Is there any way that enrolling your child into martial arts can improve their school grades? In a word, YES!
BETTER GRADES
Enjoy and appreciate my point of view but you don’t need to rely soley on my word. Do a little research of your own. Ask your family doctor. Google it! No matter how you do your research you will find much support for martial arts helping student improve their grades in school.
Physical activity is good for us-good for good grades!
It is well established that physical activity is good for us. Children are inherently ready to learn, we just have to find ways to help them find the information and be able to process it. One clear advantage of martial arts helping to improve grades in school is the simple exercise and fitness a martial arts class structure provides. Healthier muscles, lungs and hearts make for healthier brains!
Tease the brain-get better grades!
You may have seen brain teaser games in the store or even on-line. Have you noticed the major marketing effort on these games over the last year? The manufactures of these games are marketing these memory games as a way to slow or even defeat Alzheimers and dementia in our older years. These games actively keep our brains working. What is kept working stays stronger than what is left dormant. Not all martial arts schools focus on the mental side of learning but the high quality ones always do. Things like forms or katas are excellent brain teaser drills. Students are required not only to memorize small, medium and large patterns but they must learn what the techniques within the patterns do effectively as well. An active brain like this makes for a happy brain in school. A happy brain in school means BETTER GRADES!
Problem solving skills
The creativity needed to excel in school is something many overlook. Creativity is essential for quality decision making skills and problem solving skills. Martial arts classes often include speed and accuracy drills, sparring, grappling drills and more. These drills require students to work on and develop their problem solving skills while dramatically improving their ability to see their choices clearer even while faced with distractions. As you can guess, this ability to focus and find quality choices and select the best possible answers is priceless when it comes to getting better grades in school. Especially in STEM classes or the flip side in classes where teachers may otherwise be over loaded. Martial arts students are able to find ways to excel in many different situations and environments.
BEHAVIOR dictates success in school
As in everything in life better grades do not happen by accident. Anything that is worth doing is worth practicing! Structure in a child’s life can make their thought process so much more smooth and less stressful for the child. Quality martial arts programs, like that at AKF Lexington Martial Arts, will provide a predictable structure as well as clearly defined expectations and paths toward their goals.
Burning energy and get good grades!
Martial arts classes will further assist students in burning excess energy, that otherwise is cause of distraction from activities in school or at home. Watch a class sometime and see the level of energy used and the timing of when the energy burn happens. It is not an hour long cardio kickboxing class, rather it is a methodical fundamentals and technical effectiveness approach. All this means is the energy burn increases as the students need it and return to a lesser energy consuming method for the more focused specialty skill sets. This technique helps students with ADHD or any of the your known hyper activity disorders. It also adapts to each student and is not taught as a blanket approach to all students, making martial arts one of the best in helping students improve themselves and their grades!
Self-Control & Respect in martial arts helps with better grades
Behavior improvements help with grades. It did with me! Self-control and respect are taught in any reputable martial arts program. Students will do push-ups and sit-ups and other drills but these should not be soley a punishment but actually seen as a reward too. Students are encouraged to do their best and are told honestly of poor performance. Honesty followed by clear instruction, encouragement, motivation and reward makes the failures less about failure and more about possibility, success and belief in themselves. Brining this belief to students has a direct impact on self-worth which in-turn has a direct impact on improving behavior and school performance!
CONFIDENCE IS LEARNED
Confidence is learned, unless you’re dead! So let’s LIVE!
I literally wrote the book on this! Check it out! I am super excited to share my thoughts with you!
Confidence-grows good grades!
I invite you to read more about confidence, in my book. Today, let me simply say that with a better self-image students start to realize perfection is not necessary but effort is. As they see failure does not kill them and in some cases almost immediately helps them grow, they desire the effort more. The more success they see in small steps that eventually take them to success in large goals motivates and inspires them, even if they are not actually aware it is happening! Please read the testimonial written by a student, mother and very attentive human being. I think it is perfect for the topic of confidence as well as the purpose of this blog; Martial Arts Really Does Help Students Get Better Grades.
“Holly Taulbee”
“So proud of my son. He has been working on this form since Oct. He lacked confidence and REFUSED TO try doing it on his own. It was hard to watch as a mother. I tried everything I thought was right to get him to believe in himself. We were doing tournament videos tonight after class. Tonight he decided that he was brave enough to do his form by himself. He said HE BELIEVE he knew it. This is a far from a perfect tournament video. What was captured here is a child that gained confidence in himself. These are the lessons we learn in class. Martial arts isn’t about kicking ass and looking cool. It’s about testing yourself, determination and overcoming obstacles. In this school you are winning by overcoming obstacles an fears. 100% Effort is winning and not perfection.”
Martial Arts & School Grades – in closing.
As this parent’s son grows, can you imagine the benefits he will see in school and in life because of the confidence he is building through his martial arts training and the amazing effort and support by his very attentive parents? They see it. I can too! Martial arts helps kids get good grades!