ALEXANDER'S MARTIAL ARTS

Why do you require prospective students to start with an introductory program?

     Our introductory process is designed to do three things: 1. Demonstrate to parents and students how we teach personal development through positive reinforcement, 2. Help students set and achieve their first two martial arts goals: to earn a white belt and break a real board, and 3. to allow our professional staff evaluate the new student candidate and place them in the appropriate program based on their needs and qualification.

What if my child does not qualify?

      Over the years, we have prospective students who were not yet ready to join our program. It’s important to remember our goal in the introductory process is to make sure we’re going to be a good fit for one another. Generally, when someone is not quite ready for our program, we’ll work with the family to work with the prospective student one-on-one for a short period to help them get ready. Sometimes it’s as simple as doing an extra introductory lesson or two to build better rapport with the student. It’s our mission to make a positive impact in our community, so we are willing to go the extra mile to make sure the experience is positive!

What is the Class Schedule?

     First, starter and orientation classes are scheduled by appointment. We offer convenient times in the afternoon and evening and can accommodate weekend classes if necessary. Once a new member has completed their orientation and joined an ongoing class, they are welcome to attend whenever their program / group is being taught. There’s no need to call ahead.

     For most ongoing programs, classes are offered Monday through Thursday in the afternoon and evening. It’s an “Open Schedule” which means you are welcome to attend any time your classes are being taught (we divide by rank and age to give the best experience possible to each group). Students attend at least twice a week to stay on track for rank advancement. Additional recorded classes (as well as skill breakdowns and live online classes) are available in our Alexander’s University so students can easily “make-up” an attendance or grab an extra class at their convenience. You can see the specific class schedule for in-person and online classes here.

What does it mean to teach “personal development” through martial arts? What sets Alexander’s apart?

     There are a couple of important things we do differently than most: 1. we’re a Black Belt School and 2. we use Martial Arts as a tool for teaching things most people describe as “behavioral traits” like: respect, discipline, focus, perseverance, and self-esteem.

     We’re not just teaching karate because we love it (we do, but that’s beside the point). Being a Black Belt School means we have a process in place to not only teach the physical skills necessary to pass a Black Belt Exam, but that we teach the skills necessary to BECOME a Black Belt. Simply put, a Black Belt must possess physical skill, self-defense skill, and the physical fitness to execute those skills if needed. More importantly, becoming a Black Belt is about the person you become as you accept and succeed at the challenges of learning those skills. WHEN OUR MEMBERS MAKE A COMMITMENT TO BECOMING A BLACK BELT, WE SAHRE IN THAT COMMITMENT always “team up” to help them. Through individualized attention in a group class, the ICAN personal development curriculum complete with monthly worksheets and messages, and extra-help classes when necessary we walk hand-in-hand with our students on the journey to Black Belt.

     We believe anything you can “teach and learn” is a skill. People can learn to be respectful, disciplined, to exhibit perseverance, and to have high self-esteem. Our curriculum, team members, and approach is all about teaching those skills. Skills our members use inside and outside the dojo.

How much does it cost?

     It literally depends on the training program you qualify for. Our introductory process is designed to do three things: 1. Demonstrate to parents and students how we teach personal development through positive reinforcement, 2. Help students set and achieve their first two martial arts goals: to earn a white belt and break a real board, and 3. to allow our professional staff evaluate the new student candidate and place them in the appropriate program based on their needs and qualification. It’s our goal to find a program that best fits your family’s needs and budget (generally $15-20 per class).

What is the commitment?

     The biggest commitment is the biggest benefit. It’s the commitment to attend class twice a week and to put the life skills we teach to work outside the dojo. Kids complete a monthly personal development worksheet (they receive a wrist-band for completing it on time) and are evaluated monthly to make sure we’re on track to meet goals. Because the program is goal focused (we teach on a specific belt cycle and each class builds toward that success) we ask families to commit to the program for a couple of belt cycles so your kids experience setting goals, taking positive action, and achieving their goals more than once. THAT BUILDS A HABIT OF SUCCESS. Think of it like a sports season. It’s important to complete the season and finishing with your team (win, lose, or draw).

What efforts are we making to improve air quality and keep our members safe?

     At Alexander’s we define self-defense as anything that keeps you safe. With that as a starting point, we take a three-part approach to self-defense: 1. “Common Sense” – making decisions to predispose yourself to be more safe. Wear a seat belt, look both ways before crossing the street, travel in small groups, and carry your cell phone, 2. “Verbal” – use your words, be direct, call for help, tell someone, 3. “Physical Self-Defense” – take direct and decisive action.

     In terms of air quality, there are a number of factors that can effect air quality including the volume of air in the room, outside air volume, filtration, and the number of people in the space breathing and contributing to the air volume. Anything in the air generally gets distributed around the room (that means spread out an diluted). There are a few things we’re concerned about in the air: Any illness that’s spread through inhalation (Covid, RSV, Strep, Flu, etc) and CO2 (Carbon dioxide from breathing out). Many things can be filtered out using HEPA or other high efficiency filters and CO2 needs to be flushed and replaced with fresh outside air (flushing also clears disease).

     Because you cannot necessarily “see” air quality (sometimes you can – think wildfires), we’re taking actions to improve the air quality. First, we’ve added massive filtration to the air. Merv-13 filters can capture about 80% of small particles in the air, so by moving a lot of air through good filters, we can clean the air to a large degree. We have upgraded the filters in the HVAC to Merv-13 and run the fan the entire time there are classes in session. We’ve added “Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes” which are high volume stand alone filtration systems (some are visible and some are installed in the drop ceiling). We’ve also added upper room UV lights to kill pathogens in the air (these units operate in the top 18 inches of the room, so we stir the air through that space).

     Finally, the “magic bullet” solution is to exchange inside air with filtered and conditioned outside air. That may sound easy, but it’s mechanically difficult and expensive to exchange and condition a high volume of air in real time. We’re in the process of adding an additional 1300 CFM of FRESH AIR into the building (increasing the outside air volume to about 3 times building code requirements). 

     This is A LOT of information and explanation to say we’re taking a lot of “common sense” actions to make the air quality in the building better for our members and families. There is a lot of information out there about improving indoor air quality and we’re taking consistent action to make the environment as safe and healthy as possible for all our members.