Yes, that's me in the picture to the right. This was taken a few years ago at our old Integrated Martial Arts facility, before we moved to a bigger location up the road. In this photo, I'm teaching the 'Black Belt Club' children Yang style T'ai Chi. A little weighty for kids, you would think, but these aren't your run of the mill children. The kids in this class have to WANT to be there. They're a little more sophisticated and dedicated to martial arts training, school work, athletics, etc.

That being said, I haven't, until very recently, taught that many children's classes. I mostly work with adults, either as a training partner, assistant instructor, or instructor, depending on the art being taught. In recent history, my martial arts Sifu, Don Edwards, had me put together a bo staff curriculum for the Black Belt Club kids. Filipino Martial Arts traditionally don't favor long weapons. I have a pretty extensive background in Shaolin Kungfu and other Chinese arts, where staff is a staple weapon. It fell to me to analyze the bo staff and bring it into our system of martial arts. It's been a re-education all its own.

This has also been a crash course in how to relate to kids for me. My experience with relating to children is limited, other than having been one once. Here's what I've gotten from teaching these classes... Kids are just miniature adults, really. They have they're own opinions. They run the gamete of every personality trait. They either want to learn or don't really want to learn. The ones that do, sometimes learn so quickly it's daunting. Obviously, they're not mature yet, and must be handled differently with respect to watching language, etc. However, most days, I learn as much from them as they do from me.

The Black Belt Club kids seen above are about two years older now. Some of them even went for Brown Belts and pre-black belts this past Saturday. I really got a kick out of watching their promotions. The kicked, punched, grappled and broke boards. A handful of advanced kids demonstrated the bo staff skills I taught them. I was very proud of them.

What's the point? It's all about breaking the boards. A few kids had complex breaks. Spinning kicks. Double jump kicks, etc. A handful nailed it on the first try, which was impressive. What was equally impressive, however, were the kids who FAILED TO BREAK THE BOARDS ON ONE OR MORE PASSES. These kids KEPT GOING OVER AND OVER UNTIL THEY FINISHED THE JOB! Not one of them said uncle. That was almost more impressive to me.

Through the eyes of a child... These kids were not going to let a little piece of some pine tree beat them.

Now, I've never been attacked by a tree and don't really subscribe to breaking boards. Not my thing. However, the metaphor here is hard to escape. If you can see your hand going through the board, then it will. Zen and the art of visualization. If you can't, then you'll break your hand or foot. End of story.

There's an innocence to believing that your hand can blast through wood, concrete and other building materials. No one more innocently charges into these kinds of activities than a kid. When I was a kid doing Okinawan Karate, my sensei had me punch through an inch thick concrete slab. I did it. Now, I would look at him and say,

"You want me to do WHAT? Are you out of you mind? Have you been hitting the bong and watching ESPN2 a little too much?"

... and with that attitude, I would break my hand, which would shorten my guitar career.

I'm not suggesting we all run out and start snapping limbs off pine trees with our deadly, Chuck Norris-style, roundhouse kicks. What I'm saying is that a little child-like, innocent belief in one's self goes a very long way.

A billionaire entrepeneur asked what the secret to his success was. He replied,

"I was not sophisitcated enough to think that my hair-brained ideas could fail. So they never did."

From the mouth of someone with more money than most of us... I, personally, think I could use a healthy dose of some innocent belief in inevitably positive outcomes. How about you?

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