Tom Mullaney wants the students who come to Grandmaster Han's Martial Arts Academy to not only learn physical skills, but to grow academically and spiritually.
Mullaney and the instructors at the academy on Old Morrilton Highway will be starting a new after-school program with the 2008-09 school year targeted at students in Conway elementary schools. He said his goal is to take the basic martial arts program and push it even further.
"At a lot of the programs, the kids have 30 minutes or 45 minutes of martial arts and the rest of the time they spend watching TV, playing video games or running around like hooligans, and it's basically a baby-sitting service while waiting on their parents to pick them up," Mullaney said. "And we are going to change that."
Beginning in the fall, Mullaney said once students arrive at the academy, there will be a short period of down time where they will change into their uniforms and have a snack and then there will be an hour allotted for mentored study.
"The students will spend this time with our college interns from (the University of Central Arkansas) who are also certified martial arts instructors who can help with homework, reading or anything the kids may be having trouble with," Mullaney said. "And then we'll do our hour's worth of martial arts training where they'll get their physical activity in."
Although the program is in its first year, Mullaney already has big visions for the future and said if it really takes off within the first few years, he is already considering an expansion.
"If we see that it's being successful and taken well by students, we will start to add more 'a la carte' type of opportunities where if a parent wants their child to take a piano lesson or study a foreign language, we will seek out those people and bring them to the program," Mullaney said. "This way the kids really get a one-stop shop and it's really about full student development across the whole spectrum of areas."
Mullaney said the basis of the program will eventually be to provide educational opportunities for local students beyond what they are sent home with from school every day.
Being a father himself, Mullaney said he also wants the kids in the program to be able to get all of their extracurricular activities in one location not only for the benefit of the children, but for the sake of the parents.
"Parents can really get everything they want for their children in one location without having to run them all over the county and then they will still be home in time for supper and a decent amount of quality time," Mullaney said.
Mullaney said the program is initially open to only 30 local students, but he is also discussing giving other students the chance to participate through a scholarship program. He said for every 10 students enrolled, he will offer an academic scholarship to one student based on need at the recommendation of a teacher or principal.
"It will go to a kid who is very deserving of an opportunity that they might not normally get," Mullaney said. "Martial arts can be expensive and some students may not be able to get that opportunity."
He said the scholarship total would end up being about $4,000 for one student each year.
(Staff writer Jessica Bauer can be reached by e-mail at jessica.bauer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236. To comment on this and other stories in the Log Cabin, log on to www.thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
