"Thank you again for all that the martial arts has brought my family. I simply cannot believe how much [our son] especially has benefitted from your teachings. as a parent simply have no words to express how much gratitude I have. The most rewarding part was having different folks come up to me and ask 'what got into [our son]' and this my thanks for all you do. Martial arts is not about the strikes and winning medals. The winning in seeing progress, growth and students that truly care about each other as was very present yesterday is what it is all about."
— A Father & Current Black Belt
" I have been training for almost 8 years, and this experience has changed my life. I feel as though I have become a kinder person toward others. I am a happier person, I have made dozens of friends and I most definitely have much more discipline than before. I have also had many experiences that I never dreamed of, and won opportunities I only heard about. I love karate and the dojo and the people there, I don’t know what I would be like without ever have walking into [monkton after school program] 8 years ago. And being part of something as big as Villari’s has made me more confident and come out of my shell."
— Brown Belt Teen Leader
"Everywhere I go I bring with me the 13 years of training of Karate with me and all the morals that come with it. Karate is a part of who I am. To have it start out as something to get energy out and maybe better hand eye coordination at the age of 4 to something that helps me protect myself and just have a better understanding of what I want to do in life. Shaolin Kempo Karate doesn't care who the person is or their background, and because of that it offers great knowledge to everyone and gives everyone an equal playing field. When asked what it has done for me I’d say it taught me to be healthier in both mind and body, to be aware of everything going on around me no matter where I am, to give back in any way possible to my community and treat everyone equal, and finally it taught me how to have discipline and be humble and hardworking simultaneously."
— Black Belt Teen
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According to a study in the National Library of Medicine, martial arts programs showed "significant improvements in the] the physical fitness of preschool and school children, especially for parameters such as cardiorespiratory fitness, speed, agility, strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance" (Stamenković et al, 2022).
According to the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, women who participated in a self-defense program, which included martial arts training, were statistically found to be less likely to experience assault (ulman et al, 2019) -- from the same study, a friend of echoed a survivor stated classes "increased awareness" and spoke about them both taking precautions following her assault. “It made her be very aware of what’s going on outside in the world.”
Martial arts training teaches individuals how to stand up for themselves and others by instilling discipline, respect, and the skills needed to de-escalate situations and intervene safely when needed.
