Three to four year olds love physical activity and anything involving play.

They have a rich imagination and strong desire to be less dependent on their usual caregivers. The problem we discovered is that many children this age have a hard time with structure in a group environment like what is commonly found in most Martial Arts schools.

The solution we found is to provide them with their own program that targets their stage of development in a manner that keeps them entertained while at the same time building skills that set them up for success. With that said, a structured program introducing early skill-based training in Martial Arts has proven to be very successful.

We cover one of the skills per class (in order). During each class we run a warm-up; deliver a mat chat about the skill; run two or three skill-building drills; and then we have them demonstrate the skill to earn their skill-stripe. They must earn skill-stripes in order to graduate to the next belt level. Once they earn their next belt they will continue to run through all 8 skills earning their skill-stripes with more challenging curriculum as they advance to each rank. They graduate to the Basic SKILLZ program after they have successfully completed all belt ranks of the Early SKILLZ program.

By understanding the stages of development of 5 and 6-year olds, we were able to select 8 age-appropriate skills that make up the Basic SKILLZ Program:

1. FOCUS: Punching and kicking a pad that is thrown by an instructor standing one-step away from their side. They must be able to punch, and kick, a pad four times in a row in order to pass.

2.TEAMWORK: Holding a kicking target for their partner while their partner does ten kicks. They must be loud while counting their partner’s kicks and hold the target tightly in order to pass.

3.CONTROL: Stopping their body at attention position after running forward when an instructor says, “stop.” They must be at attention in less than three steps after the instructor says stop in order to pass.

4. MEMORY: Demonstrating the three stage 1 block’s and three stage 1 strikes from memory. They must show the proper chambers and end-ing position for all of the moves in order to pass.

5. BALANCE: Executing five front kicks without putting their foot down in between each rep. They must show full execution and retraction while keeping their knee chambered at belt level or higher in order to pass.

6. DISCIPLINE: Demonstrating how to properly sit, take a knee, kneel on both knees, and stand at attention without moving. They must hold each position for no less than five seconds.

7. FITNESS: Holding each static leg, arm, abdominal, and core exercise. They must not lose technique or else they have to start over. They must hold each exercise for no less than ten seconds in order to pass.

8. COORDINATION: Performing left and right punching combinations on the mitts. They must hit the mitt with proper technique and also with the proper hand five times in a row in order to pass.

As you can see, we take Martial Arts training to a whole new level! We use basic elements of traditional Martial Arts curriculums to build skills that are appropriate for 5 and 6-year olds. This means that your child will learn and grow at a pace that is not too easy, nor too challenging. The best part is the Basic SKILLZ program will equip your child with skills that they will utilize in every area of their life!