There are many reasons why students give up karate, so I have listed some points below to make instructors more aware of why this happens. In many cases, with a bit of encouragement they might be able to prevent this happening. Here in no particular order, are some of the most common reasons:
1. Loss of interest: Some kids might find the warm-ups too hard and boring; they just want to get to the sparring and fun stuff. They could also lose motivation if the coach keeps on their case about lack of effort.
2. The curriculum is too hard: For most kids if they could just do a bit of sparring for their grading everything would be fine, but unfortunately for them there is a lot more involved. The techniques, blocks, ohyos, kihons and katas can sometimes be confusing for children. What stance should the defender be in or the attacker start in? And performing the kata right through using the correct execution of techniques and stances, with speed, precision and explosiveness when required can also be a very daunting task.
3. Failing at a grade: This is very disheartening for anyone, child or adult and may cause some to reflect on whether to continue training or not. This is an instant reaction to their disappointment and not looking at the big picture, as many who had failed a grade went on to become successful instructors.
4. Falling out or feeling intimidated: Maybe friends in the class have fallen out with each other and more than likely it has nothing to do with the karate. More likely it has something to do with what happened at school or their circle of friends has changed. Intimidation from their non-karate friends could be a factor. They hear that they are been successful in their club or in competitions and jealousy raises its head. They feel that he/she are now gaining respect among the pupils in the school and the only way to stop that is to get them to drop out of their club.
5. Serious Illness or ongoing injury: This may not be always obvious, and students may not want to talk about this with their instructor in case it makes them seem weaker than other students. But instructors need to be vigilant and be able to talk to their students or parents if they feel somethings not right or that their fitness level or standards have dropped. But regardless of what the illness or injury is, as instructors we need to encourage them to keep training and work around it so that they can still be part of karate community and still progress.
6. Not understanding kids needs and emotions: This is often more noticeable when kids are sparring. Is the same child getting beat every time they fight? Are they fighting the same partner every class? How upset do they get over this? Maybe they don’t want to do kumite because of this? Or maybe they don’t feel kumite is for them. This is not easy for the coach who may only have a small pool of kids of the same age/height in the class. But as a coach we must be aware of the body language of children and try and feel their emotions. The class is mixed with many personalities, some which stand out more than others, and some that are shy and find it hard to mix. But if you intend on keeping your students you need to understand their individual needs and emotions and try and integrate them all.
7. Parents: This is not something we always consider, but quite honestly a lot of parents are busy or may have a lot going on in their lives. The girl or boy is getting changed for class and mum is trying to find their gear and fill their water bottle, the phone’s ringing, mum or dad is complaining about, “driving again”, “football tomorrow and swimming the next day”. The child comes home, and mom and dad are complaining about, “all the bills”. The child may then consider that it is better to quit some of their activities to make life easier on their parents.
8. Belonging: It is important for all the students to feel that they belong. If someone feels continually isolated, they may decide to leave. Particularly with children, it’s important for them to feel part of something and develop friendships. The instructor should encourage everyone to attend the club events such as the children’s Christmas party. Here they are out of their karate uniforms and can socialise as children should. Even the federation events such as squad trainings, competitions, training with guest instructors etc. Only a small percentage attend most events, which means the larger percentage are sitting at home missing out on the talking points and experiences of the few.
