My son has always had a desire to study martial arts but I felt he was to immature and impulsive to be given the knowledge of how to hurt someone. I could not have been more wrong. When he began getting into trouble at home for doing things like melting legos on his light bulb I knew it was time to find a focus for his time and energy. After shopping around and interviewing many different schools we chose the ATA Princess Anne location and two years later we are still thrilled with our decision. The leadership there is top notch. The adult instructors have good and truthful insights about my child. My son has a place where he can expel his energy and learn new things. When he was invited to the Instructor Program I saw his hobby change into something that could very well be a career for him. Rather than teaching him to fight they have taught how to defend him self, how to perform in front of a crowd and how to test well under pressure. He has also learned self discipline and self control. Every time he earns a new belt he gets a huge feeling of pride and self worth because he worked hard and earned it. What better life lesson can a child learn than that? That has also gone a long way in building his self esteem. Another thing that has given a boost to his self confidence and self esteem is being part of the XMA/Demo Team. In particular he is asked for his input as part of that group and each person's suggestions are taken into consideration. He was proud to have his suggestion implemented at part of a demonstration for the other children in the karate school. This type of group collaboration is just another excellent example of how the ATA is teaching my son to become a man and a leader. I am so thankful that we signed Devlin up and we hope he will remain a life long active member of the ATA!
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