As Mark mentioned below, Gabrielle has been doing ju jitsu quite regularly for the last few months. We signed her up because she had shown some interest in karate, as a restaurant we frequent is right next door to a karate dojo. Unfortunately, the hours of their classes aren't very convenient for us. I heard about a mixed martial arts academy (Hello Ultimate Fighting!!) nearby that had a great kids' program with, of course, convenient hours. A magic combination.
At first, it was nearly impossible to get G to try it out: "Ju-what?? Never heard of it! I want to do karate!!" I assured her it was basically the same as karate and even BETTER. She grudgingly agreed to try ONE CLASS. After meeting her doppelganger, Sensei Mackenzie, she was basically hooked.
The brilliant part of all this, is that she gets stars on a fairly regular basis, which are ironed onto her gi (white outfit). These stars are given out by Sensei Mackenzie based on merit, listening to the teacher, and trying to follow along. The kids never know if they're going to get one and they're not allowed to ask for one. Once she gets 8 stars (below is star 7), she moves onto tape stripes on her belt. 8 stripes and she gets a whole new coloured belt.
It's motivating for her and for us to shlepp her there 2-3 times a week. Who doesn't love getting a star?
1 comment:
That star idea is very cool - I think our music school needs to come up with a scheme like that to keep the kids interested in practicing piano daily!
Go G!
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