Uechi-Ryu.com

What is your ideal age to start teaching karate to a child and why?

Regards,
Vicki

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"Cry in the dojo, laugh in the battlefield"

Basic punches, Kicks, awareness and self defense skills (different from adult) 4-6.

Sanchin and the full Uechi curriculum?
Forms from 7-8 and up.
Sparring after a few months of kata.
Kumite after a couple of years of kata.

Timing really depends on the childs maturity and learning skills.
But all benefit in one way or another.


F.

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Sans Peur Ne Obliviscaris
www.hinghamkarate.com

When my daughter was 4 she had a good enough attention span to learn a wide range of technique and footwork.....I have visited schools though that offer more "martial arts babysitting" than good training.
In the 80's and 90's we ran a residential martial arts summer camp for kids 8-18 .we were able to make some acceptions to the camp age requirement but the program was generally to intenese for the lil'ones

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FEARS Ltd
"Art meets Reality"
www.fearsltd.com

4-6 year olds definately can handle good blocking reaction drills, combination pad work, stepping-sliding kicks, jumping kicks, and can learn gross motor movement matwork such as bridging and basic takedowns.
Trick is in making it fun and disguising the repetitiveness of training.

I just leave out the complex Karate forms for this age and keep the classes shorter than the older kids classes.

F.

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Sans Peur Ne Obliviscaris
www.hinghamkarate.com