At-Risk Youth
Valley Springs has a high percentage of children living in poor income households. 1999 statistics show that 16.5 percent of Calaveras county children are from poor income households. A large number of these children reside in Valley Springs proper. There is a high rate of drug use and criminal activity in this area. Without positive roles models and direction these youths have no other influences other than that of their environment. The chances are great that they will fall into the patterns of criminal activity and drug use that surround them, thereby furthering the problem. Local authorities dealing with these issues have stated that gang activity here can actually be more dangerous to the general public than activity in large cities. The reason for this is that the local youths involved in these activities are trying to emulate their larger city counterparts. They fail to realize that these inner city gangs have certain codes, which contain the activities within their own cultural sphere. These codes somewhat prevent them from randomly attacking the uninvolved public. Our local criminal gangs do not put these limitations on their members and therefore will attack in a more random nature, leaving the public more at risk.
We have seen great success with these at-risk youths. A great number of them have gone on to lead positive productive lives. It is obvious that changing the life of even one of these youths can have a serious impact on our small town.
We’ve found that, when given the opportunity, at-risk youths excel in our programs. They take to the instruction extremely well and are overly gracious at the opportunity to better themselves. Often they have large amounts of pent up anger and frustrations. Our programs are perfect for dealing with this; as a self-defense art, there is an aggressive nature to the training. This becomes a very healthy outlet for the anger and frustrations inherent in these youths, allowing them to express anger and frustration in a very healthy way. Many of them have become part of our “demo team” where they demonstrate their skills in public forums. This has a parallel to how they would express themselves through violent activity, yet is done in a healthy manner with a cooperative partner rather than an innocent victim. It gives them the opportunity to “be somebody” which is usually the reason they strike out in a criminal nature to begin with.
Our programs provide these youths with:
- Positive role models
- A sense of community
- Self discipline
- Self esteem
- Exercise
- An outlet for aggressions
- Mind-body connection
- The desire to improve
- character building
- and much more
The goal is to give these youths a positive direction in a system that teaches them self-esteem, self-discipline, humility and respect. In so doing, we hope to improve not only the lives of these youths but also to improve the community they live in — by assisting them in becoming productive members of the community.
The program will take youths that may otherwise be misdirected and provide them with a healthy outlet for their energies and a sense of direction and achievement. We have found the personal development that is achieved in our programs has formed the foundation for success in other activities. Our experience has shown us that this program can have immense long-term benefits for these youths and the community. Studies have shown that the study of traditional martial arts (as opposed to “sports” martial arts) has benefits no one ever guessed.