Years of discipline and daily practice lead Karate Kids co-founder Robert Tallack to win two gold medals at the 2001 World Karate Championships. Upon his return to Canada, Shihan (Master Instructor) Tallack was congratulated by the Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien and was acknowledged in many local newspaper articles and TV spots for his achievements.
Robert had the good fortune as a young boy to spend a number of years living in Japan, studying with the world's leading Masters of Martial Arts. During that time, Robert also attended Japanese elementary school and experienced the daily inclusion of traditional Martial Arts in the Japanese education system.
The benefits of studying Traditional Martial Arts carried over into Robert’s life. It gave him the focus, concentration, discipline, and work ethic to become a World Champion in Karate, and he now currently holds a 5th degree black belt. These traits also led him to enjoy successes in many other areas of his life. He realized that his valuable knowledge and experience would benefit many children, and he wanted a way to reach as many children as possible. Together with his father, Hanshi Kenneth Tallack (8th Dan), they operated Tallack Martial Arts, a successful Dojo in Kingston, Ontario. However, Robert wanted to reach more children in their formative years than he could possible teach at his Martial Arts Center.
With the realization that a great number of families do not have the time to take their children to an additional evening activity and the reality that the cost of professional Martial Arts schools often falls outside the budgets of many families, Robert came up with the idea for the KARATE KIDS PROGRAM!
The solution was to bring Black Belt instructors to children during the day at their elementary school! Most instructors were free to teach extra classes during the lunch hour and by not having to support the cost of a larger building (Dojo) to accommodate a greater number of students, he was able to offer the program at a very low monthly fee. This new program solved the problems of time and money for thousands of families and opened up the opportunity to participate in Martial Arts for an unlimited amount of children!
The results have been spectacular!
The Karate Kids program started in 2001, with Robert being the instructor at 3 local schools and 50 students. In 2005, Shannon Smith joined Robert as a partner to achieve the goal of expanding outside of Kingston into new cities across Canada.
Now, in 2010, the program has grown to service over 100 schools in Ontario using over 30 different local Martial Arts instructors, and has an enrolment of over 2500 participants each year!
If you are interested in bringing Karate Kids Canada to your child's school,
please contact us today!
" Yes, there were a couple of belt ceremonies and a month of free classes offered. The facility is clean, organized, spacious and the staff friendly. It (belt ceremony) was enjoyable and well organized."
Tracy Skelton
"I appreciate your program's contribution to the achievement of our goals on quality daily fitness. I commend you for your important work and for making a difference in the lives of your students."
Jim WatsonMPP, Minister of Health Promotion
"We found the overall experience with the Karate Kids Canada program to be first rate! The fees that were charged for the in-school program were excellent."
Casey Welch
"The provision of a program such as this was a great boon to the Ridgeview community and I know it was a wonderful success during my time at the school. I would highly recommend it to any school administrator considering the program for their school moving forward."
Jay Fedosoff