Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Though overnight training seminars are common for adults, few have geared the concept towards children.
Retaining attention, maintaining positive behavior, combating potential homesickness- certain challenges can arise when holding an overnight educational seminar for kids.
Aroostook Republican Photo/ Natalie Bazinet
Students of Ninjutsu at the Tai Gi Shin dojo in Caribou prepare for a day of training.
Loren Gordon, owner and instructor of the Tai Gi Shin Dojo in Caribou, took on all of these challenges by holding the Dojo’s first overnight training seminar on December 6 and 7, labeled the Overnight Ninja Night.
“We’ve always done seminars for adults, but we seldom have seminars for kids,” Gordon said, “We wanted to do a fast paced, high energy type of a weekend designed specifically for kids so that they can learn numerous basics of the art in addition to some techniques that normally aren’t taught during our regular classes.”
Starting at 9:30 on Saturday morning, 34 children learned Ninjutsu from Gordon and his fellow instructors. “It went really well,” Gordon said.
The event was originally the brainchild of a friend of Gordon’s who runs the Quest Center in Presque Isle, a sister school of the Tai Gi Shin Dojo. The Quest Center held a similar event two years ago that was a great success according to Gordon, though there were fewer participants than the seminar held at the Caribou Dojo.
Overnight Ninja Night was broken up into multiple segments that consisted of a 45 minutes instructional lesson and a 15 to 20 minute game-like activity that was followed by a break.
“There’s a lot of confidence building and team building activities that we’re going to do,” said Gordon, “There will be a lot of intermittent focus drills which will be great because with so many students, it’s going to be hard for them to stay focused.”
Despite what the public generally sees in popular media, there is a tremendous mental aspect in the participation of martial arts.
“Our focus is not how to punch, though we are martial arts and we do teach that,” said Gordon, “we focus more on the self-esteem, respect, balance and coordination that so many kids need today.”
The benefits from the mental training aspects of Ninjutsu are numerous.
“Our students regularly experiences a superior increase in their focus, self-discipline, and respect both for themselves and other people,” Gordon said, “I stress the self-discipline. A lot of times, our young students end up doing things without being told, like making their beds and taking out the garbage.”
Mike Rand of Caribou has a son who’s been training with the Dojo for the past 9 months and participated in the Overnight Ninja Night. Rand acknowledged the positives associated with Ninjutsu.
“It’s good for little people,” he said.
For a few hours during the seminar, students of the Tai Gi Shin Dojo were permitted to invite their friends to join them at the Dojo for a pizza party.
“It’s a good way to introduce Ninjutsu to the friends of our students,” Gordon said.
The Tai Gi Shin Dojo has never done much advertising and, instead, relies on word of mouth. The strategy seems to have paid off; the Tai Gi Shin Dojo has over 50 regular students, a number that is growing weekly.
“We’ve had excellent parental support for this seminar,” Gordon said. He also laughingly stated that a few of the parents have jokingly suggested that the Tai Gi Shin Dojo should hold another seminar of this nature on New Years Eve.
“One of the reasons we decided to hold the seminar during this part of the year was to give parents a day to go out and do some of the things they’d normally have to get a babysitter for,” Gordon said, “It’s great for the kids, and it’s great for their families at home too.”
According to Gordon, this seminar is made possible by all the support he’s received.
“I’ve got some really good assistants and helpers and other instructors and there’s no way I could do it without the help I have and the support I’ve received from the parents and families,” he said.
Because the seminar went so well, Gordon plans on having his second Overnight Ninja Night sometime this summer.
The Tai Gi Shin Dojo, which teaches Ninjutsu to adults and children, is going on its fifth year of operation.
