 This is a topic that is so important to me. It breaks my heart to see how bullying can affect children or adults. I have heard some horror stories of how children don’t want to go to school because they are so uncomfortable in that environment. This eventually has a significant impact in several areas of their lives. Their school work suffers, they get behind, this causes added stress for them and they start to feel and believe that they cannot fix all these problems. Even Parents watching their children suffer can feel helpless sometimes.
This is where we, at our Martial Arts Academy, take action and attempt to help do the one thing that will have the biggest impact on helping these children. We want to give them CONFIDENCE. In this article, I speak about how Martial Arts Instructors can help ... but the truth is any coach, teacher, friend etc… can take action and get involved. My son is only 4 years old and talks about his Junior Kindergarten teacher every day! This tells me that she plays a significant role in his life and he values what she does for him daily. She is actually pretty great… and we are thankful. I believe having children involved in any organised sport, or activity (dance, soccer, hockey, music) but especially martial arts (I admit, I may be bias)will have a positive impact for them. At our academy, we try to instill confidence from the moment your child comes through our doors. They walk in, we say Hello, we high five them, and we make them feel welcome and safe! When children feel that they are in a safe environment…. they can be themselves, and when children can be themselves and see that everyone likes them and accepts them…. they become more confident. It does not stop there… They come into our classes… They make new friends, often long term friendships are formed. I cannot tell you how many kids we have seen meet at the academy for the first time, and in a short time, are attending each other’s birthday parties, having play dates at each other’s homes etc… The children gain all these new friends, learn to socialise in a safe environment and become more confident! In our classes, we teach them Martial Arts. Martial Arts is the tool that we use to forge their character. We teach them to Never Give Up, we teach them to Keep Trying, We teach them that not succeeding the first time you learn a new technique is OK and that with continued effort and practice, you will succeed. When they succeed, we celebrate their success. Sometimes it’s with a small gesture.. “Good Job! Or High Five! Sometimes its with a new stripe, or a new belt level! But when we celebrate, their success, they learn that hard work pays off, and they become more confident. I have so many more examples.. how we teach children to be confident. It would most likely add several pages to this blog. I will elaborate more on a podcast if people are interested. But in closing, Confident Children who know they are loved by their parents, friends (in their social circles, like a martial arts class) and coaches will be less likely to be a potential victim. In martial arts classes, we do teach self-defence and ways to help prevent bullying but we hope it never comes to that. More importantly, we try to provide them with something much more important. A loving, safe atmosphere, with a support network of friends and family that will always have their back…. And when you have a full team of friends and family supporting you… BULLYING STOPS HERE!! In this episode of the SMMA Podcast, we get the chance to sit down with SMMA kid's Instructors, Piper and Shae. They both tell us about how they got started in martial arts and what inspired them to keep training! Whenever we get a chance to hang out with these two, its always a Blast!!
https://sudburymma.podbean.com/e/smma-12-meet-piper-and-shae 1/2/2018 0 Comments Happy New Year!!From everyone at Sudbury MMA, Happy New Year!! Let's CRUSH our goals this year, and help motivate each other to be the best we can be on and off the mats!!
