Eastleigh & Fair Oak Karate Blog

 Autism - How does Karate help? Mats Sommervold on unsplash Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can manifest in communication issues, behavioural problems, difficulties with social norms along with many others. Working as a sports lecturer I have witnessed many cases of students with ASD that struggle in the classroom, but get them in the gym or sports hall and they thrive. They are focussed, they work well and they listen! So, I wondered whether Karate with its fairly ordered regimen, hierarchy and discipline could be a useful tool for someone with ASD. Bahrami et al. (2016) found that kids subjected to 14 weeks of Karate training compared to a control group found that communication deficit was reduced through Karate training. This is also supported by another study (Gianpiero Greco et al., 2020) that conducted a 12 week kata based intervention twice a week and noted improvements in communication, engagement and cooperation. Similar results were found in an 8 week Judo programme (River...

                                   I have often wondered "How good is my self discipline?" I was brought up with a background in Karate which is a very disciplined art, so naturally I figured I would be good. Karate teaches respect: respect to your superiors, respect to others in the class, respect to the art & respect for yourself. Does it teach self discipline to survive in the rigours of daily life? What are the self discipline skills required for everyday life? I think: Punctuality, hygiene, personal appearance, politeness, accepting criticism, working within a team, reliability, composure & attitude. So how does Karate fit in here? Punctuality and reliability It doesn't teach punctuality, it is just expected. If we were late, we weren't refused entry. We had to wait on our knees at the back until invited to enter the class. I learned some patience, but not really punctuality. But, ente...