Lagos meet Sensei Canada: Karate School for your kids
How to gift your kids the best childhood memory
It’s a Tuesday evening, the yellow Sun can be seen far into the sky smiling on people of Earth, giving just enough light to distinguish the emotions of their faces, and telling them it’s time to rest for the day. On the opposite end, the moon is rearing its cool cold face in the East, just as the vibrant color of the day is making way for the black and white of the night.
Everything seems settled, a rare occurrence in this boiling metropolis called Lagos, when my attention was drawn to the short but consistent sound coming in the far end of the field — I had been watching the training session of a local football team. “Yah!” I heard the cry repeatedly, it seemed like a rhythmic attempt to bid farewell to the Sun and welcome the Moon in grand style. As I moved towards the source of the sound, a short ‘Oh!’ became distinct, coming right after the loud burst of ‘Yah!’.
I could hear it now: ‘Yah!’ pause ‘Oh!’ pause ‘Yah!’ pause ‘Oh!’…
I could hear it now: ‘Yah!’ pause ‘Oh!’ pause ‘Yah!’ pause ‘Oh!’…
“What could this be?” my wandering mind started cooking up possibilities “a cult procession in the middle of the day?” But there was no need to travel far, the mystery was resolved right before my eyes.
I saw 6 primary-school-aged boys, lined up horizontally along a basketball court center line, punching their right fist and leg high into the air and shouting vehemently “Yah!”, then in a rather dramatic reflex action returning to an upright position, and calmly saying “Oh!”. They jerked their leg so high it went over their head.
About this point, I noticed a stout man walk towards them and shouting something incoherent that made the kids jerk back into the air but this time they held the position. They stayed there, leg high up above their head, fist stretched out away from their body, their left leg now supporting their entire body’s weight.
The man walked towards each student, scrutinizing their stands and posture, while the kids with their shaky legs held on. Occasionally the man would tap a kid and try to re-adjust his posture before proceeding to jerk into the same stand in an explanatory motion of what he expected to see. An unusual scene in mainland Lagos. I moved closer, waited for a water-break before asking permission to document their session.
This man, I later learned, is Sensei Canada — a black-belt Karate master. It’s rear to see a stocky athletically built man donning a rear but classical Kangol walking along the streets of Lagos, to now see this persona having a black belt, a symbol of exceptional competence and patience, makes him one-in-million. A man of passion, knowledge, and experience. A master of his skill.
So let me ask you, how do you create memorable experiences for your kids?
So let me ask you, yes you, how do you create memorable experiences for your kids? One way is to let them learn something different from academics. It could be art, computing or even sports. I remember some weeks prior to this coverage that I had seen same aged kids playing football — a story I will share in another article.
What kid will learn the skill of self-defense, with the agility and body movement that comes with it, that would feel be bullied in school? The fact that they can do something their peers can’t give them the confidence to pursue excellence in other aspects of life; socially and academically.
The pictures are taken with mobile phone cameras.
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