Karate and soccer on Nuns’ Island: the second sport, beside the team

01The short answer

02The second sport, before adolescence

The American Academy of Pediatrics writes, in its 2016 clinical report on sports specialization, that participating in multiple sports, at least until puberty, decreases the chances of injuries, stress and burnout in young athletes. Sport for Life, the Canadian long-term development body, puts it another way: early specialization makes no sense if the aim is healthy, lifelong participation rather than the podium. That is not an argument against soccer: it is an argument for a second sport alongside, and for a second sport that does not resemble the first.

Karate meets that condition almost point by point. Soccer is played outdoors, as a team, with a ball, a strong foot and cleats; karate is practised barefoot, indoors, with no object, on both sides of the body, and everyone progresses for themselves in the middle of the group. A child who does both is not doing the same thing twice.

03A complete programme, in the same hour

What the hour contains is written down. In the WKO Shinkyokushinkai first-year textbook, an examination covers kihon, ido geiko, kata, conditioning (knuckle push-ups, jumping squats), flexibility and kumite. A kids’ class follows a fixed order — bow, warm-up, basics repeated in lines, kicks, pads, partner work — and the place kumite takes in it is described in What kids’ classes are like, not inferred here. Six subjects, one hour: that is the sense in which karate is complete.

The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities gives each described activity a MET value — a multiple of the energy spent at rest. Soccer is listed at 7.0 in general play and 9.5 in competition; karate at a moderate pace is at 10.3, and a beginner’s slower practice at 5.3. These values describe an activity as it was observed, not your class or your game: a beginners’ class is closer to karate’s 5.3 at a slower pace than to 10.3. The figure says one simple thing: the dojo hour is full, and it is full for every child in the group, first to last.

04What the dojo adds for a soccer player

Active time. In a team sport, the time a child actually spends playing depends on the line-up, the score and the coach’s choices — that is what makes a match a match, and it is not a flaw. At the dojo the question does not arise: our kids’ programme page says it in one sentence, karate is practised in a group, but everyone progresses at their own pace, and nobody sits on the bench.

The group. A team is formed by birth year; our children’s classes are split by age and by level, which changes what a child sees in front of them during the hour: students who are at the same point.

A progression that is theirs. The team’s standing is collective; the belt is the child’s own. The list is public — Kyokushin karate belts gives the ten kyu and what each one asks — and the child alone presents it, grade after grade.

05Two seasons that complete each other

Outdoor soccer takes the warm months, with matches, tournaments and travel: that is when adding an activity weighs most on a family. The rest of the year is simpler, and it is the obvious moment to come and try. The same American Academy of Pediatrics report also recommends breaks from the main sport during the year; the dojo, for its part, is open five days a week all year, and its calendar fits around the team’s, not the other way round. Look at the team calendar before setting a rhythm, and use the trial class to see how the child reacts rather than to decide on the spot.

06Soccer keeps its coach

Striking, dribbling, reading the game and collective positioning are learned on the pitch, and this page does not promise a harder shot. A karate kick starts from a different intention: the low roundhouse kick, the one that made the style’s reputation, targets an opponent’s thigh — Why Kyokushin low kicks are so powerful explains why. The legs work in both sports; they do not do the same job, and that is exactly what one asks of a second sport. The three questions parents ask before the trial have their own page: Kyokushin for kids.

07On Nuns’ Island, in practice

The dojo is at 550 chemin du Golf, suite 010, on Nuns’ Island (Verdun), and also serves LaSalle, Pointe-Saint-Charles and the Sud-Ouest. Children train from age 4 to 13, adults from 14, five days a week: the schedule gives the groups and times, the pricing page the monthly rates.

The first class is a free trial, and there is nothing to buy beforehand: comfortable clothes and a bottle of water are enough — what to bring to your first class has the list.