Different people have different reasons in engaging in martial arts training. Some just want to stay healthy and view training as just another form of physical activity. Others might want to pursue a career in martial arts as it’s been their childhood dream (or fantasy!).
A majority of these people end up getting want they intend to gain while training. But it’s not uncommon to hear people acquiring new dreams and ambitions as they progress in their training.
Take for example Joe Van Deuren who is a now a 55 year old martial arts sensei. He started martial arts training very late in his life at 40 years old. Far more than his personal intentions, he developed a new dream while in training. In training, he understood the importance and influence of a teacher to his or her students. In addition to this, he has seen his own child growing to become a 24 year old man. He saw the implications of teaching martial arts among children. More than the physical aspect of martial arts, he acknowledged that young children can be taught values, discipline and camaraderie through martial arts.
As a result of his personal experience as a dad and martial arts teacher, Joe developed himself in helping children and parents stop bullying. His vision does not only include the community where he belongs but in a larger scale his whole county and the rest of the world. He states in an interview on annapolis.patch.com that bullying is very rampant but also highly preventable. In teaching martial arts, you do not emphasize on kids getting back on bullies through their skills, but preventing getting bullied in the first place through conflict-handling techniques and self-confidence boosters. The focus in teaching children is friendship and empathy aided with martial art training in the process.
