When Fun Didn't Need a Screen.

This week at First Choice Martial Arts, we witnessed something pretty special.

It felt like a return to the basics, the kind of “olden days” where kids would go outside, play with friends, and stay out until the streetlights came on. Nowadays, it can be tough to pull them away from screens and get them engaged in real, social interaction. But this past week reminded us that those simple joys aren’t gone after all.

We ran an Easter colouring contest, where students could complete their sheets and submit them for tomorrow’s draw. If you haven’t handed yours in yet, this is your reminder, you still have until today to bring it in and be eligible!

What stood out most was that over the weekend, a large number of parents and kids dropped by just to submit their colouring sheets, even if they weren’t attending classes. That kind of enthusiasm shows that good old-fashioned fun is still alive and well and I'm glad First Choice Martial Arts could be a part of it.

In addition, we’ve started handing out our “Fussy Eaters” April Stars Challenge. The Stars Program has been a big part of training here at FCMA for the past 24 years and if you are not up to speed it is a patch-based program where students can earn badges each month and proudly display them on their karate uniforms.

Each student receives a monthly star sheet and by completing the challenge, they can earn a blue star. They can also earn red stars for strong report cards and for consistently doing their best at school. 

Over the next three months, we’ll continue distributing these challenges, with the goal of helping students and parents transition to accessing them through our website moving forward, this way they can keep progressing with this amazing incentive program.

This month’s challenge, the “Fussy Eaters” challenge, is a great one to get started with and I know this was a big one for my middle child in our family, when he was younger.

So remember, we’re open today, and we hope to see you in class this week as we kick off April strong. Every day is a step forward, whether it be tracking our goals, improving ourselves, and moving one step closer to Black Belt.

Have fun, good luck, and we look forward to the challenges ahead!

Sensei Chris