ELITE KARATE ACADEMY NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2019

Welcome to our January Newsletter.

This email newsletter will hopefully keep you up to date with all you need to know about what’s going on in Elite Karate Academy over the coming months of 2019.  Please feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends, I hope you find it informative.  Feel free to comment on our Facebook page with comments and be sure to like our page while you’re there.

News – Updates – Events At A Glance

v  Congratulations to all those students who graded before Xmas.  Click the following link to view the child’s syllabus or adult’s syllabus, to view what you need for your next grade.

v  Elite Karate Academy Expo on April 14th, 2-6pm, Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley.  All students including beginners will be taking part on the day, with either/both gradings and demonstrations.  See below for more details.

v  Sparring Competition in March

v  St Patricks Day Parade.  Come walk with us.  Find out more below.

v  Raffle & Cake Bake Sale.  Can you donate something?

v  Elite Karate Academy Summer Camp

Sparring Competition

The early rounds of this non-contact 3 points-wins tournament will take places within your child’s normal classes and is completely voluntary.  With the semi-finals and finals taking place at this year’s Expo.  All student’s must have their own sparring gloves & boots, , this is for your child’s safety. Only students who have graded may take part in this tournament.  Follow the link for a special offer on getting safety equipment.

Entry costs €10 per student and must be registered before 9pm on Friday 1st March 2019.

St Patrick’s Day Parade

Once again this year the Academy will be walking in this year’s Clondalkin Parade.  Students, families, and their friends are all invited to join us on the day.  Assemble point is 1.30pm in the car park of Clondalkin Sports and Leisure, Old Nangor Rd on (obviously) 17th March 2018.  If the weather is poor, please wear normal clothes under your karate uniform.

Elite Karate Academy Expo

Our 8th Elite Karate Academy Expo will take place on Sunday 14th of April between 2pm-6pm, in the Clayton Hotel. Liffey Valley.  Doors open at 1.30pm.available.  All students will be taking part, those not grading will be involved in demonstrations.  All students must wear their karate uniform.  The aim of the Expo, as always, is to allowing students demonstrate their skills and abilities to their family and friends, whilst educating parents about the aims and ethos of Elite Karate Academy, in a relaxed fun environment.  This event is open to anyone, so extended family and friends are welcome, this year’s Expo will include;

·         Grading

·         Club Sparring Competition (semi-finals and finals only, entries close Friday 1st March 2019)

·         Demonstrations (Instructor & Students)

·         Award Ceremony (Grading, Competition, and Special Awards, including Student of the Year)

·         Unveiling of Elite Karate Academy’s newest Senior Black Belt

·         Bake & Cake Sale. Why not bake something to bring on the day?

·         Raffle (asking parents to donate a price if they can)

Grading

Those eligible to grade must pay their grading fee before 31st of March to insure they receive their certificate at the Expo.  Students may only grade at the expo.   Students may only grade if they are eligible and hold a current up to date grading licence, which must be presented with the usual fee of €10 before 31st of March.

Tickets

Tickets will be on sale in March.

Bake sale and raffle

Once again, we will have a bake sale in aid of Barretstown and a raffle.  Parents/students are encouraged to bake or bring something for the day.  We need your help in getting prizes for our raffle!!!  Give a prize or a voucher from your work.  Please donate your price before 12th of April, if possible.

Character Education Program

Once again, we start our Word of the Week program in class.  Our specially designed word of the week program teaches 14 core values to your child in a 5 minute ‘mat chat’ within their normal class. Your child will grow as people not just stronger and fitter.  No other club offers this type of program.

Our 14 words are: Courtesy, Growth, Honesty, Obedience, Courage, Sincerity, Humility, Perseverance, Honour, Loyalty, Self-Control, Knowledge, Respect, Integrity.

Each week these lessons will be posted on our Facebook page or the full course can be viewed here in our blog section of our website.  I strongly urge parents to get involved with their child’s learning by reading these posts or discussing after each class what they learnt.

Website

Check out our blogs on our website.  Click here to read about them

Dojo Kun Programme – Most club’s dojo rules consist of no shouting, no chewing gum etc. Our Dojo Kun program teaches your child 25 rules of life. These rules teach your child how to follow and make their dreams come true, through hard work, passion, and dedication.

Elite Mental Training – This program teaches students the mental strategy of fighting, topics introduced can be used in all areas of life, reducing stress, and increasing mental wellbeing. Read some lessons covered in our blog section below.

Anti-Bullying Programme – We teach your child how to deal with bullying in a non-aggressive way without having to resort to violence. A great program for boosting confidence and self-belief.  This starts in September.

