July August Newsletter
Leadership News
July/August 2008.
Forthcoming Events @ BC
Sunday 20th July; Senior Black Belt Grading, 10am at Bull Close.
Saturday 16th August 8am; Junior Black Belt Prep classes begin at Bull Close.
P.O.W.E.R. seminar. No POWER seminars for July and August.
Kata class, no Kata class for July or August.
Character Building
One of the main reasons that our Academy is so successful is that we focus on developing positive character traits as well as physical abilities. By the time our junior students reach Junior Black Belt grade, they will have had lots of input from the instructors regarding behaviour, the way they treat other people, their confidence levels and much more.
One of our KEY TOOLS in putting across some aspect of character development is the monthly STAR sheet.
Every month there is an activity and a task (or tasks) that need to be completed.
ALL of these tasks (there are 12 in total) MUST be completed before a student can pass their Junior Black Belt.
Please don’t let yourself get behind with these tasks.
JOKES:
Grown ups;
What do you call Santa's helpers?
Subordinate Clauses.
Subordinate Clauses.
Kids;
Why do gorillas have big nostrils?
Because they have big fingers.
Because they have big fingers.
Time to Show off.
We have some demos at school/village fetes coming up soon. If you would like to be involved, keep your eye on the notice board at Bull Close for details.
We are also considering a ‘once a month’ demo team session, please let Mr Fitch know if you would be interested in this.
Fantastic Gradings In June
We have had a fantastic round of gradings this time with a new record being set for Bull Close (78 people all together). Most people performed either well or excellently, I would like to congratulate all of you that made a real effort to look your very best for these events.
Grading pictures are on the website.
The Thinking Part
A few days ago I was told about a junior student who had quit Taekwondo at one of our satellite locations. The student originally joined because he was self conscious about his size and shape and wanted to do something about it.
He was making excellent progress after a shaky start and was really learning Kata quickly and easily, in fact he was fast becoming on of the neatest and most precise students at that location.
I was amazed to discover about 10 days ago that the reason he quit was that he couldn’t do the fitness very well for his grading and that he was worried about it. At this point there was a little less than 2 weeks to grading day (so plenty of time to improve).
Now, I may be wrong but, if a student wants to do Martial Arts to become fitter and knows that fitness is one of the things that he is going to be tested on, then surely all he needs to do is some regular fitness work. We all know that practicing the fitness exercises will make you fitter (that’s why they are in the gradings).
This seems to me to be a perfect example of people wanting ‘fitness’ without wanting to make any effort to achieve it.
A sort of ‘magic fitness’ that just appears from nowhere without any effort.
If any of you are waiting for ‘magic fitness’ to appear and land on you, I have some bad news. Magic fitness does not exist, we become fit from hard and consistent work.
One of the main differences between learning Martial Arts and other methods of getting fit is that learning Martial Arts is interesting, useful and will help improve many other areas of your life too. In my experience, running, aerobics and weight training are less interesting and less useful.
I almost forgot that I was getting fitter when I started learning Taekwondo because I was having so much fun.
This fitness issue is not the only thing in life that needs some focus and sweat. Most of the good things in life require some degree of hard work, if we are not prepared to do that then we have to be ready to have only the ordinary things that everyone can have without any effort. Its easy to spot people who do this, they are usually the people who are miserable and complain all the time.
Junior Black Belt Grading
Saturday 16th August 8am; Junior Black Belt Prep classes begin at Bull Close. If you would like to be assessed for Junior Black Belt on Sunday 28th September 2008, please ensure that you have registered and paid for your assessment BEFORE 16th August.
THANKS Again
I would like to thank the many students who have introduced their friends to our Academy over the last couple of months. We have had lots of new members brought in by our existing students. This is the most sincere compliment that you could pay to me and the instructor team.
The fact that you enjoy your time at the Academy enough to want to tell your friends about it and recommend them to us is just fantastic.
Thanks again and remember, I will be paying for your grading this time as a show of my appreciation
Beginners Class
for the OVER 40s.
We have had several ‘mature’ students start Martial Arts recently and I really believe that Taekwondo is the perfect thing to take up at this stage of life. You are probably more settled, probably have more time in the evenings, probably have more disposable income and you will definitely want to fight the tell tale signs of the passing years ( I can say that as I’m 47). SO, why not get yourself into shape with this new beginners group. It starts on Wednesday 2nd July at 7.30pm.
Exciting News
I am very pleased to be able to tell you that we are 95% sure that we will be offering a course for year 9, 10 and 11 students in the near future.
The course will get the students GCSE equivalent points which is great for both the students and the schools who send them to us.
We are almost certain that we can run the course called ‘Samurai School’ from September 2009 and there is an outside chance of getting the details finalised in time for September 2008.
Here’s how we can help each other. There is a large investment required from the Academy to get this set up so we are offering you the opportunity to save money on your tuition by paying for 24 months in advance. If you are able to do this at your current monthly rate, we will give you a 20% reduction in that rate plus all your Kyu or Chosho gradings for those 24 months will be free of charge.
So, if you can help us with our cash flow, then we would like to help you with a 20% reduction + free gradings. If you may be interested please contact Mr Fitch at Bull Close 01603 760022.
Helping People
Close To Us
I think that its great to help people who are in your ‘circle’ of friends and acquaintances. I always do business with someone who does business with me, whenever I can. I think that lots of people at The Black Belt Academy would like to do business with other members. I guess it’s a sort of trust thing.
I would be very interested in putting together a list of services and skills that exist within the Academy members so that we can, whenever possible, do business with fellow members.
If you think this would be a good idea let me know by email masterinstructor@blackbelt4sure.com and, if enough people show interest, I’ll set it up.
Stay Healthy
When You Travel.
When you travel it is important to understand the potential risks and dangers of the area you are visiting. One of our newest members Sarah Buckley, runs ‘The Globe Travel Health Centre in Norwich.
She can offer free advice as well as all the injections, tablets and sprays you may need when you visit exciting new places. Contact her on
01603- 667323
For free advice.
