Child Protection / Safe-Guarding

Safety is our number one concern as a martial arts school.  It’s our job to make sure that not only students get a great experience, but also that they don’t get hurt while doing it.  It’s for that reason we have several safeguards in place to prevent our students from getting hurt. 

Padded Mats

We use Zebra Mats in our school to protect our students during their training.  Used even at the olympic level, zebra mats have been known to last more than a decade without too much wear and tear.  Training on carpet and concrete might be great if your old school, but we want to keep training long into our golden years.  Even instructors teaching on the mat say their backs hurt less while they are on the mat teaching just from the support.  These are truly the best martial arts mats money can buy.  This is what you deserve when you learn self defense 4S Ranch and RB Families!

Sparring/Safety Gear

Students who are 7 and up are required to purchase safety gear.  We do this for a few reasons.  One of them is safety, we have some gear that we clean regularly but we don’t think it is very hygienic for students to share gear after Covid-19.  The second reason is we want them to get used to making contact as early as possible.  Not hard contact, but enough that the student gets used to the feeling.  We want to break that mental barrier that makes students feel like it isn’t okay to hit someone.  We ask for headgear, shin pads and gloves.  Unless you are on the competition team and compete in point sparring, light 4oz gloves won’t cut it.We want something heavier to protect kids than the typical gear used in karate Rancho Bernardo and 4S kids often use.

Students need to learn that there is a difference between getting hit and getting hurt.  Oftentimes students who start training complain that they got hurt when they really just got hit, felt some unpleasant sensation, and it really didn’t damage them at all.  It’s that kind of mentality we need to train out of them with contact.  We don’t want them to have that reaction when they are defending themselves.  We need them to know when someone hits them that they can handle it and be okay.  

Teaching Levels of Contact

West Coast Martial Arts instructors have been very fortunate to have great teachers.  These teachers have taught us how to engage in sparring without getting hurt.  There are levels of contact that every instructor knows and understands and we pass that down to our students.  This system makes it easy for students to know if someone got hit too hard or if someone is overreacting.  

Now of course sometimes students may walk into a punch or a bigger guy might hit a smaller person too hard, but these situations help teach some students to be more defensive or more aware of who they are working with.  Mismatching sizes, although scary, will help improve your kids focus 4S Ranch and RB parents!  But when someone does turn it up when they aren’t supposed to, our instructors are watching ready to cool down the situation.

Private Facility

Our martial arts school is located in a separate building with other sports centric businesses.  Together we have made sure to create as safe a simple as possible so that you can drop off and pick up your kids safely.  If your kids are old enough we recommend you pull up to the cul-de-sac and let them walk up the stairs and across inside.  For parents with younger kids you are more than welcome to park and come inside and watch classes.

Private Waiting Area

Sometimes when your child takes class you want to watch.  We encourage you to watch, and that’s why we have an entire viewing area that lets more than 50 parents watch their kids at the same time.  We also have a separate waiting room for parents who either want to get some work done or have smaller children that might disrupt the group classes going on.  We want to give you the option to watch if you have time or do what you need to do to enjoy your kids after their class.  Don’t let babies and toddlers stop your kids karate 4S Ranch and RB parents!

Instructors You Can Trust

All of our martial arts instructors have been CPR/First Aid certified.  They also have all been students, most of them since they were tiny kids.  We make sure to always have 2 black belt instructors on the mat at a time to supervise all of the classes.  Typically we have more instructors than that to help out any newer students or help walk around and give corrections.  All together we have 8 instructors helping to teach classes during the week.  

West Coast Martial Arts Rancho Bernardo And 4S Will Keep You Training For Years To Come