Newer material will be shared weekly on our Facebook page, much will be of interest even to those who don’t train.

Coming later in the Year

Other events coming up this year after the Expo, will be our Karate Summer Camps

Testimonials Request

That so many of you praise our Academy is huge source of pride to me.  Please write a review/testimonial here.  They will then be added to our website.  Student / parents or both may write a review and you may write a new one if you wrote one before.

Zen Tip

Our own worst enemy cannot harm us as much as our unwise thoughts.  No one can help us as much as our own compassionate thoughts.

Fitness Tip

Myth Buster – Cardio is the best method for fat loss.

Not only does strength training or our Cardio Combat add more definition to your entire body (hello, abs!), but it has a ton of other health benefits too. My favorite: It increases your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which means you’ll burn more calories throughout the day—even when you’re not working out. The result is more lean muscle mass and less body fat, and that’s something you can’t get that with just cardio.

And because I like lists, here’s one full of other health benefits you get from strength training:

·         Increased bone density

·         Better balance, coordination, agility, power, and mobility

·         An ability to do everyday activities without worrying about getting hurt

·         Fewer symptoms associated with arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, obesity, and back pain

·         Improved sleep patterns, mood, and stress levels

As you can see, strength training does more than make you look—and feel—confident . And the benefits only multiply as we get older. As we age, our bodies are at an increased risk of sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) and osteoporosis (decrease in bone density). A regular training plan can help to combat those losses. Luckily, women are starting to make their way into the weight room—so now it’s your turn.

Start Your Childs Journey Today.

Join before 31st January 2019 pay for 1 month get a 2nd month FREE. (New members only T&C’s apply)

Build Your Childs Confidence, Self Esteem, Social Skills and Discipline.

We specialise in teaching children. With over 30+ years teaching experience we mentor and inspire every child, helping them grow in self confidence & wisdom.

Children’s classes include 3-5 minute mat chats in every class, with a range of topics covered in our unique and specially designed programs, no other club teaches and gets the results we get.

Watch your child grow in confidence and as a person. Visit www.elitekarateacademy.com for more information or message us below.

10 reasons why every child should do Karate-Do?

With the range of martial arts classes available in Dublin, there are kid’s classes for every personality type and interest.  Karate is one of the most popular and well known martial arts and offers more benefits to children then simply teaching them how to kick and punch.   More and more parents are realising that kid’s karate classes offer the chance for additional education outside of school hours, as well as a great form of fitness training to tire their children out.  And what parent doesn’t love a tired and better behaved child…

Elite Karate Academy offer children’s karate classes in Clondalkin, south west Dublin that offer a range of benefits to both parents and children…

  1. Character development- Most people recognise that martial arts improve the character. The determination, persistence, and commitment needed to achieve a black belt highlights a student’s true character.  That’s why average students don’t achieve a black belt.  Elite Karate Academy believe that your student can gain from karate training no matter how long they train.  Our Word of the Week Program teaches 14 words such as Courtesy, Respect, Courage, Humility, Leadership that insured our students grow as people not just martial art

 

  1. Self-Belief- Becoming fitter, stronger and having the ability to defend yourself is a sure fire way to build self-belief and self-confidence. Our Dojo Kun (Dojo Rules) Program incorporates 25 rules to how to live your life and the passion and commitment needed to make your child succeed in life and work hard to make their dreams come through.

 

  1. Self-Esteem- With the setting of short term goals like gradings or learning a new technique or kata your child’s self-esteem rapidily improves.

 

  1. Confidence- Becoming a part of something bigger, joining a club, making new friends with similar goals, admiring the higher grades and rising through the ranks, being tested and meeting new challenges all help improve your child’s confidence.

 

  1. Friendship- Classes are social and interactive and helps build friendships and social skills, helping your child learn team work, sharing and positive social interaction.

 

  1. Way of Life- Karate can be more than a simple hobby offering a way of life that can be studied for a lifetime. It teaches character values and a code of behaviour which learnt as a child can stay forever.

 

  1. Fitness- With children playing more computer games and becoming less active, and the growth of childhood obesity, karate is a perfect solution. Fast paced children’s karate classes improve cardiovascular fitness, strength and flexibility.

 

  1. Conflict resolution- Karate for self-defence only. Our Anti Bullying Program teaches your child to handle stressful situations and bullying without aggression.  How to diffuse situations and walk away from trouble.

 

  1. Health & Nutrition- Our Program teaches students the importance of exercise and healthy eating whilst recognising the importance of a healthy body image.

 

  1. Fun- Kid’s Karate classes are great fun where your children can truly enjoy themselves and be dying to come back for their next class.

