Following interest from a few of our younger family members about training we have set up a class for younger children as a basic introduction to Karate. Classes consist of a half hour period from 6pm on Tuesday and Sunday at Pensby and Wednesday at Upton, (seelocations page for addresses).

Although we have found that most children over the age of 4 can manage this, all kids are different and some will not be able to hold their attention within the class. If this happens we will suggest that the child returns in around 6 months as the increased attention these children need, take us away from the other children. Its nothing personal, just practical. Saying that it has only happened once since these classes started. We also insist that parents remain in the hall during this class.

Classes consist of a brief warm up, followed by teaching of basic techniques and terminology mixed with the odd game and pad work (always seems to go down well!!). The discipline of a normal karate class is relaxed but we insist on "no messing around". Also because of their age we do not teach in a way that would allow contact (no 1 on 1) of techniques between chldren in this class. Four year olds with a black eye dont look good on school photos! Injuries in "Traditional" Karate, in general, are few and tend to be minor, but bare in mind it is a contact sport for when they are a bit older.

We have developed a Tiger syllabus, so the are regular gradings (three a year), which is essentially the first junior grade broken down into manageble chunks and merit badges, if required (remember the boy scouts!!) so the children have goals to acheive (and something to show for their effort) . Tigers have continually moved on and passed their many Junior gradings with flying colours!!!

If we think that an older child would be able to handle the junior class we will dicuss it with the parents but it is entirely up to the child and parents if they want to make this step.

Sessions are £2.00 (first one free) for the half hour and once the child wants to continue we require that all members have a BKA Licence (this is basically liability insurance cover and is a requirment in nearly all martial arts clubs in this country). This cost £20 per year (£25 for the first year, it includes teh record book), but we won't insist on this until after a couple of months or so (no point splashing out on a passing fad). We are introducing a monthly fee which will allow unlimited training, but this is optional and can be stopped at any time (please see Sensei D'Arcy for details).