My daughter was invited to a 'leadership day' at the David Deaton Studio by a friend that was a student there. After going to that, she decided to take lessons. We were apprehensive, but told her that we just wanted her to make a commitment to stick with it for a year. My idea of Karate studios pretty much came from the ""Karate Kid"" movie...and I didn't want my daughter to end up with a broken leg! I couldn't have been more misguided. From the beginning we were amazed at the instructors' ability to relate to tiny kids to adults. They never criticized, finding ways to praise even the kids who were struggling. When my daughter complained that she didn't want to spar because she hated getting hit, we were told to just keep encouraging her, and that she would be ok. They were right. That was over six years ago. Our daughter has grown from a 9 year old, shy little girl, to a self confident, independent 15 year old. We attribute a great deal of the credit to her involvement with the David Deaton program. She just achieved her 2nd degree black belt level. Sparring is her favorite part of Karate now. I know that if she's ever in a situation that calls for her skills, the other person won't know what happened....the program definitely teaches the kids how to defend themselves.
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