Kicks Martial Arts

Had a great first outdoor class of the season this morning!

Opening Thoughts from our December 2018 Newsletter:

Magic, Magic, Magic!

Do you ever feel as if you’re out of control? That no matter what you do,m it isn’t right? Here’s something to help you get back on track – MAGIC! Magic is the acronym for five components of successful behavior and accomplishments.

Motivation: everyone is motivated by something, yet few share that information with others. Identify what is really meaningful and existing to you.

Attitude: positive mental attitudes are critical for enjoying life. No one likes to be around a grouch or a complainer. You know the old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Try to find the one good thing in every negative situation or potentials disaster. When things go right, celebrate!

Goals: set your sights on something tangible. Even the desire to go for a ride in the country is a goal – relaxation or communing with the beauty of nature.

Initiative: your ambitions are your own. When you need to count on others to help you attain your goals, ask them for assistance or tell them what they can do to make your life easier. Don’t sit idly by, hoping someone will offer.

Commitment: dedicate yourself to achievement. Go beyond merely giving no more and no less than what is requested.

When times are tough, or the going gets rough, and you feel like there’s no way out remember – there’s always MAGIC!

Opening Thoughts from our September 2018 newsletter - Letter to Parents

At Kicks Martial Arts we want to make your child’s involvement in the martial arts a very positive and productive one. As always, we encourage your involvement in your child’s training. From time to time, we will keep you informed of your child’s progress as we strengthen them physically and challenge them mentally.
As students move into our intermediate and advanced training programs, we being to place more emphasis on the mental aspects of character, self-esteem, self-control, and concentration, along with the ongoing development of the physical aspects of strength, balance, leverage, timing, and advancement of martial arts skills. As challenges increase and rank promotion begins to require more work, it is not uncommon for young students to become temporarily discourage. It’s up to us as parents and instructors to work together to make the difference between a child who achieves all their goals in martial arts, and one who gives up without fully realizing their potential. Your encouragement of your child’s effort takes on new significance at this time.
Young students need to have realistic goals that mean something to them. They also need our support and motivation to achieve them. Now is the perfect time for you and your child to establish attainable goals. With your help, we maximize the benefits of your child’s martial arts training. If you wish, the instructors at Kicks will be happy to offer our experience in helping you to establish these goals. Please feel free to talk to us whenever your child needs any help with their training.
Kicks is a family-based club, and we are proud of the achievement of our students. Our door is always open if you have any questions, concerns, comments, or requests for your child’s training.
September is a perfect time to establish new goals, and kick start the path toward achieving them. See you all at the dojo soon!

- Sensei Luke

Our small outdoor class crew from a few Saturdays ago. Awesome group!

Stair crew on a Tuesday night after sparring. Awesome job!

Small, but dedicated stair climb crew this morning. Great work!

Opening Thoughts from our 2018 July newsletter:

'Courtesy at the Dojo' -

Courtesy is a word that is inherent to what the dojo represents. In fact, every time we bow at the dojo we are showing respect and courtesy!

We have built our dojo to be a family-oriented space, where we train together to achieve goals and better ourselves and classmates. Part of improving is communicating with each other. However, we must always consider the way we speak and offer advice. Always think, ‘How would I feel if what I’m saying were said to me?’

Courtesy is not just about our interaction with one another. It’s also about how we interact with the dojo. Keeping the parent’s room and change rooms neat and tidy shows courtesy to our school, and those that we share it with.

Of course, courtesy is important in all aspects of our life. Are you being courteous to those around you?

Congratulations to Connor. His name was drawn from those that completed the March karate homework, and he won a gift card to Indigo!

There are no classes tonight. You have one more day to get over the Easter meals! See you back at the dojo tomorrow.

- Sensei Luke

Congratulations to Luca, winner of the Easter basket draw!

