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There's a child I've taught a hundred times over the last 23 years. He comes in for his first session and stands slightly behind his mum, one hand on her sleeve. He won't make eye contact. When I ask his name he says it so quietly I have to lean in. He spends the whole first class watching the other kids more than doing anything himself, and when it's over he can't get his shoes on fast enough. His mum catches my eye on the way out with a look I've come to know well. It says:

If you're a parent watching your teenager struggle socially, or your child has been on the receiving end of bullying, ostracisation or cruelty from their peers. You 're not looking for a generic martial arts pitch. You want to know if something can actually help. Whether martial arts training does anything real for a young person beyond learning a few kicks. I can tell you honestly that it does. Not because I've read about it, but because I lived it. I'm James Dilley, Chief I

My student Syringa bagging a Gold & Silver at the AETA Open. If you're a parent in Reading searching for martial arts classes for your child, there's a good chance you've found yourself going back and forth between Taekwon-Do and Karate. They look similar on the surface.. Doboks, belts, bowing, discipline, but they are genuinely different arts with different emphases, different cultures, and different experiences for a child training in them. I'm James Dilley, Chief Instructo