White Birch Martial Arts (330) 329-5990 Larry Vincent's Classes Get You Lean, Strong, Fast, and Focused with "Old School" Training Methods Straight Out of Kung Fu/Tai Chi History!

"Such human qualities as morality, compassion, decency, wisdom and so forth have been the foundations of all civilizations. These qualities must be cultivated and sustained through systematic moral education in a conductive social environment, so that a more humane world may emerge." --His Holiness the Dalai Lama

MACD is a character development program where we ask our students to perform -- and log in journals -- six theme-based "tasks" in order to specifically learn the moral traits of a martial artist. You will be “tasked” to accomplish challenging, but obtainable goals that will help you learn about nine different and very important black belt character traits, skills and attributes. The objective of the program is to have a significant, positive impact on our student's behavior outside of our school. The program is administered through the completion of six journals. Each task is assigned to a children's program belt level in our system.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved." -- Helen Keller

The tasks within the MACD Program are arranged to first teach the way others should be treated, with the morals of Courtesy, Respect, Generosity, and Teamwork. Then the tasks teach the way you should treat yourself, with Patience, Perseverance, and Self Discipline. The final two tasks are the culimination of how you treat both yourself and others, teaching Leadership and Knowledge.

The benefits of MACD include:

• Our character development program is something parents can see, feel and participate in, which clearly demonstrates the value of martial arts training at our school.
• The effort of our students in the MACD Program directly affects our community in a positive manner.
• MACD is a program unique to our martial arts center (they're not doing this in soccer, baseball, gymnastics or even most other martial arts schools in the area!).
• MACD Journals are self contained with instructions, examples, motivational quotes, an area to log performed acts, and supporting information.
• The program also teaches students about other valuable success-skills, like goal setting and journaling.

Our school motivates our children, through the MACD Program, to "take action." We are proud to have available to us the most practical, quantifiable and intelligent character development program available for young people today. Our program will have a profound affect on your children's behaviors, habits and motivation.

"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost." --Billy Graham

Below is a description of the six tasks that the student performs within the MACD program.

Definition: Courtesy: polite behavior Respect: to treat someone or something as if it's valuable Generosity: giving willingly Homework: To learn the morals of Courtesy, Respect, and Generosity, the student is to perform 50 acts of courtesy, kindness and respect. Credit is only given for a specific act twice to encourage the student to perform a wide variety of acts. Example acts are: Send an encouragement card to someone you know who might need one. Write a Thank-You note to someone for something they said or did. Hand write letters or cards to friends or family. Send someone a small gift anonymosly. Return a shopping cart to the store. Compliment someone on their clothes. Compliment someone on an achievement. Take care of a gravesite. Treat your local police officer or fireman to coffee. Write something nice about your waiter or waitress on the back of your bill. Write a note of encouragement to someone who has just received sad news. Hug your dog or cat and feed your fish. Open a door for someone. Say "Yes Sir" or "Yes Ma'am" when responding Say "Please" and "Thank you" when responding Donate food, clothing, or toys to a charity. Volunteer to provide gifts or food to a needy family. Walk a neighbor's dog. Creed: I will respect the rights, feelings and property of myself and others. To this end, I will show respect to myself and others in appearance, speech and actions.

Quotations: "A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror." --Ken Keys "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." --Martin Luther King, Jr. "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success." --Ralph Waldo Emerson "This above all; to thine own self be true." --William Shakespeare "Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure." --Joseph Sugarman "Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble." --Arabic Parable "Do to others what you would have them do to you." --Bible, Matthew 7:12 "No one is so generous as he who has nothing to give." --French Proverb "The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." --Nelson Henderson "Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do." --Kahlil Gibran "Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot." --Clarence Thomas (1948 - ) When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends. --Japanese Proverb "Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear." --Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC) "You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson "Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment." -- Jean de la Bruyere "You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." -- Leo Aikman

Level 2: Teamwork

Definition: Cooperative effort by the members of a group to achieve a common goal. Homework: To learn the moral of Teamwork, the student is to perform 50 acts demonstrating his/her ability to work with others to complete a common goal. Credit is only given for a specific act twice to encourage the student to perform a wide variety of acts. Example acts are: Help rake your neighbors yard without being asked. Help shovel or sweep your driveway or neighbor's without being asked. Help with laundry or do the laundry without being asked. Help with your brother's or sister's chores. Do some chore for your mom or dad that they would never expect you to do. Wash your parent's car without being asked. Pick up trash in your yard or your neighbor's yard. Clean your room without being asked. Clean up the dishes without being asked. Help set the table for dinner Take out the garbage Pick up your toys, books, and papers when you're done with them. Creed: I know that I need others to help me succeed. I will be trustworthy, reliable and truthful to those around me so that we may all build a strong and happy community.

