As a parent, how many times have you said (politely) to your kids: “move it,” “faster, please,” “hustle!” It’s a very common predicament for parents. Teachers, too. And for karate instructors, it’s a key part of the job.
This comes as a relief to parents, and parents testify all the time to how karate helps their kids put some pep in their step. That’s a nice way of saying: karate gets my kids to hustle. How, you ask? In a number of ways.
Kids love contests, and karate instructors are skilled at gamifying hustle. There are warm up races at the start of class. Instructors scan the room to see who can snap to attention the fastest. There are hustle-based games like the Justin Ortiz classic “You Can’t Touch This” (ask an instructor about this one if you haven’t seen it in action). The winners get rewarded, even if it’s just with a high-five.
At later stages, karate students need to work together to keep the pace of group forms, including weapons training. If you fall behind, even by just one move, it’s hard to catch up. You really feel the pressure to keep up with your fellow students, especially during the more advanced upper-belt curriculum.
In the end, to hustle can just mean keeping up. To do that, kids often need to be pushed past their comfort zone so that they can get out the front door of the house, get their pajamas on at night without a fuss, pack their backpack and finish their breakfast before the school bell rings, and any number of tasks their families have going every day.
If you want to see how this works in action, get started here. Hope to see you hustle on the road to black belt!
 to your kids: “move it,” “faster, please,” “hustle!” It’s a very common predicament for parents. Teachers, too. And for karate instructors, it’s a key part of the job. This comes…){kind=link}