Promotion Tests are Exciting!

A good martial arts school promotes humility, but it should also provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their growing skills and maturity. Promotion tests are perfect for achieving this goal because students are encouraged to strut their stuff boldly!

The weeks before a promotion test are especially exciting because students who have become restless with their current rank stretch themselves to the brink to prepare for promotion.

It’s customary in Asian martial arts to measure progress by belt color designation. In Japan advancement is slow and incremental. However, many schools in North America hold promotion tests each month!

Seichou Karate® takes the Japanese approach because we believe that 30 days is not enough time for real growth to occur. We hold regular promotion tests in fall and spring because, as the seasons dramatically, it is appropriate to also move forward in our Seichou Karate® training.

Join us tomorrow, November 21, for our Fall Performance Promotion Test. We encourage guests to watch friends or family members take the test. Here’s the schedule: 10:00 AM - Warm-up Class for all levels; 11:30 AM - White, Blue & Yellow Belts; 12:15 PM - Green, Purple & Brown Belts

OSU!

Martial Arts Training to Shake Off Gloom & Doom

Swine flu, weak economy, international political instability… No matter where you go, it seems that gloom and doom are the only messages from news media.

Then, in academic life, youngsters compete for openings in kindergarten, elementary, and junior high school, while young adults compete for places in high school and college entering classes.

Finally, when we go into the job market, year-in and year-out we’ve got to carefully navigate every twist and turn in order to protect our livelihood. In fact, even if you do everything right, there are no guarantees and eternal vigilance is the essential, universal mantra for survival.

So, yes, life in contemporary society is a struggle, but it’s also a precious gift to be savored and celebrated. And martial arts training is one key to coping with its obstacles and making the most of its opportunities.

Many students who begin martial arts training are startled by it’s rigor, but if they persevere, they become physically strong. Those who transcend the physical rigor develop mental toughness. Finally, the physical prowess and mental toughness of martial arts training enables students to help others in a spirit of fraternity. So, martial arts training refines the body, mind and character.

That’s why anyone who feels frustrated or powerless by the barrage of gloom and doom messages from news media, or who feels that his or her life is stalled, should study martial arts. By doing so, he or she will become reinvigorated and find a new capacity to motivate and energize others.

Study martial arts to feel good about yourself. Study martial arts to uplift others. These are powerful reasons and tools for shaking off the gloom and doom.