Many of today’s parents are afraid to allow their children to fail; but if kids never fail, they won’t be equipped to face difficulties later in life. They won’t have the opportunity to learn resilience (see Parts 1 & 2). Your instructors need to realize that they’ll be swimming upstream in a culture where many […]
Movement & Fitness
Improve strength, coordination, and flexibility across dance, gymnastics, martial arts, and swim training. Find workouts, drills, and conditioning tips to support performance, prevent injuries, and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.
Teaching Life Skills: Resilience, Part 2
Among many life skills your students can learn in your gym, resilience (see Part 1) is definitely among the most significant. Children start facing challenges early in life, and they need to learn to respond in a way that’s healthy. Every time they respond to even small daily challenges with resilience, they strengthen that life […]
Teaching Life Skills: Resilience, Part 1
The little people who enter your gym aren’t simply potential future gymnasts; more importantly, they’re future adults and contributors to society. And the skills they need in order to grow into that important role can be developed now in your gym. We’re not talking primarily about the physical skills you’ll be teaching your students, here […]
Tips for Encouraging Your Young Martial Artists to Progress, Part 1
If your dojo is anything like a typical youth dojo, you probably have belt tests on a fairly regular basis. Allowing these periodic intervals for students to mark their progress can really boost motivation to achieve higher levels of mastery. The following series of 4 articles will explore some helpful strategies for encouraging your students […]
How Old Should a Child Be to Begin Competitive Swimming? Part 2
A strong desire to swim competitively is extremely important when it comes to deciding if a child is ready for this rigorous sport (see Part 1). If your child seems eager to join a competitive swim team even after you’ve explained in detail the type of commitment level involved, they may be ready. But first, […]
Tips for Encouraging Your Young Martial Artists to Progress, Part 4
Helping young students to progress may be one of the most difficult yet most rewarding aspects of being a martial arts instructor. In this series (see Parts 1, 2 & 3) on encouraging your students to be the best they can be, we’ve saved perhaps the hardest to deal with category of students for last. […]
How Old Should a Child Be to Begin Competitive Swimming? Part 1
When it comes to the question of what age a child should be to start swimming competitively, there’s no simple answer. Several different variables will come into play in making the right choice for each kid. In this article and the next (Part 2), we’ll explore some of the factors involved so you can make […]
Tips for Encouraging Your Young Martial Artists to Progress, Part 3
Keeping students on track so they can see progress is vital to the success of any youth martial arts program. As a martial arts instructor, you may find it challenging to know how to approach students with different levels of motivation (see Parts 1 & 2). In this third article of our series on encouraging […]
Tips for Encouraging Your Young Martial Artists to Progress, Part 2
When it comes to martial arts students, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for getting them to succeed. Each student is a unique individual. However, observant and experienced senseis can pick up on patterns that can give clues as to how to approach different students. In the first article in this series, we looked at three different […]
Swim School Goals: Helping Your Students Develop Physical Fitness Goals, Part 3
In Part 1, we considered the various aspects of physical fitness as well as the most significant area of cardiovascular endurance, which is an area in which today’s children often struggle. In Part 2, we talked about the unique challenges that children face as well as the importance of healthy habits such as nutritious food […]
Swim School Goals: Helping Your Students Develop Physical Fitness Goals, Part 2
Your swim school is about more than getting kids ready to compete or even winning swim competitions. You want to positively impact the lives of your swim students by helping them achieve physical fitness and form lifelong healthy habits. Once you understand the various aspects of physical fitness and the deficiencies that most kids today […]
Swim School Goals: Helping Your Students Develop Physical Fitness Goals, Part 1
At your swim school, you no doubt want to encourage physical fitness in your swimmers. But have you ever considered exactly what “physical fitness” means? Or maybe a more helpful question would be, “What are some suitable fitness goals for children?” Or even, “What does a healthy lifestyle include?” We all know that the obesity […]