https://youtube.com/shorts/6HZBXknltw8 Over the last five or six years—and honestly, ever since the disruptions of COVID—I have noticed a massive, troubling shift on our training mats. I call it the “Push-Up Test,” and it highlights a major crisis in childhood resilience. When a child walks into our dojo today, it doesn’t matter if they are 5, […]
https://youtube.com/shorts/tCsZAKWOhow I remember exactly when it started. It was about 20 or 25 years ago, right when I was working as a public school elementary teacher. I spent a decade teaching fourth and fifth-grade band and orchestra—I hold both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in education, and alongside my 39 years in the martial […]
https://youtu.be/Viawqmik-eo It is one of the most common, exhausting complaints parents bring to our lobby: “Kurt, my child loves your class once they are on the mat, but getting them out of the house today was an absolute nightmare. They just kept crying that they didn’t ‘feel’ like coming.” This isn’t an isolated problem unique […]
https://youtu.be/eACB80BKVfk It is a staggering, heartbreaking statistic that plagues youth sports across the country: by the time children reach the age of 13, up to 70% of them will completely throw up their hands and quit the activities they used to love. Think about that. These aren’t just kids who tried a sport for a […]
https://youtu.be/JHNaqgkPOQs Rewind your mind back to the late 1970s or 1980s. If you are old enough to remember, think about what the technology landscape looked like inside a typical household. There was exactly one television in the house. One. It was a massive, heavy piece of wooden console furniture sitting on top of thick shag […]
https://youtu.be/z29jFjuZ4KE If you look back 10 or 15 years ago, a standard introductory class at a martial arts school looked a certain way. A seven- or eight-year-old child would walk onto the mats, and if you asked them to drop down and show you what they had, they could easily pop out five to ten […]
https://youtu.be/FBQEzIrWl1g Take a look at the statistics tracking modern youth sports leagues across Kenosha right now, and you will find an absolute catastrophe hidden in plain sight. National data from organizations like the National Alliance for Youth Sports reveals a heartbreaking metric known inside the industry as “The Churn”: Nearly 70% of all children drop […]
https://youtu.be/LUsDmPA0GQM It is a two-word phrase that sends a shiver down the spine of every teacher, coach, and parent: “I can’t.” You see it happen all the time at home or during sports practices around Kenosha. A child is faced with a task that requires a little bit of struggle—whether it’s tieing their shoes, wrapping […]
https://youtu.be/NYs58gwGCgY We have all heard the corporate buzzword that dominated headlines over the last few years: “Quiet Quitting.” It describes an employee who hasn’t officially walked out the door, but they have completely checked out mentally. They do the absolute bare minimum required to not get fired, sitting silently at their desk while completely withdrawing […]
https://youtu.be/wcAUiZfbw_4 If you are a parent who didn’t grow up training in the martial arts, shopping for a local school can feel like navigating an entirely different language. We get it over the phone all the time here in Kenosha: “What is the actual difference between Karate and Taekwondo?” If you don’t know the answer, […]
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