Congratulations! Your child is officially a kareteka. It's often been said that the hardest part about starting something is "starting" -- so we have some helpful links to accelerate your beginning.
Osu.
Welcome to the dojo!
The absolute best way to start training is to.... take your first class.
As a parent, you've made the decision to give your child the incredible benefits of karatedō. But those benefits are only available through hard work and consistency.
In general, our advice on getting started is the same for all parents, regardless of the age of your child (or children). But there are some differences too, which we'll cover below.
How Often Should My Child Train?
For everyone, coming to class as often as you can, especially at the beginning, is important in building momentum and establishing a rhythm for training.
This can be challenging, especially in our modern society in which we tend to over-schedule kids. Parenting is about having a plan for your child, making choices among the many options you have, and then helping your child live those choices.
Even if the only thing you can do is to have your child train once a week, remember that's better than not training. However, it's very hard to make progress and build on skills and knowledge by training once a week. Aim for a minimum of twice a week, if you can, but be kind to yourself: as you well know, being a parent is hard, and success is not measured in 100% execution of your planning!
Everything else – all of the material here on GOJUKARATE.COM, all the downloads and videos and audio in the Goju Students section – all of that stuff is very helpful.
But none of it is a substitute for walking into the dojo, going to the locker rooms, putting on your uniform (your Gi) for the first time, and then walking out onto the dojo floor.
The First Time
Try to be a little early for your child's first class – in the future, that's not that important but remember this is a brand-new experience for them, and even for Teens, this can be a daunting environment.
If you registered and paid tuition here on GOJUKARATE.COM, don't forget to come into the dojo a little early before your first class to buy your gi. Typically, the cost of a gi for an adult is about $35 and for children around $30 – Goju Karate is a non-profit organization (read more here) and sells equipment and uniforms at wholesale cost. You'll also receive your white rank belt when you get your uniform (there is no cost for your rank belt).
If you registered at the Front Desk at the dojo, you already have your gi. Don't forget to bring it and your white rank-belt with you to your first class!
To help you get started, here's a few things that might be of interest:
Your Student Account
Your online account at GOJUKARATE.COM has been updated with your status as a student. To access it, simply login using the email address you specified at registration and follow the prompts to either create or update your password, or to receive a login link. (If you registered online, you probably are already logged-in.)
If your child is a Teen, you can ask for a separate login just for them. This might be a good idea, because it helps your child be responsible for them own student material, and ensures that you and your child both get announcement, news, and content emails from the dojo. (There is no extra charge for this!) To get a separate account for any of your children, either visit the Front Desk at the dojo, or contact us.
If you have any trouble accessing the student parts of the GOJUKARATE.COM please contact us — we're always happy to help and always pleased to get emails and contact requests from students!
As a parent, its important to keep up with news and events at the dojo – the best way to do that is to visit GOJUKARATE.COM – but we do also hand out announcement flyers in class and you should be receiving announcement emails from the dojo as well.
Helpful Pages on GOJUKARATE.COM
First, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the regular class schedule:
Goju Karate
Please make particular note of the TODAY@GOJU section: it has an always up-to-date class schedule that takes into account holidays, etc. If you're wondering "is there a class today" then that's where you want to go look.
Then also check out the Event Calendar (if it's the beginning of the year, please note that the full annual calendar generally comes out around mid-January):
Goju Karate
As a final note, that Calendar Section has a handy link to add the Event Calendar to your iPhone, MacOS, or iPad device, or to your Google Calendar — and it automatically updates!
Some Early Reading
Here are some helpful links to the website pages you might want to look at soon — this can be overwhelming at the beginning, so please take your time and look at them when you can. The most important thing is for your child to come to class as often as they can – all of this material will make more sense when they are actually training regularly!
Your Syllabus is the outline and quick reference for everything you are learning at your rank. Your first syllabus would the be 10th Kyu White Belt syllabus. (Confused about ranks? Read more here.)
Please note that every kids division has its own syllabus track – you should know your child's division. In brief, the breakdown is:
- Juniors (Ages 4-6)
- Youth (Ages 7-11)
- Teens (Ages 12+)
If your child is in the Juniors division, there really isn't anything to prepare in advance. Let them train for a while before looking at any of the information below.
You’ll note that the syllabi lists concepts and ideas in karatedō to learn — you can find most of them in the Karatedō section on the website (there is a handy Search 🔍 function on every page of GOJUKARATE.COM that you can use to get to the article that you want easily).
Goju Karate
In addition to downloading your syllabus from the Kihon (basics) section, you should also look at the Dojo Kata handout in the Kata section (that'll be the first kata your child will learn):
Goju Karate
And if you'd like to practice something that'll have some very long-term benefits, take a look at the videos for the Junbi Undo (that's the basic stretching we do before most classes):
Goju Karate
And finally, you might be wondering what this "Osu" expression is all about. Here's an article that'll give you a start on understanding the concept:
Goju Karate
Get Started
That's enough to get you started.... check out the Class Schedules and get ready for your first class. We're excited to have you as part of our dojo community and we can't wait to see you on the dojo floor!