March Parent's Week was awesome! Here's a picture from just one class full of parents. We had so much fun welcoming the parents onto the dojo. There are several reasons why we do parent's weeks throughout the year:
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1) The kids get the chance to be Sensei. When they are challenged to teach, they think differently about what they've learned in martial arts.
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2) When parents cross over from watching in the viewing room, to trying moves in the dojo, they gain a new appreciation for what the kids are learning.
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3) Quite often, parents have so much fun that they end up joining the adult program!‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍
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4) It's a great way for parents to get ideas on how to help their children train at home.
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5) It's a lot of fun!
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Parents are always welcome to try class with the kids, especially if you're considering joining. We are a family school, and you can train with your children in any class. We will have another formal Parent's Week again soon.

March Break is over and it’s Bring Your Parents to Class week. Hope to see you all at the dojo soon!

Opening Thoughts from our 2018 March newsletter:

'An Awesome Start To The Year' -

What a start to 2018!

Students of all ages and belt levels are off to a great start achieving their goals for 2018. We’ve had a few excellent gradings already, some awesome tournament results, and a few students who’ve participated in talent shows and other projects at school.

We’ve also welcomed quite a few new students of different belt levels to our dojo. Some are starting fresh as white belts, and some have different levels of experience from previous training. The welcome from our end has been the same nonetheless. We are a small school with a huge heart, and all of our members have welcomed new students with great spirit and camaraderie.

Several advanced students have joined our Leadership Team, volunteering their time to learn how to teach other students. This is a special program that makes our dojo unique. All of the black belts that teach at our school have gone through this program, and every time a student joins Leadership, everyone at our club benefits.

Overall, we couldn’t be prouder of the development of our students. This year, 4 red belts will attempt to achieve black belt. Parents of members new and seasoned help with our club events, and help spread the word about our dojo. Our club activities unite members of all belt levels and ages, and we hear about members, families, and students becoming friends and hanging out outside of the dojo. Thank you to everyone for a great start to 2018, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store!

Sensei Luke

Hi everyone! There seem to be a few different schedules floating around. This is our fault as I think some old schedules got mixed when we printed updated ones for 2018. Please see the attached photo for the correct schedule.

As always, we try to be as flexible as possible. If there are any interference with other schedules please talk to me and we will figure something out.

- Sensei Luke

Our March Break kick-off movie night is coming! March 9 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm w/ pizza, games, and movies of course. Sign ups at the dojo by March 2.

Congratulations to our February 2018 Student of the Month Sara! She also got her purple belt the day after this photo was taken. Keep up the awesome work Sara.

Opening Thoughts from the February 2018 newsletter:

'Martial Arts for Children' -

For many parents, a children’s martial arts class is a revelation. Few have seen their children so orderly. Seldom have they obeyed as promptly as they do the Sensei. Properly taught and practised, martial arts are just what their name implies; an art, a discipline. While they are taught mainly for sport and exercise today, they remain steeped in tradition.

Some parents send their children just for the discipline. There are strict rules in his classes: the children must pay attention, must be quiet, must be respectful. Self-discipline is essential.

There’s no better physical conditioning. Martial arts blend aerobic activity, flexibility, endurance and strength training. In addition to boosting general fitness, martial arts also teach self-control, co-ordination and balance. As an added bonus, children burn a lot of energy in class (something most children have in abundance).

Martial arts are essentially individual endeavours as students compete against themselves, making them ideal for kids who love physical activity but shy away from team sports. Each class is a mini-team that changes each time they train. They know they must work hard to get their next belt. They also learn that at each level it gets a little harder, just like in life.

Self-defence is one of the reasons why some parents approved of their children’s interest in martial arts. The streetproofing taught at school and home is reinforced. Self-defence is split into two systems – school yard and strangers. This gives children confidence to do the right thing if they feel danger.

For all of these benefits of martial arts for children, new values and skills reveal themselves each year. Team-work and peer-evaluation help children develop interaction skills that are much needed in these cell phone and social media heavy times. Leading the class through exercises helps build public speaking skills. More and more we understand that the life values taught and enhanced in martial arts are even more important than the kicking and punching.

Apologies for the late notice, but we were trying our best to hope the roads would be decent for classes tonight. Based on the conditions, and the forecast for continued snowfall this evening, we will be closing the club for classes tonight.

