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Founded in 1990 by Chuck Norris and President George H.W. Bush, Kickstart Kids was created with the purpose of enriching the lives of children and helping them pave a path in life free from violence, gangs and drug abuse.
With a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and judo, actor Chuck Norris wanted to share his love of martial arts with local children and after pitching the idea to George H.W. Bush, four schools in Houston were the first to teach children martial arts with the purpose of teaching discipline to young minds.
Now, within the Bryan and College Station school districts, Davila Middle School, Jane Long Intermediate School and Sam Rayburn Intermediate School host the Kickstart Kids program for children at the secondary level.
“We teach our students the values and characteristics that you would like to see,” Kickstart Kids instructor Agustin Ayala says. “We teach our students that honesty and kindness and responsibility go a lot further than people might realize.”
Through martial arts, Kickstart Kids is not only teaching students how to protect themselves, but also how to be upstanding citizens, Agustin says.
“The goal is to create fantastic people first,” Agustin says. “We want them to be an upstanding member of society first and foremost and if they become a world-class martial artist, that’s just a bonus.”
Agustin first began his personal journey with Kickstart Kids in 2002 as a reserved and emotional student. Agustin says that he struggled with acting out without considering what the consequences that would follow his decisions and after his near dismissal from the Kickstart Kids program, Agustin decided to turn his life around.
“I loved this program, it meant a great deal to me,” Agustin says. “I realized that if I didn’t change my behavior that I would lose this program. So, I changed my behavior and got on the right track and I stopped making bad decisions. Then, I made it to my black belt in 2007.
After getting hired full-time in 2014, Agustin says he had finally found his calling in life. “I feel like my duty is to teach the new students that want to learn the same lessons and the same characteristics and values that were passed down to me,” Agustin says. “We try and continue growing — not only the martial arts but the message of Kickstart which is trying to build leaders in the community.”
Kickstart Kids has been recognized for its outreach to students who are struggling to make the right choices and enticing them to participate in more physically and emotionally healthy activities. The Kickstart Kids demonstration team is a choreographed group of students that perform in elementary and middle schools and at different events to showcase the opportunities you could have in the program.
“We try to entice students by showing a little taste of what you can learn,” Agustin says. “If this is something you enjoy, then you have to stay on the right track. If you make bad decisions then you don’t get to take part in the more fun side of the program. We try to relate that not just to martial arts but to life as well. We try to show them that if you make those bad choices in life, then you have to face the consequences, which take away the things that you find most enjoyable.”
Kickstart Kids is a nonprofit organization that gets its funding through donations and sponsorships alone. While some nonprofits struggle with cash flow, Kickstart Kids showcases the impact that they have made in children's lives to draw in funding.
“We mold our students and take surveys about how they think it has been beneficial, what they might change and what they might completely remove,” Agustin says. “We show this to sponsors and say ‘we are making a difference, and with your help, we can continue this program and continue to make that change possible.’”
Without this program, many children in the Bryan/College Station area would have had a very different life story, Agustin says. One of the many success stories that have come out of the program was a girl whose college career was impacted through the Kickstart Kids program referenced on her resume.
“One of my students graduated from high school and applied to Harvard,” Agustin says. “On her application, she wrote that she was a black belt and according to her interviewer that's what really tipped the scale in her favor.”
With no experience necessary, Kickstart students are provided with the opportunity to turn their life around. Students like Agustin, who were headed down a path that was not supportive of their goals have the chance to learn the value of hard work, respect and discipline with the Kickstart Kids Program.