 

So if you want your child to grow bigger and stronger, develop into a mature responsible adult with a passion to succeed in every aspect of their life, phone Sensei Gareth at Elite Karate Academy on 086 822 4902.  We have beginner’s classes running throughout the week in our full time dojo, visit our website at www.elitekarateacademy.com to find a time that suits you.  We our passionate about our students and aim to be leading lights in their lives and the community around us.

Order your equipment in time for the competition

Gloves & Boots come in Red & Blue.  With limited remaining stock in other colours

And in sizes x-small, small, medium and large.

Individually Gloves €20 or Boots cost €25.00.

Buy both Gloves & Boots at the same time and receive a 10% discount.  Offer ends 1st March 2019.

All of our circumstances in life are a reflection of your subconscious beliefs.  That voice that plays incessently in your head, guiding you to success or failure.  Giving you all you belief you deserve or think you are worth.  Thankfully once you become aware of this tape their are many techniques available to change it.  Check out NLP techniques or BCT techniques, which I will cover later in this series.

To change your subconscious beliefs we using auto suggestions.  Specially chosen tapes we can use to rewire the voice in your head, to achieve success.  This can work very simply, by changing how you view yourself, you can change your behaviour, which in turn changes how you see yourself.  Think of wanting to own your own home.  You start to imagine yourself owning your own home, liking the idea of becoming a homeowner.  So you start to change your behaviour, you spend less, you go out less, start to save more.  As you savings increase you start to make more sacrifice in order to get the money together.  Then when you have enough to start to view houses and seeing banks.  Eventually taking out a mortage and buying a home.  In time becoming the homeowner you wanted to be.

Subconscious beliefs start with changing how you think about yourself, which in turn changes your behaviour, which in turns gets you what you inititially wanted.  These auto suggestions can work on any thing you wish to change in your life, weight loss, friendships, romance, money, or any goal.  1st step involves working out your current subconscious belief

24/7 365…  Our thoughts loom large in our heads, never stopping, insistently rolling like waves on the beach.  The correct thoughts can make us feel happy, elated, glad to be a life, negative thoughts however can lead us down a darker road, to sadness, guilt, misery or depression.  Correct karate training with the correct mental attitude and instruction will lead to “control” over our thought process, allowing us to control our emotions and thoughts leading to calmer, less stressed lives.

Think of your thoughts (mind waves) like ripples in a pond.  You want to get ready of the ripples (lets say stress).  By throwing a pebble into the pond we get more ripples, so we throw a larger stone and get more ripples, which collide and bounce off each other creating chaos.  The way to get the ripples to stop, is to leave the pond alone.  Let the ripples fade of their own accord.  So too it is with the mind.  Aimlessly sitting in front of the TV, does nothing to reduce stress or benefit the mind.

Karate or meditation, and they are two sides to the same coin focuses your mind, giving it something to concentrate on, to allow our thoughts to settle and stress to melt away.  The purpose of training is to develop Zanshin (awareness) or mindfulness and later to develop Mushin (No Mind).  See other articles in this series for explanations of these terms.  Your practice the correct mind set in class.  Calm, focused, alert, positive, proactive.  At first your practice is limited to moments within a class, then filling an entire class, then becoming a sustaining habit your entire waking life and in the fullness of time sleep life.  Leading to calm, controlled stress life, where you learn to respond, not to react to the world around you.  As your studies progress you gain insight into your negative triggers and purposely condition more positive responses.

The secret to this mind set… is practice.  Correct physical and mental practice.  Goal setting is important  but do not be concerned with your destination. Just practice.  Initially on the dojo floor, and then later in your life outside the dojo.  Practice for practice sake.  One step at a time, one class at a time, one thought at a time.  We all have a unconscious tape playing over and over in our minds.  It is with our whole lives that many are unaware that they are listening to it.  But this tape may be holding your back not making you happy and your dreams come true.  How do you know what the tape is saying in your head.  Listen to your feelings.  Ask at any moment of the day how your feeling?  The answer is what your head is saying to you.  If your feeling sad your having sad thoughts.  If you are happy you are listening to happy thoughts etc.

Proper training will lead to greater mental abilities, like those shown by master in martial arts movies throughout the years.  once this great power has been achieved it becomes nothing, commonplace, like child birth.  Ask any expecting mother in the glow of pregnancy and they will tell you it is a wonderful thing.  But once the child is born it giving birth becomes more common place.  So it is a special thing and a ordinary thing at the same time.  So too are the mental stress relieve abilities of a high grade karateka, a special thing to taking years of practice, that becomes everyday ordinary once it is achieved.