Dubai, United Arab Emirates: The Warrior Academy, the region’s largest martial arts organisation, has announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art 3,784 sq ft dojo in Arjan, Dubai, following a phenomenal four years of growth in the Middle East.
The new facility, which caters to children from two to 17, is the third branch for the UAE’s number one Martial Arts Academy, which helps to build strong values and life skills for its students. The world-class team – made up of former martial arts world champions – is also looking to expand the operation across a further nine cities in the GCC over the next three years, as it eyes the region for its expansion plans.
As part of the opening, the Warrior Academy announced the launch of its Confidence Accelerator Programme, an award-winning transformational martial arts programme that offers a dedicated developmental plan, aiming to significantly improve a child’s confidence in under 30 days. Delivered by a team of world-class instructors, consisting of national, European and world champions, as well as personal trainers to prominent families in the UAE and Jordan, the objective of the Confidence Accelerator Programme is to serve as a guide for parents and educators seeking to nurture well-rounded, confident, and socially responsible individuals.
Designed in conjunction with world-leading behavioural psychologists, the Confidence Accelerator Programme is the brainchild of Founder and serial entrepreneur Sebastian Bates, a two-time best-selling author, extreme sports athlete, and philanthropist. Bates coined the initiative based on his book, ‘The Warrior Method’, focusing on the three ‘C’s’ of developing Confidence, Conduct and Concentration in young people.
The Arjan dojo, where the Programme will be available, will become one of the only dedicated Character Development Centres in the Middle East, holding classes, hosting workshops and embodying the Academy’s community values that go beyond simply physical training and focus on mental and emotional development.
Testament to the success of the programme, parents have reported on average seeing their child’s confidence grow by 82% within a year of attending the Warrior Academy. A further study saw 100% of parents see an improvement in their child’s focus, resulting in an average improvement in exam grades of a staggering 23.3%. Furthermore, nine out of 10 parents said that their stress levels at home had been drastically reduced due to their child’s noticeable improvement in behaviour.
The programme launch in the UAE follows a new study from the Warrior Academy showing the concerns 1,000 parents face on a day-to-day basis. The top challenges parents face include spending enough quality time as a family, reducing the stress of managing a busy family, improving their child’s behaviour/confidence and concentration, and supporting them through difficult transitions (such as changing schools).
“A child’s character is their confidence, their ability to rise to challenges, leave their comfort zone and set their own goals; it’s their concentration and ability to focus, it’s their conduct, integrity and moral compass,” commented Sebastian Bates, Founder of the Warrior Academy.
“We’ve seen that parents often struggle to improve their child’s concentration at home, and this can affect school, grades and have a knock-on effect on their confidence and even behaviour. Through the Confidence Accelerator Programme, we’ve seen huge improvements in students by utilising meditation and mindfulness, using sequencing in our exercises to improve engagement, developing attention to detail and rewarding concentration in class.”
“We’re incredibly proud to be launching the programme as part of our new dojo in Arjan, Dubai. There’s been a lot of requests from parents and our students to open another facility, so we’re proud that we’ve found a great spot. With 800 parents on the waiting list for our new academy even before opening, we’re excited that due to the high demand we are opening up another 100 places over the Summer from today! We’re looking forward to welcoming a whole new set of students through our doors so we can help develop some ‘black belt’ confidence,” continued Bates.
At the Warrior Academy, the instructors, who are experts in anti-bullying and developing confidence in children, practice Freestyle Taekwondo, a popular martial art that originated in Korea, which has become a global phenomenon. However, Taekwondo is much more than just a physical sport, it can also have a significant impact on a child’s character development, helping them to build confidence, discipline, and focus. It also promotes physical coordination and strength, and can help children overcome fears and build self-esteem.
The Programme is available now and parents are encouraged to visit the website or their local Warrior Academy dojo to find out more.
About the Confidence Accelerator Programme:
The Confidence Accelerator Programme is aimed at teaching children to be confident thereby impacting the way they interact with the world. It has been designed and influenced by some of the world’s leading behavioural psychologists including Dr Demartini. It starts off with the Breakthrough Area Assessment and every 2-3 months, the Warrior Academy asks every parent to complete a breakthrough area assessment (http://www.breakthrougharea.com).
This gives parents an in-depth personalised report of their child’s 3 C’s – Confidence, Conduct and Concentration. Typically a child will have one or two of the three C’s. They may have high levels of conduct and concentration, but lack in confidence, in this situation they are less likely to leave their comfort zone to try new things. On the flip side, a child may have high levels of confidence but low concentration or conduct, so their behaviour in class may be impacted and they may struggle to focus which impacts their school grades.
The Confidence Accelerator Programme guarantees that a child’s confidence will be improved in four weeks or The Warrior Academy is prepared to give the customer back their money. Character development is one of the major USPs of The Warrior Academy, with the goal being to equip children with the tools they need to become responsible, compassionate, and respectful members of society.
Testimonials:
“They put them in a position where they build that confidence gently, and it comes quickly, you really notice a difference in their confidence in the gradings, where they have to instruct the class (leadership assessment). I’ve noticed a huge difference. I’ve gone from having this quite timid, quiet boy, and gradually they are drawing this confidence out of him I don’t think he even knew he really had.” – Jill Tidman.
“He will stand up in an assembly in school now in front of 100 people, 2 years ago he would be the last one in the line to stand up in front of everyone. It’s so lovely to watch the Confidence he has gained from the Warrior Academy, we feel blessed.” – Holly Van Lockham.
“We’ve tried a few different classes and nothing worked for my daughter… We tried the Warrior Academy and the instructors were amazing and welcoming, they gave my daughter some tools and it worked almost immediately. We were having problems focusing at school, with this programme her grades are improving and her concentration through meditation, she felt she had a sense of responsibility. It made a huge difference. If your child has any difficulty with concentration or focus, you need to look at this programme. Within 2 weeks she was a different child.” Valerie Grady
“We’ve been positively impressed with the improvement of his behaviour, his self control has increased a lot and his confidence has equally improved. He has embraced meditation into his daily routine which is quite incredible. The programme teaches discipline but in a fun and engaging way that motivates students and also quite nice for parents as it focuses on developing a natural daily routine. Based on the very good results for us we would definitely recommend the programme.” Joost
Results from the research:
- Nine out of 10 parents said that their stress levels at home have been drastically reduced due to their child’s noticeable improvement in behaviour in a survey of over 1,000 Warrior Academy Parents.
- 100% of parents saw an improvement in their child’s focus resulting in an average improvement in their grades of 23.3% in a survey of over 1,000 Warrior Academy Parents.
- And parents saw an increase in confidence in their child, on average up by 26%.
- On average, students’ confidence grew 14% in the first 6 months, and 82% after 1 year of doing the Warrior Academy method.
- Conduct increased 11% in the first 6 months and 11% in the first year.
- Concentration increased 14% in the first 6 months and 49% after 1 year.
- On average a child’s sense of Community grew 11% in the first 6 months, with this more than doubling (103%) after 1 year.