Quotations: "The important thing to recognize is that it takes a team, and the team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Successes have many fathers, failures have none." --Philip Caldwell "The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." -- Helen Keller "The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead even more than teamwork." -- Igor Sikorsky "Put together all the existing families and you have society. It is as simple as that. Whatever kind of training took place in the individual family will be reflected in the kind of society that these families create." -- Virginia Satir "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." -- Bible: New Testament, 1 Corinthians 12:26. Many scraps make a lot; fox furs, sewn together, make a fine robe. -- Chinese Proverb One person is not as wise as two together. -- Chinese Proverb We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. -- Adlai E. Stevenson "I know we're termites. But if all the termites got together, the house would fall down." -- Florynce R. Kennedy "Alone you are weak. Together you are strong. " -- Philip Dunne "Every community is an association of some kind and every community is established with a view to some good; for everyone always acts in order to obtain that which they think good. But, if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good." -- Aristotle "Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt "All your strength is in your union All your danger is in discord; Therefore be at peace henceforward, And as brothers live together." -- Henry Wadsworth Longellow, The Song of Hiawatha. Part i. "The only way to have a friend is to be one. " -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Level 3: Patience and Perseverance

Definition: Patience: Good-natured tolerance of delay Perseverance: Never giving up Homework: To learn the morals of Patience and Perseverance, the student is required to perform, over time, 1000 repetitions or a front or roundhouse kick. They should learn to take a supposedly insurmountable goal and break it up into manageable pieces and to keep working even though the goal seems far off. Creed: When faced with a mountain, I will not quit. I will find a path over, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine. I am a winner.

Quotations: "Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses." -- George Washington Carver "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. " -- Sir Winston Churchill "Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict." -- William Ellery Channing "Life does not require us to be the biggest or the best, it asks only that we try." -- Anonymous "The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." -- Theodore Rubin "Victory belongs to the most persevering." -- Napoleon Bonaparte "For every difficulty that supposedly stops a person from succeeding there are thousands who have had it a lot worse and have succeeded anyway." -- Brian Tracy "We can do anything we want if we stick to it long enough." -- Helen Keller "Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit." --Napoleon Hill "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." --Calvin Coolidge "Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs." --Malcolm Stevenson Forbes "Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it." --Josephus Daniels "The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail." --Napoleon Hill "The only time you don't fail is the last time you try anything -- and it works." --William Strong "Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." --George E. Woodberry "Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty." --Henri Frédéric Amiel "Every problem has a gift for you in its hands." --Richard Bach "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." --Horace "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." --Thomas Paine "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." --John Powell "Fall seven times, stand up eight." --Japanese Proverb "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." --Confucius "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." --Dale Carnegie "It's the constant and determined effort that breaks down resistance, sweeps away all obstacles." --Claude M. Bristol "Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air." -- John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848) "Act as if it were impossible to fail." --Dorothea Brande "This thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down." --Mary Pickford (1893 - 1979) "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." --Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931) "If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate." -- Thomas Watson, Sr. Lack of patience in small matters can create havoc in great ones. -- Chinese Proverb He who knows patience knows peace. -- Chinese Proverb "Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence." -- Hal Borland "Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance." -- Abigail Adams

Level 4: Self Discipline

Definition: the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. Homework: To learn the moral of Self Discipline, the student is required to excel in one area of physical fitness: pushups, sit-ups, or flexibility. The student is required to reach the Excellent category for the exercise involved for his or her age. Creed: I believe that if I work hard, I will succeed; I will strive to achieve my personal best in every endeavor.

Quotations: "When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline will take care of itself." -- Albert Einstein "There is no such thing as failure, only results." -- Anthony Robbins "The time is always right to do what is right." -- Martin Luther King Jr. "The only real limitation on your abilities is the level of your desires. If you want it badly enough, there are no limits on what you can achieve." -- Brian Tracy "Many people dream of success. To me, success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection." -- Soichiro Honda "Eighty percent of success is showing up." --Woody Allen "You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." --Beverly Sills "Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right." --Henry Ford "He is able who thinks he is able." --Buddha "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." --Aristotle "Success will not lower its standard to us. We must raise our standard to success." --Rev. Randall R. McBride, Jr. "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." --Anon. "We aim above the mark to hit the mark." --Ralph Waldo Emerson "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end." --Ursula K. LeGuin "Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers." --Anon. "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." --Les Brown "The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become." --Harold Taylor "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt." --William Shakespeare

Level 5: Leadership

Definition: the act of ruling, guiding or inspiring others Homework: To learn the moral of Leadership, the student assists in teaching or mentoring other students or siblings in a significant endeavor, 9 times. Creed: I will strive to better myself and inspire those around me so that I may become a more valued citizen of my city, state, and country.

Quotations: "It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." -- Charles Dudley Warner "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." -- Mark Twain "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." --Dwight D Eisenhower "The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on." --Walter Lippmann "The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and ability." --Fred A. Manske, Jr. "Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him." --Booker T. Washington "It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself." --Eleanor Roosevelt "You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself." --Harry Firestone "If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others." --Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894) "Leaders don't create followers. They create more leaders." -- Tom Peters "Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I may not forget you." -- William Arthur

Level 6: Knowledge

Definition: Understanding gained through experience or study. Homework: To learn the moral of Knowledge, the student reads four assigned books and then writes a 1-page report for each on what he/she learned from them. Creed: I believe the choices I make today will affect what I will have, what I will be, and what I will do in the tomorrows of my life. I am full of possibilities and potential.

Quotations: "Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you: you must acquire it." -- Sudie Back "There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home." "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see." -- Winston Churchill "We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us." -- Marcel Proust "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." --Confucius "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." --Confucius "The brighter you are, the more you have to learn." --Don Herold "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity." --Martin Luther King, Jr. "An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't." --Anatole France "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world." --Buddha "The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled." --Plutarch "Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future." -- Euripides