The discipline of martial arts has a lot of great advantages. Some people want to learn and train in order to stay healthy and be active. While others dwell deep on the mental clarity and focus that martial arts can bring.
However, the benefits you can get from training in martial arts are not limited to thosementioned above. Some benefits are far reaching and more holistic. A great example of such non-apparent benefit can be attested by Bill Robinson, an 81 year old Kyuki-Do black belte.
Bill Robinson, Sr., who trains at AKF Flying Dragons with his son, Bill Robinson, Jr., is one of Master Thiel’s older students. Both Robinsons have black belts, which they earned in 2008. At that time, senior was 77 years old.
“I started training in 1997,” Robinson, Sr., said. “It’s kept me from turning into a couch potato.”
He said his son wanted to train in martial arts. After watching his son train with Master Thiel for a while, senior decided he could do that, too.
(An entry from triblocal.com)
Martial arts can also be an avenue for family to establish deep and meaningful relationships with one another. It’s an opportunity for different generations to share and be in one mind and heart with. Master Bonnie Thiel of AKF Spring Grove Flying Dragons summarized this greatly when he said the following in that interview.
“In some ways, martial arts helps to break down the walls between generations,” Master Thiel said. “Young or old, it’s a wonderful opportunity to challenge yourself and, if nothing else, to get out of the house.”
As an instructor I have seen many people start training with their children, only to have the children move on to something else and the parents stay behind and keep training. Normally everyone’s a bit younger than this though!
