Kah Rah Tay

Rico went to his first karate class yesterday. For months he's been talking about karate, showing us his karate kicks and punches. And, actually, he wasn't bad. While I figured it was just a phase he'd grow out of, he kept mentioning karate.

On the 4th of July we went to the Noblesville parade and one of the walking floats was for the American Blackbelt Academy. Rather than handing out candy, they handed out a coupon for a free month of karate!

Yesterday was Rico's first day. He loved it. I loved to see him so happy. The focus is mainly on following directions and respect. As soon as they arrived Rico was asked to put his shoes in one of the bins then they went towards the mat. Before getting on the mat he (and the instructor and other student) had to bow to the mat. Once on the mat they all bowed to the American flag and then to "the masters", pictures of martial arts masters that were on the wall. The instructor was very patient and Rico was doing a great job following direction.

The instructor had them run back and forth on the mat and then stop whenever he yelled, "stop!". The boys thought that was great fun. He allowed Rico to chose the next activity and to ask questions about what was around the room-punching bags and other equipment. They did some other climbing and jumping exercises and then went into punches. The instructor was a impressed that Rico could control his punches and would punch when asked and not spaz out swinging. The class finished by the instructor doing some role play that focused on how to protect yourself from strangers, "say no", "run away", "find an adult".

After some final bows to end the class Rico came to us smiling and happy and, for that night, very tired.