Class Schedule
All Classes are held on Tuesday nights in the gym of First Baptist Church of Brandon (Downtown campus).
Beginner Class 6:00 to 6:45 pm.
Intermediate Class 6:45 to 7:45 pm. (for gold belts and above).
On occasion, the instructors will set up additional training sessions on
another night of the week or on a Saturday. These sessions may be belt
specific, age specific or activity specific. (for instance, if a group
is preparing to go to a tournament, the instructor might have a coaching
session for them prior to the event.)
Most martial art classes meet several times a week. We only
meet on Tuesday nights. It is a proven fact that students learn better
with multiple classes during the week, and so that should be a
consideration before joining this class. This class will
require a higher degree of self-discipline (or parental involvement) in
order for the student to progress. If you are expecting the student to
get everything they need while in class, you may want to consider some
of the other martial arts classes in town.
Class Attendance
Because we only meet once a week, we will expect students to make a very real effort to attend every class provided. We certainly understand illness of the student, parent
or siblings. We also understand about exam week at school and such. We know that “life gets in the way of karate training.” However, we are working hard to provide an education that can impact a student’s life forever, and so we ask that you make every effort to attend class. Attendance will be one factor considered when looking at a student for
rank promotion. Even if the student can perform the physical steps required, missing class means they have missed some of the mental and emotional training that we believe is the most important part of the training.
We encourage parents and siblings to attend class as well. First, it provides a good family activity that you can all do together. Second, it provides good exercise for everyone. Third, it will help reinforce training if multiple family members are involved.
Karate Season
In our minds, karate is not an extracurricular activity but a way of
life. Thus, there is always something else for the student to learn –
and a reason to train forever. However, we realize that not everyone
will share our enthusiasm. Most people are familiar with signing up for
a “season” (basketball season, soccer season, baseball season, etc).
In order to place the martial arts class into a framework that our
parents and students are familiar with, we have established something
similar. When a student joins the class, they will be signing up for a
“season”. That is, they agree to take an active part in the class until
they achieve a certain belt level. So, a beginner will agree to stay
with the class until they achieve a gold belt. Once the student has
achieved the gold belt level they have the option of taking some time
off or committing to the next belt level (in essence, starting another
season of karate).
Practice Outside of Class
We also ask that a student average 10 minutes of training each day
outside of class. Whether that is 10 minutes daily, two 30 minute
sessions or one hour-long session, we think it is important for the
reinforcement of training that the student should work on their material
outside of class.
Other Activities
Many parents try to ensure their child gets to participate fully in many
activities. We ask that you reconsider this when taking the martial
arts. Class schedule may conflict with another sport’s practice
sessions or games. A student trying to balance the different activities
may have difficulty getting better at either. One of the things we try
to teach a student is “focus” – that is, setting a goal and working
toward it, while blotting out distractions. We would ask that you help
us with this goal. Think hard before signing your child up for multiple
activities.
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