Exerpted
[i]Parents Look for Mental, Physical Benefits from Martial Arts
Published Tuesday, June 28, 2005
FIGHTING FITNESS
Parents Look for Mental, Physical Benefits from Martial Arts
By Gary White
The Ledger
Ileana Patlan doesn’t match the increasingly common image of the American child as flabby, inactive and inattentive. A coffee-skinned girl with a brown ponytail trailing midway down her back, Ileana stands alert on the blue-and-red rubber mat at Choe’s Tae Kwon Do on a recent afternoon. The instructor, Grandmaster Sun T. Choe, barks out a command, and Ileana bounds forward to leap and kick at the air.
Ileana, 8, is among some 40 kids taking part in a summer program at Choe’s studio in Lakeland. The third-grader began Tae Kwon Do training several months ago and has progressed from the introductory white-belt level through yellow and orange to green.
She says the results of her martial arts training became apparent this spring when her school, Valleyview Elementary, administered the President’s Challenge physical fitness test.
“At school they have these tests every year, and last year I couldn’t do any of them as fast as I could this year,” she says.
Ileana noticed improvement in such exercises as pull-ups and sit-ups.
Her mother, Corsica Patlan, enrolled Ileana at Choe’s in part because the girl was having problems with a bully at school.
“She’s become more self-confident,” Patlan says. “She was afraid to stand up for herself, and now she’s not intimidated any more. It’s given her the confidence to be able to verbally defend herself.”
Choe (pronounced “Chay”), a South Korea native who has been teaching martial arts in Lakeland since 1979, says such results are common. He says Tae Kwon Do, a punch-andkick-based form of self-defense dating back at least 2,000 years in Korea, enhances coordination, flexibility and strength for children and adults.
Martial arts have grown in popularity in recent years as a form of exercise for kids, and many local centers offer children’s programs in tae kwon do, karate and other forms.[/i]
Full article at
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050628/NEWS/506280304/1021
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