Hi and welcome,

I'm Master Frank, owner of Lions Panzek Martial Arts in Winfield, Illinois.

It happens all the time in the dojang.

A student is practicing a kick and doing perfectly well.

Then they look over.

The student next to them kicks higher.

Suddenly, their perfectly good kick isn't good enough anymore.

"Why can they kick higher than me?"

Or:

"How come they have that belt and I don't?"

Or the always-popular:

"They're better than me."

Comparison can take a child who was proud of themselves five seconds ago and convince them they're failing.

And adults aren't immune to this either.

We just have more sophisticated ways of doing it.

Usually involving social media.

This is one of the realities we eventually have to teach children.

Someone will probably be faster.

Someone will be stronger.

Someone will learn a technique more quickly.

Someone will earn a belt first.

That's okay.

Because the student standing beside you isn't walking your path.

They may have started earlier.

They may practice differently.

They may have different strengths.

They may also be struggling with something that comes naturally to you.

When we compare ourselves to someone else, we're usually comparing one small piece of two very different stories.

That's not a particularly fair competition.

One of the things I love about martial arts is that improvement is easy to see over time.

Think about a student's first class.

Maybe they couldn't remember which foot went forward.

Maybe balancing during a kick was an adventure.

Maybe right and left became surprisingly complicated concepts.

Then six months later, look at them.

The child hasn't necessarily become the best martial artist in the room.

But that's not the point.

They're better than they used to be.

That's progress.

And that's the comparison that matters.

Now, I certainly don't think competition is bad.

Martial arts has tournaments.

We spar.

We compete.

Someone wins.

Someone loses.

Learning how to compete with respect and handle both outcomes gracefully is valuable.

But healthy competition says:

"Let's see what I'm capable of."

Unhealthy comparison says:

"My value depends on whether I'm better than you."

Those are very different lessons.

I want our students to challenge themselves.

I want them to work hard.

I want them to strive for excellence.

But I don't want their confidence to depend on someone else's performance.

Sometimes adults accidentally encourage comparison without realizing it.

We ask:

"Did you win?"

"Were you the fastest?"

"What belt is your friend now?"

There's nothing terrible about those questions.

But try adding a few different ones:

"What did you do better today?"

"What was difficult that you're starting to understand?"

"What are you proud of?"

"What do you want to improve next?"

Now we're teaching children to measure progress against themselves.

That's a much healthier scoreboard.

This is especially important in an inclusive martial arts school.

Not every student learns the same way.

Not every student moves the same way.

Not every student communicates the same way.

And not every student's victory looks the same.

For one student, success might be executing a difficult combination.

For another, it might be participating independently for the first time.

For another, it might simply be staying engaged for the entire class.

Those accomplishments aren't more or less valuable because they look different.

Progress is personal.

Our job is to help each student move forward from where they are.

Here's a simple exercise you can try with your child.

Instead of asking them to look sideways at everyone else, occasionally ask them to look backward at themselves.

Ask:

"What can you do now that you couldn't do six months ago?"

You may be surprised by the answers.

And they may be surprised too.

Children spend so much time looking toward the next goal that they sometimes forget how far they've already traveled.

It's worth reminding them.

There's an old martial arts idea that the greatest opponent you'll ever face is yourself.

I think there's a lot of truth in that.

The goal isn't to kick higher than the student beside you.

It's to kick a little better than you did before.

The goal isn't to earn a belt before somebody else.

It's to become ready for yours.

The goal isn't to become someone else.

It's to keep becoming a stronger, kinder, more capable version of yourself.

There will always be someone ahead of us.

There will always be someone behind us.

So encourage the person behind you.

Learn from the person ahead of you.

And keep working on the person in the mirror.

That's a competition worth winning.

See you on the mat,

Master Frank

Lions Panzek Martial Arts
27W239 Geneva Rd.
Winfield, IL 60190
(630) 797-6698

www.panzek.com

As children head back to school, new classrooms, new teachers, new classmates, and new challenges can bring plenty of comparison.

Martial arts gives children a place to discover something much more valuable:

What they are capable of.

This August, new students can get:

🥋 2 Weeks of Martial Arts Classes FREE
🥋 FREE Uniform

No experience is necessary, and beginners are always welcome.

Help your child head into the school year with greater confidence, focus, discipline, and the ability to face challenges without worrying about whether everyone else is ahead of them.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Confidence is the Best School Supply™.