Martial Arts Academy

Rebuilding FOCUS, One Bow at a Time

Attention on a single screen has fallen to 47 seconds, down from about 2 1/2 minutes in 2004, according to two decades of tracking by University of California, Irvine professor Gloria Mark.

Children absorb the hit hardest. Common Sense Media’s 2025 census found kids ages 5 to 8 average 3 hours 28 minutes of screen media daily. Diagnosed anxiety among U.S. adolescents rose 61%, from 10.0% to 16.1%, between 2016 and 2023, National Survey of Children’s Health data show.

The trends are connected. Fragmented attention starves kids of practice at what makes social settings survivable: eye contact, sitting through silence, recovering from a mistake in front of other people. Online, a mistake can be deleted. In a room of peers, it isn’t.

Focus As A Trainable Skill

Martial Arts Academy in Owasso treats focus as a trainable skill. Founded in 2003 by Chris Velez, owner and chief instructor, it trains ages 4 through adult in blocks where phones never reach the floor.

“During the class they don’t have the option of being distracted by technology,” Velez said. Students hold “laser beam focus” for 10 to 20 minutes, immersed in the action being taught.

Structure starts at the door with a bow and a “Yes sir” or “Yes ma’am.” “The strengths are built from the inside out, and from the minute they walk through the door and throughout, they are intentionally focused,” Velez said.

Three Steps To Discipline

Discipline builds slowly, on three steps: be calm and listen, watch the demonstration, perform the move. That is the opposite of the fast-fast-fast pace students know, and Velez said it converts into performing instinctively under pressure.

The method has evidence behind it. A randomized trial of 240 British schoolchildren ages 7 to 11 found 11 weeks of martial arts training improved teacher rated attentional control and reduced conduct problems versus a standard gym class control group.

Tapping Dormant Potential

Velez, teaching students of all ages for more than 27 years, said students are not ridiculed when they address the group, and they find that failure is survivable. “Potential lies dormant until demand is placed on potential,” he said. “In here we call them Black Belts. Out there they are known as leaders.”

Families agree. One reviewer wrote that Velez “knows how to connect with them, keep their attention, and make classes both fun and educational.” An eight year student credited training focused on “setting goals, inspiring leaders, and developing strong personal character.”

Next step for parents: Call to schedule a private introductory lesson.