Math and Martial Arts?

If you know me outside of class, you probably know that I'm a not-so-closet math and science geek.  But I think I can make the graph above make sense to everyone, even you haven't calculated sine curves in a while.  :-)

I'm kidding.  Actually it's very simple.  This graph represents a natural evolution of a student's motivation.  Every child that joins martial arts is excited, that's why they started.  However, it is completely natural that eventually something causes that excitement to wane.  It could be something negative that happens in class, it could be actual boredom.  But more often it's wanting to stay home to keep playing their video games, watching tv, or playing with their friends.  Often even the idea in the back of the child's mind that they MIGHT get to do those things is enough to hear:

"I don't wanna go to class".

This is naturally very concerning to a parent that had such high hopes, and is paying for the classes.  Usually this will happen once or twice and the conversation will go something along the lines of:

Parent:  "Why don't you want to go to class?"  (genuinely trying to diagnose the problem)
Kid:  "It's boring"

Parent:  "How can it be boring, you loved it last time you were there?"
Kid:  "It's boring"  (possibly while they're staring intently a their Nintendo 3DS XL)

Parent:  "Well you have to go."
Kid:  "I DON'T WANNA GO".

Parent:  (now concerned)  "Ok, let's take a break today, but then you HAVE TO go on Saturday".
Kid:  "Ok"

Then Saturday rolls around and the same conversation ensues.  By the third or fourth time, it ends with:

Parent:  "I'm not going to keep paying for classes if you're not going to go!"
Kid:  "OK"  (maybe watching videos of some guy playing a Mario game on YouTube through their Wii, possibly while also playing their Nintendo 3DS XL)

This is often decision day.  And often times the decision is to quit.  Before I diagnose this a little, 1 piece of advice:

If you find a way, with your instructors help, to motivate your child to continue, they WILL thank you when they earn their Black Belt.  I guarantee.  I meet adults every day that say:  "Man, I wish I would have stuck with it!"  I have never heard anyone say:  "Man, I am SO GLAD I quit when I was a kid!"

When you find yourself in this situation, the first thing to understand is that every single student, and parent, goes through it.  When I poll our highest ranking Black Belts, they all say they have gone through it many times.  Remember, when their motivation is low, if you can help them through it, it will go up again.

Keep in mind that loss of motivation could be due to something that happened in class.  Or it could be due to getting demoralized due to a loss at a tournament.  But if the answer isn't clear, it's equally likely to be tv or video games.  Don't let your child quit something healthy so they can play even more video games.  This goes for any activity you choose, martial arts or not.

So, what can you do?  The first thing is talk to the child.  Put yourself into their mind and try to find out if something actually happened, if they really dislike martial arts, or if it's tv and video games.  Then speak to your instructor.  They have years of experience teaching hundreds or thousands of kids.  They've seen it before and will have solutions for you.  Maybe trying a weapons class would be re-motivating.  Maybe a special event or a new piece of equipment.  Maybe helping out in a class would be re-motivating.  There's lots of solutions.  And if your child loved martial arts, we can get them back to that again.... with your help.

Thanks for reading!

-Ryan Johnson

www.JohnsonsATA.com
Johnson's ATA on Facebook
JohnsonsATA1 on Twitter

Thanks!

I just want to use this weeks post to say thank you to everyone that made our 2015 Sioux City Regional Tournament a success.

A tournament is a huge and overwhelming project.  It takes literally hundreds of man hours to prepare.  It takes dozens and dozens of people to pull it off successfully.  I am certain that I'll forget to mention some people that were critical to our success, for that I apologize in advance.

Thank you to my leadership team that worked so hard setting up Thursday and Friday and then working at the tournament Friday evening and all day on Saturday.  Rachel, Rachel, Julaina, Beth, Ereys, Eric, Molly, Mr. B, Jorleny, Laura, Cyndi, Lance, Katie, Dan, Hannah, Stacey, and more.  Thank you!

Thank you to all of the people that judged Friday evening and all day on Saturday.  We have a lot of rings (18) and it takes a lot of people willing to help out and judge.  Thank you!

Thank you to our sponsors.  With your help, we are able to provide every child with a medal to reward their hard work.  We are able to host a great event and invite grandpas and grandmas and aunts and uncles with no spectator admission.  Thank you Jerry's Pizza, Milwaukee Wiener House, Horizon Restaurant, Sioux City Bandits, RE Scott Inc, Beautiful Birth Day Doula, AGP, The Feed Shed, Serenity Birthing Services and More!  Thank you!

Thank you to everyone that competed.  Ultimately, a tournament is all about the competitors.  Thank you for making the trip and spending your time competing at our event.  I hope you had a great time and will be back next year.  Thanks!

Thanks to C. S. who doesn't want to be mentioned, but I'm doing it anyway.

Thanks everyone, see you next year!

-Ryan Johnson

www.JohnsonsATA.com
Johnson's ATA on Facebook and Twitter

One Big Reason to Compete

With our annual Sioux City Regional Tournament coming up soon, I thought I'd share with you one (of many!) big reasons to consider competition for kids.

I read a long time ago that adults are more afraid of public speaking than death.  Now, that sounds crazy, but I think many people would agree that they are terrified of public speaking.  This fear limits us in so many areas of our life.  I have been guilty myself.  This was my biggest roadblock in trying to become an effective instructor.

Fear of public speaking takes certain jobs (like sales) completely off the table.  It limits your ability to progress through management levels in a company.  And it can seriously limit your opportunities.  How amazing would it be if we could teach a 7 year old to overcome this fear before it is even fully developed.  Developing the ability to perform in front of an audience could completely change the trajectory of their life.  We'll never know for sure, but why not arm them with as much ammunition to succeed at life as possible!

Tournament competition is part of the process of doing this.  It will help kids learn to overcome the fear of public speaking and performance.  It will teach them the importance of preparation.  It will teach them that hard work reaps real tangible results.

What an amazing thing to give to a child!

www.SiouxCityTournament.com

www.JohnsonsATA.com

Have you given up on New Year's Resolutions?

This is going to be a short but powerful post.  The topic is inspired by all the failed New Year's Resolutions, but really this is a year round post.  

I have trained martial arts for over 25 years.  I love it.  I have set and accomplished more martial arts goals than I can remember.  After all this time, it comes as naturally as breathing.  But a few years ago, I decided to get serious about weight training and I was fortunate to re-learn this valuable skill.

When I started weight training seriously, I went through the same process as anyone else.  The first few weeks were amazing.  Huge results, fast progress, totally motivating.  Eventually though, that wore off.  My progress slowed.  Little aches started to appear.  Not long after starting, I began to question the amount of time I was spending on it.  I work a lot of hours, so my free time is precious.  And I was using a lot of it lifting weights.  This is the stage where most people go off the rails.  I have before too.  

That's when I realized that I had a decision to make.  I didn't have enough time to be able to lift weights and have enough free time to watch tv or play around on the computer.  If I wanted to be able to do it long term, it needed to stop being something that took away FROM my free time.  I needed to make it what I do IN my free time.

These days, everyone is busy.  No one has enough time to do everything they want and/or should do.  If you truly want to accomplish your goals, make it what you want to do in your free time.  Your martial arts training is the same.  Once you begin to see your training as a drag that detracts from the fun things, you have started down the slippery slope of excuses and rationalization.  Think back to your first classes, or your first time sparring or training with weapons.  Those were things that you looked forward to doing IN your free time.  If you are serious about your goals, you can choose to have that back again.

-Ryan Johnson

www.JohnsonsATA.com

JohnsonsATA1 on Twitter

Johnson's ATA and Gracie Sioux City on Facebook