Good and bad martial arts games

Martial arts games have been one of the most important building blocks in the development of our youngest martial arts students. When I say this to instructors, they often give me strange looks, and I can tell they think I’m pulling their leg. A few people have asked me about weakening martial arts classes or lowering standards in order to make them more commercial.

I can understand these views from someone who hasn’t seen the martial arts games we use in our training sessions. I know a lot of instructors (sad to say) use games as padding to fill up the time for a lesson. Obviously, anyone doing this is guilty of the statements I’ve been accused of, but martial arts games can be used to complement the theme of your nighttime lesson plan and can dramatically improve the learning ability of young students.

Tag Team Karate Fighting Game

Each lesson plan should have a main theme. It can be blocking, kicking, hitting, one-leg takedowns, sweeps, you get the idea… there has to be a solid focus for each lesson. Now that you know what skill you want to teach the students, you can select some martial arts games that will enhance the lesson rather than detract from it.

For example, if you’re focusing on blocking tonight, you can add some games like “The Mummies Return” or “Block Around The Clock” so the kids can practise their blocks on moving attackers in a controlled way. Everyone participates and has a great time, but they also learn how to apply the skills you just taught them.

The other great thing about using martial arts games in your classes is that the kids generally think it’s just a game. They don’t normally watch what they’re doing and don’t see you teaching them to perform their martial arts skills. The game works better than just doing a martial arts exercise. A drill is a repetitive exercise that tends to bore kids after a minute or two, but a martial arts game is something fun for them to enjoy, and this is very important.

It is important for two main reasons. First, they have fun, but they are still learning how to apply their new skills to other students. Second, they often have so much fun playing these martial arts games in the classroom that they will teach them to their friends at school or meet other students outside the classroom to play them in their own time.

Does doing martial arts help with competitive fighting games?

I’m sure you know how hard it is to get a young student to practise his techniques outside of the dojo. The reason is obvious: unless a student is really committed and driven to improve, they will not spend their free time doing techniques, katas, and martial arts exercises in the garden alone. But if they can get some friends together and play a new game with them, then you have a winner.

I’m sure you can imagine the improvements you would see in your students if they spent a few extra hours practising their skills in between your formal classes. If you teach them an hour each lesson twice a week, they’ll do about 90 hours of training in a year. If you could let them play a few martial arts games with their friends a few times a week, you could easily get them an extra 135 hours a year to train. That’s more training than their formal classes.

Another great thing to teach the students is Mini Challenges. It only takes a minute to teach this lesson, but you can show them a mini-challenge and then set them a goal to achieve for the next lesson. This is a great way to take them to the next level.

I hope I’ve given you enough inspiration to try out some games in your next lesson. The most important thing is to use good quality games that reinforce what you are teaching the kids. If you’re looking for ideas for your next lesson plan, check out the Martial Games for Kids blog.