About Us
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New! Christmas Break Camp and March Break Camp announced. $130.95 for 5 days of Theme-Oriented fun, with daily swims, fun and games. Cole Harbour Location only. Call for details.About MAMBEC™
MAMBEC is a unique martial art center that teaches children both physical and mental martial arts. MAMBEC’s objective is to give children safe skills to deal with conflict at an early age and to provide them with a better understanding of the world around them. MAMBEC is committed to teach skills to create strong people who understand and value life les
sons and in turn create strong children who will be determined to make a change for a more peaceful society
For the physical martial arts, MAMBEC has created its own martial art that combines 14th century traditional martial arts and 21st century contemporary concepts to create a unique and innovative system that includes elements of various traditional martial arts such as Tae kwon do, Karate, Jujitsu, and others.
The MAMBEC Program is broken down into 4 components;
1st Component: Warm-up, includes stretching and Yoga
2nd Component: Technical, basic body mechanics of the martial arts, stances, blocking, falling, rolling, basic takedowns, kicking, punching, kata.
3rd Component: Life Skills including a story with each lesson
4th Component: Game or Skills Drill to reinforce the technical
The four components keep the MAMBEC Program true to its concept, teaching the Mental and Physical Martial Arts on an equal balance.
Mental martial arts, teaches students how to reason intelligently and to cope with aggression before it escalates also, to understand how to avoid conflict. Mental martial arts teaches children
to use the most powerful muscle in their bodies, their brain, to avoid conflict by employing non-violent alternatives to force, thereby avoiding possible physical injury and emotional injury caused by running away.
MAMBEC’s programs are focused on peace and defence rather than fighting and offence. They are focused on preventing conflict by understanding the root cause of conflict, and on giving students the necessary skills to prevent conflict, and to resolve and control conflict if it can’t be prevented. Teaching only physical martial arts to young people reinforces the conventional attitude that conflict is resolved by violent means. Also, if they are taught only physical martial arts they do not have the skills to resolve conflict before it becomes physical.
Because MAMBEC is not a Traditional Martial Art there is no tournaments, sparring or contact of any kind. However, MAMBEC has a 2 full Belt Structures. Children as young as 4 years old can be involved in the program and start on the Children’s Belt Structure. At this level the children’s belts start with a white belt with a stripe of color and advance to the solid color belt with a stripe of white. The belts will zig zag back and fourth until the child is old enough to advance to the Animation Team and will continue on the Animation Team Belt Structure receiving solid color belts with a stripe of white.
The Animation Team or A
-Team is a mentoring program where children help teach children and has proved to be a valuable asset in the MAMBEC Program giving students the confidence to stand up in front of the class and teach with the assistance of the Head Instructor. Children who are 9 or a mature 8, determined after an assessment of the Head Instructor will start directly on the A-Team and will be belted with the solid belt with the strip of white right from the beginning.
MAMBEC’s programs are compatible with any traditional martial art, however once students achieve a MAMBEC Black Belt, they are encouraged to continue training in a MAMBEC program for various degrees.
MAMBEC (Martial Art Mind Body Education Center) Inc., located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was founded in 2003 by Lavonne Carroll. The company is a member of the Nova Scotia Karate Association (NSKA). Steve Garvey joined the company in January 2008 and now assists Ms. Carroll with the management of the company. The company is a member of the Nova Scotia Karate Association (NSKA).
Our Instructors
Lavonne Carroll established MAMBEC in 2003. As a result of feedback from parents, educators, recreation representatives, school officials, community resource people, and police departments she identified a need that was not being satisfied by traditional martial arts programs and other programs. To meet the need she conceived and developed MAMBEC and the programs that it offers.
She has been involved in martial arts for 13 years as a student, teacher, administrator, manager, business owner and innovator. She trained for seven years in the art of Taekwondo, and has also trained in Chito Ryu Karate. She has also studied and worked with Dr. Webster Doyle of The Martial Arts for Peace Institute in Orlando Florida.
Our Instruction team is headed by our head instructor, Steve Garvey. He is an experienced business man as well as an accomplished martial artist. Aside from his MAMBEC credentials, Mr. Garvey holds a black belt in Kempo Karate, and has extensively studied Yoga and Qigong, and is a Reiki master.
Kevin Wolfe, Instructor
(bio to come)
Dan MacDonald, Instructor
(bio to come)
Our Students
MAMBEC's program teaches more than just self-defence. It also teaches self-discipline and self-reliance. In addition to the basics of martial arts, MAMBEC students are taught life skills, bully awareness, safety awareness, rights and responsibilities and safe option systems. The program is run in a shared learning environment where students are encouraged to assist and share their knowledge with both the instructors and their peers.
The program also engages in fundamental fitness, yoga and meditation for children. This is in addition to traditional martial defence skills and program. We aim to produce students who are both strong in body and in character, who are determined to make a change for a more peaceful society.
MAMBEC teaches a program of Mental Defence in addition to its physical program. Teaching only physical defence to students reinforces the idea that conflict can only be overcome with force. When children are taught in an atmosphere wherein conflict resolution can be achieved by actions other than by physical response, only then can a peaceful society be achieved.
What people have to say about the MAMBEC Life Skills program:
Our 7 year old son has struggled in social situations. He has always been stressed out in groups, was easily frustrated in school, had issues making friends and difficulty participating within recreational sports teams. His school principal recommended MAMBEC. In less than 2 months, we've seen a complete transformation in our son. He isn't causing disturbances in school classroom and is now playing well with other children. His anxiety in social situations has decreased, he's more articulate about his feelings and explains himself verbally instead of becoming frustrated and having outbursts. He looks forward to the classes every week, is proud to come home and demonstrate the martial arts he's learning and we are relieved that finally there is a program that has helped him to develop coping strategies and gain confidence in himself! MAMBEC is an amazing program!
Michelle K. and Gordon C.
Recreation Nova Scotia should try to utilize its resources in order to enhance the human and organizational capabilities of this outstanding program. Presently, this Program is based mostly in Metro, but could be delivered throughout N.S. If this were to occur, more of our children and youth would be exposed to this initiative, and as a result we would have a better society.
In conclusion there is a big upside for this initiative, and hopefully the future will allow the program to expand so that more N.S. children and youth become exposed to this information and apply it to their daily lives.
Philip M. Hochman
Director of Recreation
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