To help students develop skills they can use outside of high school, Martial Arts Club molds students into leadership positions and prepares them for situations where they must be social.
Martial Arts Club, started by Souderton alumni Cartor Hancock in 2021, is a space where students meet to practice and learn new martial arts skills and techniques.
The club’s meetings are held during Red Zone on Wednesday mornings.
In addition to teaching martial arts, the club is dedicated to reinforcing soft skills such as leadership and communication.
“I’m hoping that they get discipline and leadership [experience] out of it,” club vice president Elizabeth James said.
According to James, a main aspect club leaders look to enforce is boosting members’ “confidence, self-control, discipline [and] more.”
The club is open to students with diverse martial arts backgrounds while providing a supportive environment for everyone to learn and grow.
“It gets you more social and more confident in yourself,” secretary Rohit Thomas said. “When I first started martial arts, I was a little bit shy, but now I’m comfortable around a lot of people.”
James described her favorite part as “the community of the club.”
Additionally, being a part of the club helps bring out a more social side of students.
“I’m able to make small talk now and [converse] easily with others,” sophomore Selia Grimes said.
According to club advisor Karin Clark, the club helps students “come out of their shells” while being a place where people with diverse backgrounds in martial arts can come together.
“We’ll have people who have no martial arts experience come in and other people who have martial arts experience come in,” James said. “It’s amazing because we don’t care if you do or don’t have experience.”
The club hosts activities to come together as a group outside of the wrestling room as well. Things like putting together a team for the Glow Volleyball tournament, helps build chemistry within the club.
“That’s cool because we can hang out outside of the wrestling room, and we can just come together and have fun,” James said.
The club also hosts movie nights to strengthen connections with each other.
“For club bonding, every once in a while we get together and watch a movie either at a theater or at someone’s home,” Thomas said. “Most of the time it’s action.”
One advantage of the club is that it caters to members’ wants, rather than having a set schedule.
“If you want self-defense then we can do that, but if you just want something to wake you up in the morning then we can do that too,” club president Colton Musselman said.
According to club members, these skills, such as self-defense, are important to know.
“The club helps me learn new techniques I didn’t know before,” sophomore Emily Milnes said. “Sometimes I’ll teach some of my other friends some of the moves I’ve learned for dire situations.”