How does Taekwondo help the kids?
Children take up Taekwondo for different reasons – maybe they know someone who already does it and it sounds ‘cool’! Often parents are looking for the solution to their child’s lack of confidence or self-esteem, or they are looking to increase their fitness, or find some kind of ‘structured activity’ to keep them busy, get them more active and stop them from just sitting on the couch watching TV or playing video games! For teenagers, it helps them to have a break from studies and boost up their moral!
We have often helped children who have had problems with bullying – we don’t encourage them to physically ‘fight back’, although having the knowledge and confidence that they can do so in self-defence can often mean that a child’s whole demeanour can change from that of a victim to a more confident person who is less likely to be bullied in the first place.
Taekwondo can be the answer to any of the above problems – the results are not expected overnight, as with taking up any new activity, your child will need to stick at it to start reaping the benefits.
What do kids do during classes?
The Taekwondo syllabus for children is identical to that of the adults, however we put more fun through games. Due to their (generally) shorter concentration spans than that of an adult, the sessions for kids comprise a number of intervals and games aimed not only at having fun, but also improving the children’s fitness, flexibility, strength, co-ordination etc. The children love to punch and kick so we often use striking pads for fast pad work sessions to improve technique and power.
During sparring children will be attempting to make contact, not to hurt in any way. The sparring sessions are always very closely supervised – anyone going too hard will be stopped. In order for a child to participate in sparring they need to wear all mandatory protective gear. Consult the club management to obtain further information about the mandatory protective gear.
How will my child progress?
There are ten different coloured belts for the children. To move through the different coloured belts, children have to be examined, known as grading examinations or promotion tests that are held every four months. On passing the grading the child will receive two certificates, one from the Malta Taekwondo Federation and the other from us – Dragon Academy Malta, together with the presentation of the new coloured belt. Tying on the next colour of belt is a huge confidence boost, since kids look back at the other newer beginners to see just how much they have learnt and improved. They also of course look forward to the higher belt colours, and hopefully try to emulate some of our more senior (in grade, not necessarily age) children.
The instructors
Our instructors are in possession of a good number of years dealing with children – their experience in supervision is truly reflected in the good number of children attending each session. Our instructors are all black belt qualified by Kukkiwon and attained tertiary education. We operate a child-safe policy, indeed we make part of the non-formal learning within the local government’s education, which education ensures that the activity has an educational value and is provided safely.
Can children enter competitions?
Yes, all of the Malta Taekwondo Federation’s national competitions are open to both adults and children. There are also open international competitions. We always encourage children to have a go – they will only be competing against children in the same age bracket, grade and weight.
Competing is a great experience for young and old alike, it is a very good learning opportunity, and of course, winning or being placed will be a huge boost to anyone’s confidence. Our students often bring home medals and trophies from both local and national tournaments. Read our news for more.
Are there other events?
Throughout the year we do organise a number of demonstrations as we deem that kids will do their utmost to give a good performance. Also, we hold social activities that are open to all including parents/guardians, friends and relatives. We also invite all our members for the end-of-year party to celebrate together all successes obtained throughout the year.
How does my child start?
Once your child is ready to start, you just contact us and benefit from a free trial. Please ensure they are wearing loose comfortable clothing such as jogging pants and a t-shirt. Please also make sure that their trousers do not come down past their ankles where they could fall underneath their feet as this can cause them to slip over. Please remove any jewellery, and bring along a bottle of water (drinks available for sale). It is also not a good idea to stuff them full of chocolate or unhealthy food (e.g. pastry and sweets) just before training since halfway through the class they will suddenly run out of energy or feel sick. It is much better to give them a snack such as fruit or flapjack after school, which should give them a sustained energy release to last through the lesson. For more advice on nutrition for children, we recommend you visit the BBC’s website (https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/healthy-eating-what-young-children-need) where they have an excellent section on children’s nutrition.