their child — out of concern and love! None of our “Karate Parents” want to see their children’s self esteem dashed.

You see, people (and children especially!) learn much more efficiently and stay more focused when they are praised for doing something right, rather than criticized for doing something wrong. Children will have the confidence to move out of their comfort zone when they know that they are encouraged and free from criticism.

Parents who want to support their children in class will have the most success when giving their child a quick thumbs up and encouraging their child - loving them with their smile!

Making corrections is our second most important job - please leave it up to us!

You see, developing life skills in children is our number one priority and when working with kids, it’s important to “put first things first” - striving for long term benefits, like Black Belt Excellence, a strong self image, respect, courage, modesty, perseverance, and integrity.

Making corrections in the physical side of the Martial Arts (stances, techniques, etc.) is our second most important job. Especially in the beginning!

We were very excited to learn that this “first things first” system also brings about a very positive side effect.

Just think how excited we were when we realized that when we put positive character development first, excellent physical Martial Arts skills followed! When our teachers “put first things first,” the physical skills of the Martial Arts eventually develop to exciting levels!

Some parents are amused by it, and others just think it’s silly. Still, others are just curious why - and we often get asked: “Why do your teachers take the games you play in the classroom so seriously?

Chances are, you’ve seen your child play one of our favorite games, in which her goal is to remain standing perfectly still… as one of the teachers creates all of the distractions they can think of. You’ve probably felt yourself pulling for your child, hoping she could remain still.

Deep inside, everyone has a place that is unmovable, determined, and focused. Some people call it the “do what it takes,” or the “go the distance” attitude. It’s often referred to as discipline or commitment - but we consider it the root of both.

Fortunately, most children have not had the kinds of experiences that would force them to dig that deep… Yet!

Some kids find it when dealing with a tough coach in high school football, or when dealing with an injury (either physical or emotional). Some unfortunate kids never find that place.

But what if there was a way that would help kids find that rock solid place that was safe and fun? What if there was a way of finding it that children looked forward to, and were motivated to chart their progress? A way that was completely painless, yet was so effective it must be “magical?”

We call this “magical” way the “Attention Stance Game.” It’s not a hard game for kids to learn - as they try their hardest to stand at attention, perfectly still, the teachers use any means of distraction (except tickling or touching), some of which are quite silly, to try to get the kids to move. If a child loses concentration, they are asked to sit off to the side, or do a few exercises. The teacher’s goal is make all of the kids laugh - and the child’s goal is to be the last one standing.

If you watch, you’ll notice that the beginning students are usually the first ones to break concentration. But as they continue through the belt ranks, students learn how to reach that place of deep inner strength, and are able to remain at attention longer. By the time a student reaches red belt or so, the teachers almost never win!

That is the best part of the “Attention Stance Game” — when the kids win, and the teachers “lose” — the kids and the teachers both win. Obviously, the kids have one the game. But the teachers have won the battle of leading students to that deep, inner place where they find commitment and discipline.

And the process is FUN, for both the kids and the teachers!

We all love “Win-Win” situations - especially when it means that our students are learning such valuable lessons. The lessons learned in the “Attention Stance Game” are right at the core of positive character development.

We love using games in the classroom because they are so powerful when it comes to character development. That’s why you’ll notice that a large part of our classes are dedicated to playing games.

All of our games, in fact, have an underlying lesson. As you watch your child’s karate class, are you able to figure out what the lesson is behind the game?

Short attention spans don’t stand a chance in our classroom!

I recently read that children’s attention spans don’t exceed 12 minutes - and I’m sure many parents will agree! However, while some might see this as a limitation, we see it as useful information in structuring our classroom. 

Psychologists have recommended that teachers break up their classes into smaller segments, because the study had revealed that children tend to “retain” more information at the beginning and at the end of a learning session. 

We took that to heart… By now, you have probably noticed that in our classes, the children never work on one any one skill for more than a few minutes. If you watch, you’ll see that the kids don’t even stay with the same teacher for more than about 12 minutes. At first glance it may appear to be chaos with the kids moving back and forth in the classroom!

However, there is a purpose to this “craziness.” At the beginning of each class, the students line up, bow in, and do a quick warm up. As the children are stretching after their warm-up, the head instructor begins to divide the class up by age or rank. 

Each of the other instructors has a different part of the lesson plan - it might be forms, basics, self-defense, one steps, or any number of drills - and each is given a small group of children to work with. 

After a few minutes, you’ll hear the head instructor yell “One minute, teachers!” This is the cue for each instructor to finish their drill and prepare to send their group to the next teacher. 

The kids are sent off to another part of the room, with a new teacher and a new drill, just as their attention span had reached its limit with the old drill. A short attention span isn’t given a fair chance when faced with the combination of this “switch” and the “SSL” rule. 

“SSL,” by the way, stands for “Smiling, Sweating, and Learning.” In other words, our students are learning an important skill at the same that they’re getting a good workout… and having a good time. And balance is the key to accomplishing our goal of improving our students’ lives. 

We get much better results when we have a good balance between teaching kids life skills, giving them a good workout, and making sure they have a great time when they come to class. If we only focused on one aspect of the class -“sweating,” for example - the kids wouldn’t want to come. If we didn’t teach the kids valuable life skills, the parents wouldn’t be interested in bringing their children. 

After all… what keeps us interested in working with children is seeing the benefits of their training - improved self-esteem, confidence, respect, courage, integrity, and perseverance. And these are the things that keep parents interested.

Here is a video I created to describe the benefits of taking karate classes
at Denny Strecker’s Karate
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