Hey Basic SKILLZ Parents!
Our staff at On The Mat hope to share one of the many ways our Basic SKILLZ program help prepare kids to work together in a team and as a team… By reinforcing their ability to show good TEAMWORK!
In class we work of different types of TEAMWORK including: sportsmanship, group and partner work. We do this by utilizing a database of drills meant to challenge their emotional and social stages of development.
During our mat chats our instructors explain that you can demonstrate good TEAMWORK by showing your best sportsmanship. We discuss what it means to be a great winner, as well as role-play thanking our challengers to build great manners. Inevitably students will lose which also allows us the opportunity to teach them how to lose with grace. Instead of allowing our emotions to get the better of us, we coach them to redirect their energy and choices in a positive manner and focus on how we can get better or being happy for our friends and congratulating the winners.
We also focus on working well in groups utilizing our positive communication skills. We help our students identify when they communicate in a negative manner and learn the benefits of working equally for the good of the team. These lessons will put them in the best position to better manage conflict in their groups or even be more confident when taking a leadership role.
Working with partners is also a large part of coaching them beyond their average social stage of development. While working with a partner, we are challenging them to work with different personalities. One of our major goals for this age group is for them to freely choose to work with new & different partners, as well as partners of the opposite gender.
The value in our programs extend far beyond being able to defend ourselves or learning a myriad of techniques. We aim to use our Martial Arts techniques to teach lessons that extend off the mat.
We hope to make every ninja a better version of themselves!
Sincerely,
Andrew Arquines