Courage is an integral part of what we teach at Franklin Family Taekwondo. It is such a valuable skill in life. It takes courage for a child to learn to advocate for themselves, to voice their own opinions and feelings. It takes courage to survive your first job interview or apply to a college. It takes courage to stand up to a bully, and it takes courage to walk away.
We had a young boy once who was afraid to kick and punch toward another person. He was 5 years old when he started training. For a whole year, we could not get him to engage in sparring. We kept trying and kept encouraging him. He had his sparring gear on and his partner would kick and punch in his direction. But this little boy would just stand there. Until one day.
I will never forget the day when he broke through that shell. He found the courage within him to throw one punch. He was so excited about that one punch. Within just a few minutes he was engaged in his first ever sparring match. The smile on his face was priceless. He turned to his mom and yelled across the school, 
