Healthy Competition :) Part 2

Life is all about choice!  At ATA Elkton, we teach about the Ladder of Success - which is something I heard later in my life, in college.  As we make good decisions, we climb the ladder of success.  For each bad decision we climb down a rung.  The good thing is that we should always learn from our mistakes.  It's kind of like a "one step backward and two steps forward" kind of deal.  When we make a good decision, it's easy to become lazy.  It's also important to learn from our successes so that they keep happening!  A tournament is an amazing way to immerse one's self in a challenge to learn.  From every win and loss, you can learn something to really make you a true champion.  The only trick is that from every win and loss, you can also make a choice to NOT learn anything.  It can go either way.  The purpose of this section is to help you teach your children a powerful lesson after each tournament, based on their age group.

Today we'll go over skills for kids aged 7-10 years old.  Just so you know, those kids are the ages where they actually begin to "compete."  They go for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, then there is a 4th place trophy.  I call it the competitor award but many schools are giving out the 1-3 and then giving up to 13 kids a "4th place."  It goes along with the ATA's motto, "every kid is a winner."  To prepare for this, here is what I'd suggest:

If a kid gets a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place trophy, talk about how awesome they did and then maybe ask the kid how they can train over the next few weeks to continue to do this good.  We could keep telling them how when they beat those other kids, those kids became more motivated to train harder and come back next time and try and beat YOU!  Right away (like on the drive home), work with your child to come up with creative ideas that are possible so that they become even better by the next tournament. 

For kids that got the 4th place trophy, those kids need to understand that the 4th place trophy means something important but doesn't mean that they actually won at the tournament.  The fourth place trophy symbolizes the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of ATA kids that are too scared to compete.  The fact that they came out and did something like this - they deserve an award.  It might have seemed easy to them but even Mom and Dad would be scared to try it!  From that point (like on the drive home), work with your child to come up with creative ideas that are possible so that they become better at the next tournament.  Have them set a goal that is specific - "My goal is to get at least a 3rd place trophy at the next tournament since this trophy says 4th.  The next tournament is [PICK A DATE]." 

My passion for the character development in children inspires me to give you this call to action:  Take a stand for the important people in your life that train in martial arts - get them to commit to competing in a tournament to make them better martial artists and stronger people.

*Copyright Josh Hayhurst

How to get a child to listen - 1 Socratic Method

Parents want their children to do what is healthy for them and make good choices.  Some things are harder than others.  I wanted to share some fundamental techniques in dealing with people that I've learned over the years.  First of all, you have your own problems, and we have to address that fact.  When your child doesn't do what you want, many people relate it to themselves.  For example, in the beginning you say, "you have to brush your teeth so that your teeth are strong and white!"  Then after your child doesn't do it and you always have to get on them about it, you change it to, "you never do what I tell you to, you gotta brush your teeth!"  So you begin to make it about YOU and not about THEM!  To begin, we need to create the mindset of always relating the things a child must do to THEIR SELF INTEREST!

Now, we want all children to compete in the upcoming tournament!  There are so many benefits to children competing.  In the later posts, we'll publish them.  Among the many, the kids will expand socially and make new friends, understand winning and losing, and they'll also have a lot of fun.  That's just the beginning, and kids experience things different!  Today, I want to teach you the Socratic Method on getting a child to listen and do what you want them to do.  Just as a side-note, this works even better for adults! NOTE* "Socratic" stems from the base word, Socrates was a Greek philosopher changed the way people thought... he would make his students train with the wrestlers because he understood that a strong body leads to a strong mind!  Click this link to find out more about Socrates

Let's start our tournament competition conversation by getting our child to say, YES!  Don't start out with, "Do you want to compete?" Most of the time, a child won't want to compete because of they are nervous and scared.  Tournaments are big events in a new place and kids don't know what to expect.  So say something like, "You are doing pretty good in class and I can tell your instructor is impressed by your performance... doesn't that make you feel good?"  Then your child would say, "Yeah, that is pretty cool."  You could follow up with, "I would say you're one of the top students in class... it's too bad there's not a way to challenge yourself and see how good you really are..." And your child might say, "Yeah, that would be pretty cool." Then you could say, "Well you know, your instructor did mention that there's a tournament coming up, I bet that would be a good way to see how good you are.. What do you think?  Would you want to try it out?"  Use a couple questions to get your child to say YES before you drop the big question, even if you assume they're excited.  They might even come up with the idea themselves!

Here's a little note about the word NO.  Avoid them saying the word no - with kids' pride, they will stick with the no and not go back, it's like a game.  Even if they change their mind and end up feeling like they really want to do it later, they will stick with it because their pride is on the line.  In a book by Dale Carnegie, he states, "When a person says 'no' and really means it, he or she is really doing far more than saying a word of two letters.  The entire organism - glandular, nervous, muscular - gathers itself together into a condition of rejection."

My passion for the character development in children inspires me to give you this call to action:  Take a stand for the important people in your life that train in martial arts - get them to commit to competing in a tournament to make them better martial artists and stronger people. Try the Socratic method for the upcoming tournament!

