Open House and Kick Drugs Out of School (Explanation)

During this past decade, drugs have seeped their way into our nations’ culture. Our children are idolizing athletes, celebrities, and musicians who abuse drugs with little or no repercussions. This is one of the main reasons we are finding young teens experimenting with drugs and alcohol. In a society that is almost entirely media driven it is time to put a stop to this epidemic. Here at Pendergrass Academy we are always dedicated to drug awareness, however over the next six weeks we will be hosting a “Kick Drugs Out of School” campaign. At the end of this campaign, on September 11th, we will be hosting an Open House for parents and students to learn about the negative effects of drugs and how to stay away from them. In a world where drugs are becoming more accessible it is necessary for our children to learn how to stay away from this potentially life threatening issue. Since we here at Pendergrass Academy are dedicated to making our community safer we encourage you to bring everyone you know to this important event.

Back To School Demo & Highlight Promo

National Night Out in Wake Forest

Pendergrass Academy has been invited by the Wake Forest Police Department to be apart of the National Night Out event on Tuesday August 3rd. Our Little/Junior Champions will be doing a demonstration from 6:-6:30pm at this community event. Classes will be cancelled that night and all our kids are encouraged to attend this event.
http://www.wakeforestnc.gov/residents/police_nationalnightout.aspx

4 Points For Open Guard!

When playing open guard (i.e. spider guard, de la riva, sitting up, etc.) a jiu jitsu player must always maintain four points of contact.  These four points include two hands and two feet.  While it may seem very simplistic, maintaining these points of contact can be very difficult to accomplish.  Your partner will be constantly working to break these points of contact in an effort to increase his chances of passing.  With each additional point of contact increases your percentage of maintaining an open guard position.  So, when you are working from open guard just think to yourself “do I have all 4 points of contact in play?”.  If you don’t then you need to get working!

          

When your child is the Cyberbully

Interesting article from NY Times on Cyberbullying

Student Hightlight - Lucas Burwell

Why did you start training in martial arts? I started training martial arts (specifically BJJ) so that I could understand some of the submissions and ground positions that I saw in MMA fights.

Why did you decide to train at Pendergrass Academy? Well I was originally planning to visit a bunch of different schools in the area and see which one I liked best. I went to Midnight Blue a few days before I came to Pendergrass, it was pretty cool, but after I the first day I trained with you guys I knew that this was where I wanted to stay.

How long have you've been training in martial arts (including any prior experience at Pendergrass Academy)? I have been training for 18 months

What advice would you give to a new student starting to train at Pendergrass Academy? DON'T GET DISCOURAGED. Everyone gets swept, reversed and submitted, especially the new students. The only way to get better and progress is to stick with it. Keep coming to class, keep drilling and keep rolling.

What is your short-term/long term goal(s) related to BJJ/MMA? My short term goal is obviously to win next MMA debut next Saturday. My long term goal is to win the pan-ams and possibly the worlds.

Favorite takedown? Actually I prefer pulling guard to get it to the ground. I guess in an MMA fight, I would use the single leg.
Favorite submission? It’s a toss-up between the kimura and the straight ankle lock.

How many days a week do you train? I try to train 4 days a week. Lately I've had to train fewer days, with a lot more training per day.

Favorite music to train to? Training is the only time that I ever listen to rock music, but it really pumps me up. "Let the bodies hit the floor", "Down with the sickness" and "That’s fatal" are a few of my favorites.

Ratio of Drilling to Sparring you recommend? Drilling is very important especially when it comes to striking, it is very important to know the safety and defensive position thoroughly, but I think that rolling or open sparring is more important when it comes to BJJ since there is little risk of being hurt if you make a mistake. So i think that a 1:3 ratio is pretty good for bjj. Meaning I try to roll three times for every move i learn.

Favorite thing to do outside of grappling? Definitely working out. Summer time is the best time to hit the gym.

Favorite jiu-jitsu guys to watch? Marcelo Garcia, Ryan Hall, Andrew Smith, and Wilson Reis are a few of my favorites.

Favorite MMA fighter to watch? The lesser known lightweight champ Ben Henderson is my favorite right now.
Biggest mistake that new grapplers make? Thinking that they understand submission grappling because of what they see on tv and Youtube. Take it from someone who made the same mistake, until you actually get on the mat, you have no idea what’s really going on.

Interesting map on bullying laws by state!

 

Click on Image for the Key

BJJ Flow Chart

Follow these links to see two basic BJJ Flow Charts.  Each follow a different course depending on the the position you land in following the takedown or throw. 
Flow Chart 1
Flow Chart 2

Karate Kid Demonstration a big success!

The Karate Kid demonstration was a big success!  We had ten of our Junior Champion students participate by demonstrating various self-defense techniques.  Below are a few pictures taken at Marquee Cinema 12 druing the demonstration.

Karate Kid Demonstration

Pendergrass Academy to perform a Karate Kid Demonstration at Marquee Cinema Wakefield 12 Saturday at 5:30pm. The demonstraation will feature our Junior Champions! Come out and support our students!

After Lawsuits and Therapy, Cyber-Bullied "Star Wars Kid" Returns

Great article on the original cyberbullied "Star Wars Kid"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-pasternack/after-lawsuits-and-therap_b_596325.html

Court Weighs Whether Schools Can Punish Students for Web Posts!

Following this link for a very interesting article regarding online harassment and cyberbullying: http://huff.to/96JdC9
What do you think?  Give us your thoughts!

