Small belts

December 1, 2008 - 4:56 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Life, Sports 

Israeli children participating in a karate activityOne of Israeli schoolchildren’s favorite methods of exercise is martial arts. Thai boxing, kickboxing and judo are enormously popular, and karate is also huge. For most Israeli karate instructors, the teen and adult sets represent a tiny minority of their teaching time, with littler ones taking up the lion’s share.

A recent piece in Ha’aretz examines the phenomenon in depth, exploring the question of whether children aged four or five truly have much to gain by studying the martial arts. Also noteworthy is a list of potential benefits from martial arts training, which include increased self-esteem, increased levels of fitness, development of a sense of competition, fostering a sense of self-discipline, garnering a healthy outlet for letting out aggression, and other types of increased spiritual grounding.

The article also notes that according to the 2000 Sport Law, all phys-ed instructors must be licensed as sports instructors, which has increased the demand for certification courses like those offered at the prestigious Wingate Institute. Located near Netanya, Wingate offers instructors’ training on a high level, with an emphasis on educational techniques (the institute also houses training programs and facilities for Israel’s internationally exported athletes, including our Olympians).

Picking a good teacher, though, can be as important a decision as choosing when to get your kid started – check out these guys:

“After one or two training sessions I can tell parents about their child’s problems if there are any,” says Arthur Gribetz, the chief Tora dojo trainer in Jerusalem, a method based on Japanese karate. Gribetz notes that karate training “is very systematic and it teaches students to feel the body and the breath,” and therefore also helps decrease excess muscle tension, improves motor skills, teaches distinguishing between left and right and more.”

Shalom Avitan, chairman of the Karate-Shotokan Association in Israel, says that any sport in which there is correct training, with the appropriate trainer, contributes to a child’s development, but the acquisition of self-confidence is not to be taken for granted. “Self- confidence is built up over time,” says Avitan. “It is necessary to train for at least a year and a half or two years to start to see results, and that on condition that the trainer is a professional and aware of the children’s needs. If you throw a small child into combat with children who are bigger and more experienced than he is, this isn’t going to contribute to his self-confidence,” he says.

So no, you can’t just force your children to wax the car, scrub the floor, paint the fence and hope that they’ll be champions after a few weeks.

Image courtesy Tomer.Gabel from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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The tourist cycles

November 3, 2008 - 4:46 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Environment, General, Sports, Travel 

Cycling and IsraelThe Israeli government’s recent aggressive courting of various niche tourist markets has targeted the Chinese and the gay, and now officials seem bent on attracting the cycling crowd.

Members of a subculture that espouses environmentalist as well as fitness values, bicyclists have been gaining momentum in Israel as of late, through expanded local and national cycle-friendly development endeavors as well as cycling community activities. There was even a highly publicized event that combined the ever-growing wine tourism niche with the cycling niche – and a Jewish holiday (not sure how that one turned out).

Back in the heady days of August, local environmentalism blog Green Prophet quoted Tourism Minister Ruhama Avraham-Balili on Israel’s bicycle tourism development plans:

“The Tourism Ministry leads the development of the cycling tourism industry as part of its policy to position Israel as a unique and quality tourist destination at an international level. This is in light of the worldwide trend in the tourism industry that places cycling tourism as a significant and developing market segment. Developing the industry will improve Israel’s image around the world and increase tourist traffic, while preserving the environment.”

Last week, the blog followed up with the latest details on the budget and where it’s going. Some NIS 20 million in “short-term” (through 2013) spending is said to cover the planning and creation of cycling paths all over the country, including a north-to-south Israel-spanning cycling route and regional loop trails that circle the perimeters of population clusters and bodies of water.

Image courtesy TLVshac from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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