12/18/2017 0 Comments Happy Holidays from Sudbury MMAThis is always a beautiful time of year!! We would to wish all our members a safe, happy and restful holiday season! Thank being said, we do have classes running all through out the holidays to make sure you get some training time in as well! See everyone on the mats!!  11/28/2017 0 Comments SMMA is always a fun place to be!At Sudbury MMA, we always are looking to have a great time! Even when we are advertising for the academy, we like to have fun! Check out the video below!! With two locations on each end of town (one in New Sudbury and the other in the South End) SMM offers the best schedule with a variety of martial arts programs for kids, teenagers, adult beginner and advanced classes as well as women's only programs!! Call us for your FREE TRIAL anytime! I am the first one to say that training in martial arts is a lifestyle! Many of us train mainly for better health or to maintain an active lifestyle, but also for the social aspect… the feeling of belonging to a team, not only learning a new skill while getting in better shape, but also seeing friends on a weekly basis, helping each other not only get better at martial arts but also supporting each other off the mats! I have been to weddings, family parties, graduations, camping events etc.. The Sudbury MMA family literally spends time together as a team and a family!! But don’t let that fool you.. when it comes to competition, our academy has achieved success at every level, from local competition to the international level! Check out the videos below of some of our young, up and coming competitors! 10/2/2017 0 Comments It does not need to be fancyA lot of students today will spend countless hours outside their regular class time surfing websites looking for new or tricky techniques that they think will solve their Jiu Jitsu problems on the mat. They started off well.... they first asked their instructor how to prevent "the blue or purple belt" (and they are a white belt) from tapping them or controlling them during Randori (sparring). The instructor will tell them, make small goals, celebrate the small victories... for example, look to defend better (don't get tapped as often), try not to get mounted or have your back taken etc.. but these answers are not what they want to hear. I am not sure why some people don't understand that a person with an additional 5-7 years of training should be tapping them etc.. So.. not satistfied with their instructor's answer, what do they do? GO ONLINE!! They search "How to escape arm locks" and they find a cool escape that involves crazy acrobatics but they are convinced that THIS is the technique that will work against that purple belt!! They stroll into Randori class with this new found confidence only to be tapped again! and the cycle starts over. If I can offer any advice, be patient, drill the basics, if you are getting caught repeatedly, ask your partner to do the technique again a little slower with less power so you can hit the escape with the right timing. Trust the basics! In our 60 seconds with SMMA, we cover several basic techniques that is sure to help any new student to BJJ. Check out the video below! Enjoy Parents are often looking for an extra curricular activity for their family. They want to do something that promotes an active lifestyle, builds relationships, and most of all something that is FUN!! If you are looking for an activity that promote fitness and fun.. for the whole family, look no further!!
Martial Arts at our academy is the perfect family activity! Here at Sudbury MMA, we have several families involved with our academy! We are an academy that promotes family, fitness and fun! Our youngest members are 3 years old! In the video, you can see my son holding pads for me! When you practice martial arts with your family, Not only will you be able to participate directly with your children, you will be encouraging them to live an active, positive lifestyle, with the perfect role model, YOU! You will often hear about the Jiu Jitsu Lifestyle etc… and this is what we mean, all the positives in life. BJJ can often teach you several lessons on the mats that transcends into everyday life. Your family will meet other families, your children will make several new friends, our instructors will help build your children’s self confidence and with all our family oriented events... All of this, plus the weekly classes will always give your family something exciting to look forward to all the time! For example, this past summer, we had a family water gun fight and a family weekend "campcation". Our Team looks forward to these events and are in the planning phase of our fall and winter events! These social events allow our team to hang out and socialise off the mats! Our academy believes that relationships are the core of our community… when we are surrounded by positive relationships, we have a strong community hence.. SMMA STRONG!! If you are looking for a family activity, give martial arts at Sudbury MMA a try… it could change your family’s life! See you all on the mats!  As many people know, I am a huge advocate of martial arts training for kids. I often hear of, and I am sure that often people will read about the benefits of training martial arts for children. You will read about several benefits of martial arts training for kids but a lot of what I have read does not thoroughly explain how martial will do this for your children. One of the most important aspects of training martial arts is developing self confidence. This is the most important thing that we try to help children with here at Sudbury MMA … developing or improving Self Confidence. Let me explain how we do this!
Our academy promotes Self Confidence amongst children by providing a safe, fun learning environment for everyone. Studies have shown that if children are stressed in their learning environment, it will not only affect their learning curve but also ultimately their self confidence. So we try to make Sudbury MMA as comfortable and inviting to kids from the moment they walk though our doors! Your children will be greeted by our team with a high five! During class, they will be told … and they will tell their training partners that they are awesome! Who does not love being told that they are awesome?? In all of our classes, Karate, BJJ, Muay Thai, they will hear this every day!! Your children will make several new friends that will tell them they are awesome every day… their self esteem will continue to rise and along with that, so will their self confidence! When your children come to our academy, there are no bullies… we do not tolerate them. We encourage kids to be welcoming, friendly and accepting of everyone. We have a “Hands Off” policy… Sounds funny considering it’s a martial arts school… but this rule is to be followed before classes, in between classes, at home, during our games etc… This ensures your children will only practice techniques under our instructor’s supervision. Our professional instructors will motivate and encourage your children to do their best and offer positive reinforcement for for not only doing a good job, but also their effort. We encourage effort and when your children do their best, we tell them how great they are doing… Your children learn that when you try your best, great things happen… you can accomplish all your goals when you work hard. When your children accomplish their goals, they become more confident and then, we help them set new goals!! This process creates a safe atmosphere for your children where they will love learning, setting goals… crushing them and feel great doing it! See you on the mats! |
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