If you have to head out and about tonight, drive safe.If you're staying at home, have a stretch and practice some katas and kicking. I'll be checking tomorrow night to see who practiced at home on snow day!

- Sensei Luke

Opening Thoughts from the January 2018 newsletter:

Welcome to 2018! Aside from our planet completing another loop around the sun, I'm not going to base this discussion on goal setting around new year's resolutions. You shouldn’t need that kind of event to trigger some desire to achieve!

Last year we started a new monthly discussion – the WORD OF THE MONTH. At the beginning of each month we choose an important word that can help us in and outside of the dojo if we implement it into our training and everyday life. First we write the word on the board at the front of the dojo and give a brief definition of it. Then, throughout the month, we add points to it that help us apply it. We also feature the word of the month in the newsletter, with some pointers on how you can think about it.

Something that red belts talk about as they approach Black Belt are the three things that can happen when you train. You can get better, you can get worse or you can stay the same. Think about that carefully.

As we kick it into high gear for 2018, I want to bring back a healthy habit. At the beginning of most classes I will ask students what they worked on in their last class, what they improved on, and what they need to improve on. It can be an idea in sparring, something fitness related, a new section of kata, or something attitude wise. This will help us weave a line of knowledge through our classes. If you leave the dojo without retaining what you've learned or improved in class, you might flat line or even get worse despite doing a whole bunch of classes!

To get the most of this habit, try to do it BEFORE class starts. Instead of thinking of what you learned or improved last time and setting a couple short term goals during the warm up, do it on the way to class or in the few minutes before you bow on the floor. It will help you start your class off in a more explosive manner, and you'll be on your way toward improvement quicker too!

We had an awesome 2017 filled with achievement. Let’s keep it up in 2018 and use our accomplishments to fuel us in the new year!

Good luck with all of your goals inside and outside of the club.

Sensei Luke

Saturday classes were packed, and we worked up a great sweat to kick off 2018 properly. Tonight we are back on the regular schedule. We are always flexible to help students attend class if times clash with other activities, so please let Sensei or Ida know if you need to modify attendance times. If we haven't seen you yet, Happy New Year and let's achieve our 2018 goals together starting tonight! See you all at the dojo.

Tonight are our first classes of 2018 and the Word of the Month is DISCIPLINE!

Holiday hours still in effect:
Kids - 6:15 - 7:00
Adults - 7:00 - 7:45

Hope to see you at the dojo!

- Sensei Luke

Happy New Year everyone!

The club is closed for one more holiday evening tonight. Holiday schedule is still in effect tomorrow (Jan 3) and Thursday (Jan 4). Then everything is back to normal and kicked into high gear! See you all at the dojo soon!

Tomorrow (Saturday Dec 30) are the last classes of 2017. Get your last training session of the year in before we kick off 2018! Hope to see you in class!

We will be on our winter schedule from Mon Dec 11 2017 to Sat Jan 6 2018. Regular schedule will resume Mon Jan 8 2018.

Hope to see you all training regularly through the holidays!

Congratulations to our new blue belts! This is just a small group of the huge grading we just had, and everyone did an amazing job!

Paintball was a blast. This is only half the group! Andres and Sixto were still out there. Kenny’s full camo gear was intense. Sensei Daniel and Sensei Benoit did great. Pascal Roberge was the sneakiest. Nathan and Deanna held down the forts on each end. Overall, an awesome time!

Deanna competed in Michigan while Sensei was away on vacation and came home with 2nd place in kata, sparring, and weapons. Way to go D!

Our paintball trip is this Sunday November 12! Spots are still available to sign-up. Please see/msg Sensei Luke by Thursday November 9!

I'm back from vacation and can't wait to see everyone at the dojo! Remember, there are no classes Saturday Nov. 4 as we have Black Belt Graduation at the dojo at 10:30 for Christopher Charron.

Regular classes resume Nov. 6

Last, but not least...a massive thank you to the instructors and Leadership team for covering classes while I was away!

- Sensei Luke

Thanks to Pia for this group shot of the costume contest winners and their pumpkins.