The dojo has been hopping these last few weeks. Our team has been doing so much together, and we have so much planned for the upcoming months! Just Last month we camped, did a beach workout and had advancements.
Today, I’m going to focus on advancements, when the students have reached a level in their training they are tested to see if they are ready to receive their next level belt. Young Dragons also gain stars in the color of the belt that they are working towards. Doing this all takes lots of hard work, determination and even teamwork.
Both of my boys are working on stars to get to their next belt levels. Since they are younger, this is a nice way of showing the kiddos that they are working hard and how close they are to their next belt. Liam, who is 8, gained two orange stars for his Gi and Abraham, who is 5, received one yellow star. As a karate Mom I’m so very proud of my Young Dragons; I know every day that they are working hard to advance and become better karate students!
One thing I’ve noticed while I was looking at other schools is that most charge a fee for advancements. I’m not sure how you feel about that, but I think it’s crazy to charge more for an upgrade in knowledge in a sport or the recognition of their advancement. Have you ever been to a dojo that charged testing or belt fees?
"It always seems impossible until it's done."
~ Nelson Mandela
When Khyri tried “karate/tae kwon do” we went to Master Kechens for a free week trial. He liked it so I talked with one of the people in charge about actually signing up-the prices were outrageous including a 12 month contract, uniform fees, a fee every time the students went in front of a master to advance their belts and a fee for a new belt each time they successfully moved up. Obviously as a single mom on a budget that wasn’t going to work for me so we ended up not pursuing them. So thank you One Strike for not charging us an arm and a leg for every little detail.
-Amanda