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WESTMINSTER, Colo. — Matthew Shaver first became interested in karate at age 2.聽 His daycare was near a karate school in Westminster.聽 He would see the kids in uniform out practicing or getting ready for class and kept asking about them.聽 They started the kids at 3, so Matthew began just before he turned three.聽 At first, getting him to stay on the floor and participate the whole time was hard.聽 At one point, I had a uniform and was on the floor with him to help him focus.聽 We were overwhelmed at his first “tournament鈥� (the littles perform combinations and techniques鈥� not sparring for forms).

There were many other karate schools, and the location was packed.聽 At one point, Matthew wandered off into the different rings with other competitions going on.聽 We got the instructor’s attention at one of the other schools; he retrieved him, and they bonded.聽 His name is Mr. Jarvis.聽 After a while at the Westminster school, we weren’t sure karate would work out. Still, we decided to try the Thornton school location because Mr. Jarvis was there. 聽Mr. Jarvis is a wonder with kids, and Matthew recommitted to karate.聽 At 4, he committed to getting his black belt as he had already made his way through the basic program.聽 We went up to the black belt testing retreat in Estes Park, and he received his blue top (a leadership top and sign of his commitment) in front of all the black belts and instructors.聽 Things were going well from there for a while.聽 In the different karate levels, they learn new forms (a string of combinations and techniques) and must work on and memorize combinations.聽 But they also did a lot of work around being responsible, having integrity, helping others, creating goals, etc.聽 We even read the kid’s version of the 7 Habits with him.聽 He also started learning how to use different weapons and basic sparring.

Then COVID came.

The school did its best to run zoom classes, even having zoom tournaments (in which he took 2nd in).聽 However, keeping his attention was tough despite all his efforts.聽 Once they could open the school back up to a limited number of kids, we took advantage.聽 He had to relearn some things and get back into the swing, redoing one level, and then he got back on track.聽 He worked really hard to get ready for tests and keep moving up in belts, despite being the youngest in his group most of the time.聽 A lot of karate is about self-discipline, respect, and focus, not the moves.聽 This was helpful when Matthew started kindergarten.聽 As we started moving towards getting him ready to test into the prep cycle, we began to get a little nervous.聽 The prep cycle is an intensive 15-week program that prepares kids to push for their conditional black belt, which is not a small feat.聽 You have to know everything from every level.聽 Mr. Jarvis had switched to the Westminster school to fill a gap there. We decided he might do best in this cycle and prepare for it with him and a couple of the other instructors he had worked with.聽 So, we switched back to that location.聽 When they pre-tested them to see if they were ready, Mr. Jarvis told Matthew that he might need more preparation.聽 The test is a 3-day retreat with a lot of practicing, working out, and sparring late into the night, like 12 or 1 am.聽 Mr. Jarvis was encouraging but honest.

Matthew returned the next day and told him he wanted to prove him wrong.聽 Mr. Jarvis smiled and gave us a practice plan which we implemented to the best of our ability.聽 Matthew worked his tail off.聽 Without describing the entire weekend, it was strenuous.聽 Matthew was recovering from strep.聽 Somehow, we kept him on his feet at the end with coca-cola and snickers bars from Halloween.聽 He passed!

Now, he is in the prep cycle.聽 There is a lot of practice and hard work, but he passed his mid-cycle test most recently.聽 His instructors all came by to say how well he did, especially being the youngest.

Karate, for us, has always been for community and confidence with a mix of self-discipline and focus.聽 We don’t go to church or have much family here.聽 So, this is our community. He’s also identified as gifted and needs stimulus and practice with focusing.聽 My background is in coaching, so I have to balance the coach hat and dad hat.聽 But it’s been great for the family, and We’re excited about his test in May for his conditional black belt.

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