Healthy Competition :) Part 1

Competition either gives us a stronger drive or stops us in our tracks.  Truthfully, you decide how you handle yourself after a devastating defeat or an overwhelming victory.  At ATA Elkton, we call this "Being a good winner and being a good loser."  You can check out that full blog post by visiting The Personal Achievement Academy Blog.  From every win and lose with every age group, there is a lesson to learn.  Martial Arts Tournaments are a small investment in time and money that will give children and adults the skills they need for life.  At different age groups, people have various ideas of what a tournament is all about.  Here are some tips on how to teach a kid after a tournament:

Let's begin with Tiny Tigers.  These kids are aged between 3 and 7 years old.  While all kids are different, this age group is very egocentric.  They really care about themselves and what's going on with them.  On a global level, the ATA organization's motto is that "every kid is special and every kid is a winner."  With that, every kid gets a trophy/ medal when they compete - no matter how good or bad they performed.  While they will get a small boost from one trophy, we have to make sure they are driving to get better each time they compete, not just participating for the "competitor award."  Tiny Tigers all get the same exact trophy so it's always good to "debrief" them after their ring is over.  Gretchen Zahn, mother of two tiny tigers and counselor at a local Elementary school offers some advice, "When a child finishes their tournament, you have to talk about why they got their trophy.  They only care about getting a trophy so you have to talk about what it was for.  After that, talk about another way they can get a trophy like, 'wouldn't you like to get one for the highest kicks next time?  Let's work on having higher kicks and try to get that trophy next time!'  This is ensure that they are constantly improving and inspired to compete next time."  It's important to address their instinctual desires while also focusing on the future with kids that age.  Show your leadership with children - take that as advice for your Tiny Tiger and help them become a stronger person!

My passion for the character development in children inspires me to give you this call to action:  Take a stand for the important people in your life that train in martial arts - get them to commit to competing in a tournament to make them better martial artists and stronger people.

School Talk at Thomson Estates

A few weeks ago ATA instructors went to Thomson Estates elementary and hosted a special class for the whole school.  It was all the kids that have had good behavior all year from the school, split into 3 groups.  This was something new because I've never taught classes of 150 students before, but it was really cool.  I learned a couple things about engaging a crowd and that the excitement of a class is amplified when the "Yes Sir!" can be heard echoing through the entire school.  We took a few pictures, but it was tough to take them at the same time we were teaching.  Check out our Facebook picture album by going to THIS PAGE. 

We taught a really cool course called the ABC Concentration course.  First, we warm the kids up with some plyometric drills to make them fast and strong.  Then we talk about having a good attitude and always trying their best.  After that, we use martial arts to teach Belief- how the most important person to believe in is yourself!  Then, I taught them the 3 levels of master focus and give teachers a tool to use when the kids are having trouble focusing.

Thanks Thomson Estates and their guidance counselor, Gretchen Zahn, for inviting us.  The staff at the school, including the principal shows how dedicated they are to the future of our community every day in their action.  I've never met a crew with so much passion!

School Talks and Community Events

Our Leadership Blog has been invaded by two other blogs!  Well, this one is special to me because it gives me the chance to post pictures and stories about special classes I get to teach and other things I think are important.  In the past, I've posted about ATAfit, school talks, and special classes we have coming up.  We have some special events coming up soon - Here are some links to stories I've written about them, after the classes, check back to see the pictures of how we inspire health and fitness for kids and adults, community activism, and special safety seminars:

Elkton Fall Fest - Click this LINK!

Personal Achievement Academy - Click this LINK!

ATAfit Circuit Training

The ATAfit class at my school in Elkton, MD has been blowing up and I'm proud to hear a bunch of positive comments on the workouts that we've been doing.  Mrs. Stanley has been a big part of the success this summer because she has taken over teaching half of the ATAfit classes.  The students have been talking about how great she's doing and when I watch, I'm definitely impressed.  She has come "out of her shell" since starting to teach ATAfit and you can see the difference in the other classes she teaches too.

For the circuits, they are challenging for anyone but, the way that they're structured, anyone can do it and the people that need a challenge will definitely get one.  Just for fun, I've named all the circuits after Mortal Kombat characters!  Awesome, right?  Well, you don't have to be a video game freak to have an awesome, fun workout in 'fit class, just come and remember your favorite workouts.

Baraka is a dirty nasty looking fighter with big blades that come out of the top of his hands.
The latest circuit is named for him because when you mess with Baraka, you're going to get cut!

Personal Achievement Academy on the loose!

Mr. Hayhurst has huge Personal Achievement Academy seminars planned for this year!  It's going to be hosted by the YMCA in Elkton and we're even bringing in businesses from the community to talk about their services, give away prizes, and sponsor kids to do martial arts at ATA and do the seminars!  The seminars are Kid Power: Success Course (A's of an all star student), Bully Defense, and Child Safety.  They are going to be huge!  The sponsorships are Make-a-difference level, Community Activist Level, and Community Super Hero Level!  The first seminar is September 24th so get registered right away!

Mr. Hayhurst inspires Barb from Tendercare
Learning Centers to be an advocate of Personal Achievement Academy!