WRAL Bullying News - "The Bullying Stops Here"

The following is a link to the news piece that WRAL did last night on bullying.  A elementary school in Durham hosted a play entitled "The Bullying Stops Here".  Following this link for the entire story and video http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7712585/

Bullying story tonight on WRAL TV

 WRAL is doing a bullying story tonight at 10 on Fox50 and at 11 on WRAL News. "I'm Debra Morgan, coming up on our late news...\ It seems we keep hearing more about the problem of "bullying" in schools. Tonight at eleven, we'll show you the unique way  a local elementary school is putting a stop to bullies! And don't forget, you can always catch your news an hour earlier on Fox50."
www.wral.com

New June Academy Newsletter

Wake Field 12 Karate Kid Demonstration & Bully Seminar

We have been invited to do a martial arts demonstration and bully prevention seminar at Wake Field 12 to celebrate the release of The Karate Kid! More info to follow!

Cartoon Network to feature Anti-Bullying Campaign this Fall!

Check out the link below on the details:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100525/ap_en_ot/us_cartoons_vs_bullies

North Carolina Anti-Bullying Law

Check out the NC Anti-Bullying Law by clicking here!

Parents: Schools don't handle bullying

Bloody and Bullied

Heard on the radio this morning that ABC 11 News will be featuring a bully segment today at 5:30pm!

Bully Tips for Parents

What is Cyber Bullying?

Cyberbullying, which is sometimes referred to as online social cruelty or electronic bullying, can involve:
•Sending mean, vulgar, or threatening messages or images
•Posting sensitive, private information about another person
•Pretending to be someone else in order to make that person look bad
•Intentionally excluding someone from an online group (Willard, 2005)
Children and youth can cyberbully each other through:
•Emails
•Instant messaging
•Text or digital imaging messages sent on cell phones
•Web pages
•Blogs
•Chat rooms or discussion groups
•Other information communication technologies

Bully Prevention Seminar Follow Up

For those that attended the bully prevention seminar this past Saturday, what did you think? Feedback is greatly appreciated! Also, were you ever picked on as a child? And if so what effects did it have on you?

The Karate Kid and Bully Prevention

Don't forget about the Bully Prevention seminar we are hosting Saturday the 24th at 1pm at our academy. Be sure to sign up! With the upcoming release of the new remake of The Karate Kid, this is a perfect opportunity to address the main story line, BULLYING!

E! Investigates: Bullying

On the E channel tonight (10pm) E! Investigates: Bullying

Additional Resource Links (Bully Prevention)

The following are additional resource links to various websites providing information about bully prevention.
http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/
http://www.parenthood.com/article-topics/parenting_tips_on_bullying.html
http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/bullying/bullies.html
http://www.ncpc.org/topics/bullying

CNN Bully News Story

Click here to watch a recent CNN news story featuring a tragic case of a teenage girl being bullied.

Do You Really Know if Your Child is being Bullied?

Sometimes it is hard to tell if your child is being bullied. In most cases, children are embarrassed to tell their parents. Make sure to look at a change in confidence and activities. These are the most common signs of bullying. Often, a child will not want to go outside in the neighborhood because they are being bullied. Make sure to talk to them if you notice this. Please provide any feedback that you have witnessed with your child.

The Effects of Being Bullied

When children are bullied it is important to know the effects it can cause later in life. The most obvious is confidence. Is confidence one of the most important attributes when going into the real world? Of course, so we must make sure that do not let it get out of control. Some other effects are depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. We really have to make a difference and insure our kids build confidence.

New Techniques from Open Guard

Click here to check out our You Tube Channel for a great follow up video on sweeping and attacking from this open guard!

Help Us Stop Bullies

It just seems like every year the stories get worse when it comes to children being bullied. I saw on the news a few months ago that a girl committed suicide from being bullied. Then there was the mother who cyber bullied her daughters friend. We are looking for parents, students, and anyone that is interested in helping us on our crusade over the next 65 days to help improve the situation for children of our community. If you are interested or have any ideas please respond to this post!

Gustavo Machado BJJ Seminar

Saturday April 10th 2010
Location:  Pendergrass Academy of Martial Arts
Time: Kids 11am-12noon, Adults 12:15-3:15pm
Cost: Kids $25 if pre-registered, $40 if paid day of seminar, Adults $45 if pre-registered, $60 if paid day of seminar
Sample Technique from Gustavo's last visit to the Academy!

NC State Championships

US Grappling returns to North Carolina on 3/27/2010 for the NC State Championships.

Family Involvement

The Importance of Family Involvement at the School
Have you been hearing a lot of talk about how the traditional family has gone out the window? I know I have. The main point everyone talks about is how families tend not to eat dinner together nearly as often due to an abundance of after-school activities and crazy schedules. This got me thinking. Is my school (as an after-school activity) taking families away from their dinner table? I took a closer look at how we operate and came up with the answer-yes- but so does every other after-school activity. But, then I looked even closer and I realized that we promote family values in so many other ways.

Excuses

Very few people are able to go through a day without making an excuse. Most people do not want to admit when they make a mistake. After reading this post, we hope that you will take a different approach when it comes to why a task, assignment, or any type of project is not completed.

First, let’s start with the reason why people give excuses. People give excuses because they do not like to look stupid. People also give excuses because they just simply forgot to do something. People also give excuses because they have a hard time admitting they are not perfect. The problem is people do not understand that others have more respect for those that are honest.