The Lifelong Influence of Martial Arts on Children
The Lifelong Influence of Martial Arts on Children
BY: Anthony DeLuca
It was September of 1989 and I was headed off to the big leagues of high school. Unfortunately, my body had not received the memo regarding puberty. While I was still waiting for my voice to change, my classmates were six feet tall, 200 pounds, and had full beards. I, on the other hand, was 13 years old, a towering five feet and zero inches tall, and a whopping eighty seven pounds. No, that was not a typo. I was 87 pounds as a freshman at the infamous Atlantic City High School, where reading, writing and arithmetic were replaced by violence, crime and general ignorance. This public high school resembled a maximum security penitentiary with thick stone walls and metal staircases. The dark hallways aligned with spray paint and badly damaged lockers. At the end of my very first terrifying day at ACHS, I went to a local martial arts club and immediately joined, desperately hoping to increase my odds of surviving that pit stop for future convicts. That was 28 years ago and a decision that has had an impact on the outcome of every aspect of my life.
My initial intention in going to the martial arts school was to avoid being beaten up every day at this 50% dropout rate educational facility. The local martial arts school was owned by Malcolm Perkins, a former Vietnam veteran, and now a sixth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do ranked with the International Martial Arts Federation. Although the martial arts lineage of the school could easily be traced back through six degrees of separation to some of the most influential founders of the style, this club was anything but traditional. The center of the club was encompassed by a boxing ring, the canvas of which was mostly covered in dirt and dried blood stains. And although we learned some of the more traditional aspects of the martial arts like katas, most of the time was spent boxing, kickboxing, and suffering through unorthodox pain endurance training that would likely be the subject of litigation if done today. This intense atmosphere is where I spent many nights in high school, but it kept me off the drug and crime filled streets of Atlantic City. Instead, I spent my time surrounded by positive role models who constantly motivated and encouraged me through those harrowing teenage years.
In any event, high school eventually did end. I had grown an entire foot and two inches to my current height of 6’2”, but still only weighed 120 pounds. Yet, my confidence, my attitude, my focus, and my belief in my abilities had grown at a far more astounding rate than my weight. It wasn’t until recently that I looked back and realized just how influential the martial arts had been on my development as a young man and into adulthood. During the four years of high school I had spent five days per week training. On a physical level, the men in the club rarely made much distinction between themselves and the small handful of us teenagers when the headgears and boxing gloves were put on. In retrospect, I took far worse punishment at the hands of my instructors than I would have ever taken even if I got beat up on a weekly basis throughout high school. However, there was a method to the madness, and the physical element translated into far more meaningful character development than merely my ability to take punches and remain standing.
Throughout my teen years I spent a great deal of time working through belt advancements until I became a black belt at the age of nineteen. The continuous aspiration towards the next belt developed my goal setting ability. My requirement to attend a certain number of classes per week established my commitment to those goals and the understanding that without devotion to your goals they would never be reached. I witnessed many students come and go throughout those years and I saw how sticking with your goals and not quitting resulted in attaining what you want in life. As a teenage black belt, I was teaching full classes with men literally twice my size. I developed leadership skills through teaching. I learned how to carry myself in a manner that was not arrogant but commanded respect.
These attributes of confidence, discipline, and leadership are not innate abilities but are characteristics that may be developed in anyone. Looking back over the years, my devotion to the martial arts at such a young age resulted in patterns of behavior and attitude that have lasted a lifetime. I cultivated the devotion and work ethic to complete a four year college in less than three years. I developed the discipline to study and complete law school and attain a Master’s Degree from an Ivy League institution. My self-confidence allowed me to believe in myself enough to start my own law practice in my twenties and soon become one of the most successful young attorneys in Las Vegas. My leadership abilities developed by teaching martial arts as a teenager translated into leading dozens of employees and representing tens of thousands of clients. in establishing the most successful bankruptcy law firm in the State of Nevada and one of the highest volume bankruptcy firms in the entire United States, DeLuca & Associates. I sometimes wonder if I would have had any fraction of the success I have experienced had martial arts never been such a big part of my life in my early development. I sincerely doubt it.
I recently went back to Atlantic City for my 41st birthday. I visited my old friend and teacher of 28 years, Master Perkins, and received my third degree black belt. I brought my son, little Anthony, now five years old, for the presentation. I recognized how important the martial arts were to my development and success in life and I wasted no time in passing on those same opportunities to my child. My son has taken Muay Thai kickboxing here in Las Vegas with a Thai instructor, Master Chan, since he was three years old, and Jiu Jitsu since he was four. My son started martial arts at an age where he could barely pronounce the styles he was practicing. I can only smile when I think about the potential that the martial arts will unleash in him and the profound impact it has already had on his self-confidence and will continue to have on his development.
Article is dedicated to Master Malcolm Perkins, 6th dan, who dedicated his life to his students and has always been there as a friend, mentor, and role model, both in the martial arts and out.