Daventry Tigers Taekwondo
What happens in class?
Fun!
Fun!
Throughout the Daventry Tigers TKD experience, our aim is to make it fun. But more than this, we try to instill qualities in the children that will stand them in good stead for the future.
Tae Kwon-do is built on the 5 pillars: courtesy, integrity, self control, perseverance and indomitable spirit. We feel that these are great qualities with which to equip young people.
Dodgeball!
Dodgeball has become a 'must play' game here. We play most weeks as a reward for concentrating well at the regular drills. Some take it very seriously (mostly the adults) but most just have fun running around!
Sparring
Sparring
Some children (and adults!) get quite nervous about sparring. The way we teach it is as a game of Tig - the only differences are that you score more points if you 'Tig' someone with your foot rather than your hand and there are only certain areas on the body that you can Tig to score. Contact is kept very light and this aspect of training is very closely supervised.
Rewards
Rewards
Rewards and positive reinforcement of good behaviour, focus and effort are a large part of our classes. We have a Tiger of the Week/Student of the Week every week, who gets a medal to take home for the week and a Tiger of the Month, who gets to wear a purple belt and take a trophy home for the month. Regardless of actual grade, the Tiger of the Month becomes head of the class for that month and all the other students bow to them at the end of each class.
Tiger Chant
The instructor sings the phrase in Capitals and the Tigers reply with the part in brackets:
I TRAIN IN A DOJANG (I train in a Dojang)
WEARING A DOBOK (Wearing a Dobok)
MY BELT IS MY TI (My Belt is my Ti)
STUDENT IS A JE JA (Student is a Je Ja)
INSTRUCTOR IS A SABUM (Instructor is a Sabum)
STUDENT IS A JE JA (Student is a Je ja)
SABUM! (Sabum!)
JE JA! (Je Ja!)
SABUM! (Sabum!)
JE JA! (Je ja)
The Tenets of Taekwondo
Classroom Assistant, Daniella, shows you all the actions we use to help the children learn the 5 Tenets of Taekwondo:
Courtesy
Integrity
Self-Control
Perseverance
Indomitable Spirit!
Why Not?
With that in mind, there is no rush to get to black belt - we are not here simply to push people through gradings. We want to help them to learn and to teach them what it takes to persevere at something. We want to show them what it means to be courteous and respectful.
We give an outlet for excess energy and hopefully turn out strong people of integrity, fostering an indomitable spirit and strength of character that will help them stand out and achieve their full potential for the rest of their lives.