5 Reasons You Should Enroll Your Child in Martial Arts
Posted: May 25, 2019
Let’s clear the air right away. If you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s, you likely wanted to be like the Karate Kid or one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s ok, embrace it.
Now that you’ve got little ninjas of your own, you’re probably weighing the costs and benefits of enrolling them in a martial arts academy. Since the days of mullets and Mr. Miyagi, the options for choosing a local martial arts school have exploded.
Martial Arts Are Something Every Parent Should Consider
Anti-bully Strategies To Share With Your Kids
Posted: May 25, 2019
Summer is winding down and Back to School season is in full swing. Parents are anxiously getting their children prepared to return to school, while kids experience their own anxieties about making new friends, facing new peer pressures and unfortunately often having to deal with bullying, which these days often follows them home via social media.
In this article and video Mr. Beard (Owner of USA Karate & Krav Maga Centers, former Police Officer) discusses some anti bullying coping strategies to share with your child to help them avoid becoming a victim this upcoming school year.
Stop the internal bullying: Five ways we can treat ourselves better
Posted: May 25, 2019
By Master Christopher Rappold
I am pleased that over the past 10 years to have been able to contribute to the communities we serve by helping school systems handle bullying in a mindful way. Going back 10 years, it was not uncommon for teachers within the same grade to have different approaches to the same bullying situation. With 97 percent of bullying being psychological, not physical, it is important that every child know exactly how to handle a bullying situation when it occurs. With the correct approach, bullying doesn't have to be a crippling occurrence. Every Personal Best Karate student should be able to define in 10 seconds or less exactly what he or she would do when bullying occurs. There is something very powerful when a strategy can provide that level of clarity.
At times internal bullying is overlooked. It is the way we treat ourselves from day to day. If you are human you know the amount of negativity that can pervade your thinking in a single day. Fears, doubts, worries and insecurities can hold us hostage without us even being aware. Any idea how many of these thoughts come into your brain every day? Would you believe that we have between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day and without proper attention as much as 80 percent of them are negative? It's kind of hard to be your Personal Best with this kind of scorecard.
Working together completes PBK experience
Posted: May 25, 2019
It's a family affair at the Personal Best Karate in Medfield with the Manchand family. Twelve-year-old Noah has been coming to Personal Best since first grade and received his Black Belt last year, six months before his father, Raoul, received his Black Belt. Mother Christine is a kickboxer and it was a bet she had with Raoul that got him on the mat.
"I lost some bet and was supposed to go to kickboxing but instead I took karate," Raoul explained. "When I started, I felt uncoordinated - but it wasn't too long before I felt comfortable." The camaraderie at the school and everyone working together helped make the transition from just taking class to someone training for their Black Belt possible, he said.
Their son Noah started at Personal Bet when he was six-years-old for different reasons.
This instructor knows gratitude
Posted: May 25, 2019
Stephanie McGrath has held many roles at Personal Best Karate as an instructor these past 20 years, but her most important teaching role for the students came from what she learned off the mat.
McGrath’s Personal Best story started before elementary school. She joined Personal Best Karate in Foxborough when she was three-years-old – her older brother had joined at five and she had tagged along. She took classes for a few years, then needed to stop as her family’s personal life hit some speed bumps.
McGrath, who has three brothers, experienced some tough times growing up. For a while, her family was homeless, bouncing back and forth living at friends’ houses, camp grounds and community housing. Although she was young, she remembers the hard times they were facing. Luckily, they were gifted a trailer and were settled for a little while. Then in 2004 when McGrath was 10, Habitat for Humanity built a house for her family in Norton.