Logan McGee believes she has a lot of options to consider when it’s time to choose a career. The seven-year-old first-grader is drawn toward the possibility of becoming a police officer, a nurse, a doctor or a teacher. But for now her interests are divided between school, which she thinks is ‘super fun’ and taekwondo class at ATA Karate for Kids in Platte City.
Logan has been involved in martial arts since she was five years old. When she told her mom, Tarra McGee, that she wanted to take a taekwondo class, Tarra was surprised because she didn’t realize that Logan even knew what karate/martial arts was at that point.
Logan McGee
Initially Logan became interested in trying martial arts after watching the Disney Channel progam, “Kickin’ It.”
“She was taking dance classes in the fall of 2019, and came to me one day completely out of the blue and said she wanted to take karate,” Tarra said. “I told her if she still wanted to do it, after Christmas (a couple months away at that time), I would find a place she could try it. I was able to find Karate for Kids, here in town, and Mr. O has been wonderful. We were lucky to find such a great place so close to home. Her older brother, Kyle, had tried taekwondo for a little while when she was very young, but we moved and he decided he was more into wrestling.”
More and more girls are taking up martial arts, which offer a wide range of positive outcomes that include social, cognitive and emotional benefits. While martial arts helps with physical fitness, a healthy lifestyle, and self-defense, the athletic abilities developed in these classes, such as endurance, muscular strength, speed, balance, coordination and agility can carry over into many other sports.
While there are still more boys than girls who take martial arts classes, Logan has always been very independent and open to trying new challenges. “While she can at times be very much a ‘girly girl’, she has never worried about getting dirty or sweaty and has always wanted to keep up with her brother and his friends,” Tarra said.
Logan decided she wanted to learn martial arts because she thought it looked like a lot of fun. While she found the class challenging at first, it has become easier for her as she continues to practice and learn her forms.
“I’m learning a lot in karate class, especially the black belt class,” Logan said. “I like earning belts, it makes me feel like I can do anything.”
The hardest part of doing the moves for Logan is building up balance, but she believes the classes are making her stronger and more limber and building muscles in her arms and legs. Her favorite moves in class are palm heel strikes and round kicks. Making new friends has been an added bonus for Logan in the classes.
“She has made a lot of new friends in class, some that are her age and attend her school, while others are older/younger than her, and some that are even in different school districts, Tarra said. “She really looks up to the older black belt kids, and they are all really great when working with the younger kids.”
Practicing at home is important to Logan. She likes to show off her moves for her family, especially, said her mom, since Santa brought her a practice bag for Christmas this year.
“I really enjoy seeing her grow her strength and power,” Tarra said. “Plus she has quite the round kick!
“Logan loves sparring, and says it always puts her in a good mood. The most challenging part is when she begins to learn a new form. Learning the order of the new moves for the form and how to do them correctly takes a lot of time and practice. As she grows, with time and practice, you can see a lot of maturing in her movements. They appear much more precise than when she was first starting out.”
Tarra believes the discipline and confidence that Logan has learned at such a young age will stay with her, and help her in everyday life. Martial arts is a great way for kids to learn self defense, self control, discipline and confidence while getting physical activity on a regular basis.
“As her mother I also find it really important that as she grows up, I know that she has learned various self defense moves, and ways to get out of holds, etc. She has also realized early on the importance of physical fitness, and taking care of her body.”
While Logan loves school, especially science experiments and learning about animals, she also looks forward to learning more moves in her martial arts classes.
“I feel like I could do anything after class, because I feel super strong,” Logan said.