This was a new challenge. The 6-year-old with a scrunched-up look of concentration and a fierce gaze had already mastered a series of tasks that included sit-ups, stretches, running and various kicks and punches to a pad.
But this was no soft foam pad. Instead, she faced a small board of wood, maybe an inch thick, held by an instructor. Twice she mimed the punch, softly preparing her aim, before rearing back and with one strong blow snapping the board in two. Suddenly, that look of intensity was replaced by one of wonderment and surprise. Yes, she still remained a small girl, only a few feet tall, but now she seemed one step closer to being a martial arts master.
“This stuff helps the kids feel confident and powerful,” Ricardo Bellot, one of the instructors at Premier Martial Arts at 215 West 76th Street on the Upper West Side, said shortly after the young girl’s class ended. “They see the guys doing spin-around kicks and floating in the air on TV and moving very fast, and they want a part of that. They think that looks awesome. It gives them an untouchable feeling.”
And that may be a big reason behind the emergence of martial arts as a growing athletics option in New York City for children, whether toddlers or teenagers. Buoyed by the depiction of fighting forms such as karate and judo in video games, TV shows and movies and the increased cultural cachet of martial arts overall, especially the mixed martial arts of Ultimate Fighting, programs like the one at Bellot’s studio are more popular than ever.
“I like the exercise. And, I know how to defend myself,” said Max Leshne, who was getting ready for a lesson at S.J. Kim’s Taekwondo studio at 2182 Broadway, less than two blocks from Premier Martial Arts. The 6-year-old has been taking classes for a little over a year and said his favorite move is “the axe kick—you keep your leg straight without bending your knee.”
Premier Martial Arts has two other locations, on the Upper East Side and in West Midtown. The Upper East Side, in fact, has six different studios offering programs for kids. Take a look around the streets during weekend mornings or when schools typically get out, and you’ll see plenty of children walking around wearing the traditional white robes and belts of martial artists.
For Bellot, programs like his offer far more than just a path to being the new Jet Li.
“I believe it gives them a lot of confidence once they’re involved in martial arts,” he said “Those who take it seriously learn a lot of self-discipline and self-esteem, and also physical fitness is a big benefit.”
Bellot, who has worked at Premier Martial Arts for three years teaching a hybrid of karate, taekwondo and boxing, currently oversees about 200 children. He is a big guy, standing at least six feet with imposing size, a trimmed beard and dreadlocks.
“You can’t use the traditional instructional methods of martial arts,” he said, regarding his Sunday morning class of 2-to-4-year-olds. “We don’t do combat, obviously, at this level. But we do have martial arts-inspired games to help them learn how to use their balance, leverage and body weight.”
Bellot keeps a drill sergeant tone in his voice but combines it with a cajoling manner and gleam in his eye that have the kids smiling and sometimes giggling. He starts each class with a bow to his students before leading them through some frog jumps and sit-ups. They finish their warm-up by running some quick laps around the studio. Then the fun truly begins: Every child executes a series of punches and kicks to a pad, each one accompanied by a loud shout. Soon, the room reverberates with the sounds of hand or foot meeting pad and cries of “Ki-ya, ki-ya.” Afterward, everyone is awarded a small sticker. Collect enough stickers, and you get a belt upgrade, moving from white to other colors indicating greater mastery.
Not everything is executed with rigid perfection. For the youngest ones, the sit-ups quickly devolve into rolling onto their sides and then pushing themselves up. And one boy proved eminently distractible, running out to kick a pad every few minutes before returning to sit beside his mother. Things became more disciplined and advanced for older children. The 8- to 13-year-olds go through more extensive warm-ups and routines. The time length also grows, from 30 minutes for the youngest kids to an hour for the oldest ones.
Once they turn 14, the kids can join adult classes and start to enter competitions, beginning with match-ups against the other branches of Premier Martial Arts.
“For [the youngest students], it’s more about the discipline, the structure and the muscle memory,” Bellot said. “They still lack a lot of fine motor skills, but it’s good to get them into the way things are done, get them accustomed to how to move around so that when they’re old enough to grasp the techniques it’s that much easier.”
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