By Master Milad
The short answer
It won’t do the homework. What it builds is what homework needs: focus, self-control and the habit of practising until something sticks. There’s research behind that too. Your first class with us is free. Book it
Parents ask us this all the time. Fair question. You’re paying for classes, and you want them to carry over into the rest of your child’s life.
Here’s what we see, and what the research says.
What the research found
In 2004, researchers Kimberley Lakes and William Hoyt ran a study in a school. Students from kindergarten to Grade 5 were randomly split by class. Half did Taekwondo for three months, and half did regular PE.
The Taekwondo group improved more in self-control, focus, classroom behaviour, and a mental math test.
One study isn’t a promise. It does line up with what we see on the mat every week.
Focus is a skill, and we train it
Every class asks students to listen once and act right away. The instructor calls a technique and the whole room moves together.
A student who’s thinking about something else gets noticed fast. Not with a scolding. They get a reminder to bring their eyes forward and try again.
Do that nearly every week of the year and focus stops being something you hope for. It becomes a habit.
Patterns train memory
A pattern is a set of techniques done in a fixed order, almost like choreography. To do one well, a student has to remember the sequence and get each move right, all at once.
That’s the same muscle a student uses to learn times tables or study for a spelling test: break it into pieces, practise, put it back together.
Belt tests are practice for real tests
A belt test has a date and a standard, with people watching. Students prepare for weeks. They feel the nerves, and then they perform anyway.
That’s a school exam, rehearsed in a safer room. A student who has stood in front of a panel and done their pattern doesn’t freeze as easily in front of a math quiz. (How we prepare students for belt tests.)
For the skeptics: “Wouldn’t a tutor do more?”
For a specific subject, maybe. A tutor teaches the math.
Taekwondo trains the student who sits down to do the math. Their focus, their patience, and their ability to keep going when it gets hard. Plenty of our families do both.
So, does Taekwondo help kids in school?
It helps the student behind the grades. Better focus, better self-control, and real practice performing under pressure.
Come see a class. Watch how quickly a room full of martial artists locks in.
About the author. Master Milad Bahrami opened Endurance in Port Moody in 2014, and today it’s three schools: Port Moody, Burnaby and Port Coquitlam. Read his story
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