"{TESTIMONIAL_QUOTE_1 — paste a real parent or student review here.}"
{Reviewer Name 1}
New Lenox
Trusted by New Lenox families
New Lenox, IL · Pride Martial Arts
Not OneKids Class.Four Ages.
Most schools put a 4-year-old and a 9-year-old on the same mat and teach them the same thing. We don't. Pride runs the SKILLZ curriculum — a separate class for ages 3–4, 5–6, 7–9 and 10–14, each built around what that brain and body can actually do right now.
25+Years In New Lenox
5.0Star Rated
FamilyOwned & Operated
MasterRon
01 / Why age-specific matters
Same Room.
Different Brains.
Ask a 6-year-old to balance on one leg while both arms circle and they'll have it in a minute. Ask a 3-year-old and they'll fall over — not because they aren't trying, but because the wiring isn't built yet. Put both kids in the same class and one is bored while the other is failing.
SKILLZ was built to end that. Each level names the eight skills a child that age is developmentally ready for, teaches one per class, and tests it in front of you. Nine belts per level, 72 earned stripes — progress you can point at.
One Skill Per Class
Named, taught, then tested
Eight Stripes Per Belt
Nothing handed out
Built For Their Stage
Never asked to do the impossible
Four Domains
Physical, intellectual, emotional, social
02 / Our Classes
Find Your
Perfect Fit.
01
Eight Movements Before Anything Else
Early SKILLZ · Ages 3–4
Kicking, hopping, rolling, catching — the raw motor patterns everything else gets built on.
Learn More
⭐ Most Popular02
The Age Character Becomes Teachable
Basic SKILLZ · Ages 5–6
Focus, control, memory, discipline. Each one named, taught in its own class, and tested.
Learn More
03
Athletic Skill And Grit, Together
Core SKILLZ · Ages 7–9
Agility, courage, perseverance, speed. The window where an instructor's word carries most.
Learn More
04
Performance Training For Teens
Extreme SKILLZ · Ages 10–14
Real intensity, real sparring, real accountability — training that treats them like the athletes they're becoming.
Learn More03 / What sets us apart
What A Mixed-Age
Class Can't Do.
Ages Split Four Ways
3–4, 5–6, 7–9 and 10–14 each train separately. No one is the youngest kid getting left behind.
Eight Named Skills Per Belt
One skill per class, demonstrated for a stripe. Nine belts a level — 72 stripes you can count.
Coaching, Not Yelling
We mentor — never drill-sergeant. Every kid is encouraged, never intimidated.
A Curriculum, Not A Class
SKILLZ is built by child-development specialists around what each age is actually ready to learn.
04 / Your Head Instructor
Ron
Poholik.
Ron Poholik has spent more than 30 years on the mat as a full-time martial arts instructor, teaching thousands of kids across the Chicago southland. In 2017 he was named the Greatmats National Martial Arts Instructor of the Year — an award voted on for teaching, not for trophies. At Pride Martial Arts in New Lenox he runs the age-specific SKILLZ curriculum: separate classes for 3–4, 5–6, 7–9, and 10–14, because a four-year-old's brain and a twelve-year-old's brain do not learn the same way.
"The right class for the age they actually are."
Read Our Story05 / Local families
Why Families
Love Us.
"{TESTIMONIAL_QUOTE_2 — paste a real parent or student review here.}"
{Reviewer Name 2}
New Lenox
"{TESTIMONIAL_QUOTE_3 — paste a real parent or student review here.}"
{Reviewer Name 3}
New Lenox
06 / Questions?
Honest
Answers.
The things New Lenox parents ask us every week. If we missed yours, just ask — we'll respond in minutes during business hours.
See All FAQsBecause a three-year-old and a six-year-old are running different equipment. Ask a five-year-old to balance on one leg with both arms circling and they'll have it in a minute. Ask a three-year-old and it isn't a focus problem — the wiring isn't built yet. Each level teaches what that age can actually build.
07 / Visit us
Find The
Dojo.
New Lenox Dojo
1005 West Laraway Road, Ste 200, New Lenox, IL 60451
Ready To
Start?
Walk in this week. We'll take it from there.