by Sharda Patasar

Created on: August 04, 2008

The most common response to a revelation that a child is taking classes in martial arts is "So you learning how to fight? Show me how you'll beat someone when they attack you."

This is a small West Indian island. Other worlds may be different. Here the main focus is the use of martial arts for full contact fights. For many youths training in one or more than one of these forms of fighting means the ability to "kick someone's ass" so to speak. The confidence that is built results a lot of times in a negative use of it. And most times the negativity either comes from adults here who know nothing more about martial arts than televised Hollywood portrayals of Jet Li and Jackie Chan "kick up" movies or from the heads of organizations whose main focus seems to be the competitions and building their own school's reputation. It's basically a fight for a small piece of the pie.

In the West overall, most of these ancient traditions have lost the deeper value that would have accompanied them in their traditional settings. Be it Muay Thai, Sholin Kung Fu, Tai Chi Chuan, Karate to name a few, the focus is more on the physical aspect than the mental and spiritual aspect that should accompany martial arts. For the martial arts have been not about fighting at the first sign of conflict but rather about the minimising of conflict together one's own development on all three planes that humans function on: physical, mental and spiritual.

Islands aside, and to some of the islanders who regard the training seriously, the benefits of martial arts to children are tremendous. The development and acquisition of a value such as respect for authority and elders is ingrained in these school. The grading system in the martial arts, Karate and Kung Fu for example naturally creates a system where the advanced students and teachers are given due respect by juniors based on their rank. Respect by all students for Sifu or Sensei is a given. Concomitantly humility is added to the mix for a student, regardless of age is expected and required to show a great degree of respect for a senior whether or not that senior happens to be ten years younger or less. Merit counts.

The physical training required to progress in the martial arts naturally impacts on the mental aspect as the student develops the discipline to persevere. This discipline and perseverance extends naturally to daily tasks be they simple household chores, studies or other extra-curricular activities.The self confidence gained when the

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