Martial Arts for Older Students
May 31, 2010 by Mr. McNallan
The Wall Street Journal published an article in their Retirement Planning section on May 15, 2010 about the benefit of martial arts and mature students. This piece provides many interviews from students aged 50-plus and the benefits they receive from taking Taekwondo. The article is very positive with many health and physical benefits and how it’s becoming more popular among that target audience. A video is also provided which features Master Candidate Mr. Fernando Navarrete and his students.
By ROBERT JOHNSON
Lining up at least twice a week beside fellow students young enough to be his grandchildren, 63-year-old Ron Roe stretches, kicks and punches his way through classes in the Korean martial art of tae kwon do.
“Personally, I never thought I could achieve a black belt because I’m getting kind of old,” says Mr. Roe, a semiretired home-health-care worker in Aurora, Colo.
Earning a black belt, the traditional symbol of self-defense proficiency, took Mr. Roe nine years after his first class at age 50. Since then he has advanced in rank to third-degree black belt, a rise accomplished by less than one of every thousand martial-arts students of any age, according to veteran instructors.
It’s a far cry from tai chi, the Chinese system of slow, graceful noncontact movements long associated with older adults. But so-called hard martial arts—tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, judo and aikido—are attracting more students age 50-plus. Mr. Roe, who credits his rough and tumble workouts with increasing his flexibility and balance, says, “Anyone my age can do it if they have the desire.”
Of course, the kicks of older combatants may not be Bruce Lee-style head shots, and they don’t have to be. Instructors at many of the roughly 30,000 commercial martial-arts schools in the U.S. increasingly are tailoring programs to older students, in whom they see the potential for an expanded clientele. AARP, the Washington-based advocacy group, says martial-arts are becoming more common at community recreation centers, YMCAs and wellness facilities.
