Benefits of Taekwondo for 4 & 5 Year olds
Thousands of parents enroll their children in various martial arts such as Taekwondo or Karate for various reasons. It’s a great way for kids to get exercise outside of a team sport setting, plus it’s a year round activity. But often a question they wonder is how young is too young to start? While there is never a “too old” to start martial arts when it comes to kids they can begin as young as 4 years old.
At Fakhoury Academy of Taekwondo we provide a special class for kids that are 4 and 5 years olds that isn’t just playtime; they are learning basic martial arts skills. This class is called The Little Falcons because that’s what they’re doing: learning to fly and jump! We’ve had many students begin in that class that continue to train into their teens and achieve black belts. These kids developed a strong basic foundation in their martial arts technique that translated over to their current training. There are so many benefits to enrolling your 4 year old in Taekwondo classes that will help them in their life now:
Improved focus and self control
When young kids come in they do start out very “wiggly” and active. Although we do continue to encourage their activity level through drills and game based structure, the children also do learn when it is time to focus and center themselves, as well as learn how to follow direction.
Improved coordination and balance
In martial arts classes children work on basic drills that improve their balance and endurance. In our classes we have found that kids who start at ages 4 or 5 and train weekly show significant improvement in all of these areas after about four months. Even though they are small they do build impressive strength!
Increased self-confidence
Something that is wonderful about martial arts is that every student goes at their own pace. There is no race to finish first. It is all about improving yourself and accomplishing your own goals. The 4 and 5 year old classes have their own belt ranking system where at each progress testing they demonstrate the skills they have been working on during classes. They earn stripes to show what all they have learned.
A solid martial arts foundation
When kids learn the basic techniques of Taekwondo while they are this young and really master it, it carries over into their training if they continue to do so. Many higher ranking black belts that you may meet started when they were that young and it helped shaped them into the technician they are today!
The best way to find out if Taekwondo is the right fit for your 4 year old is to have them try a class! Most children who try out our class love it and don’t even realize they’re learning valuable skills as they take classes. Call us at (828) 674-6267 to schedule a free trial class!
One of our now black belts student began training at 4 years old!
“Many kids struggle with the pressure of competing with other kids. But in martial arts, the focus is on self-improvement. There’s no ‘letting down the team.’”