Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Karate is not just about chopping planks of wood and watching Jackie Chan movies ... the sport can also prove beneficial for children on the fitness front as well as adding confidence.
And as if to prove the point, the only karate school on the island affiliated to the Japan Karate Association, Tokyo, now boasts 100 students - 60 children alongside 40 adults.
Established in February 2007, Japan Karate Association (JKA) Bahrain is part of FutureShape fitness facility located at the Garden City compound in Budaiya and is the island's only centre endorsed and directly affiliated by the JKA of Tokyo which has a presence in over 166 countries.
The centre was set up by Ehab Eshehawi, who is its president and chief instructor. Originally from Libya, Mr Eshehawi is a US citizen and a banker by profession who decided to act when he saw that the island was lacking a fully-fledged branch of a karate association.
He has been practicing and teaching Japanese karate under the JKA umbrella for over 23 years and started his karate career in Houston, USA under JKA Houston.
He then joined JKA Tokyo about 10 years ago when he relocated to Bahrain and often visits the city with his nine-year-old son, Sammy who is a brown belt.
He said: "I approached Debbie Al Asfoor, owner of the FutureShape facility to establish this centre which was inaugurated by Japanese Ambassador to Bahrain Takeshi Kondo."
Assisting Mr Eshehawi is senior instructor and technical director Amr Moawaad who moved to Bahrain from Egypt.
The two instructors are certified directly from Honbu Dojo - Japan Karate Association in Tokyo and teach up to 10 classes a week.
Of his young students, Mr Eshehawi said: "Karate for children is not only fun, it provides many important benefits to young people in terms of mental, moral and physical developments.
"Karate is profoundly helpful to young people in dealing with the many challenges facing them in today's society.
"It brings them a balance and perspective at an age when these are needed most. It adds a strong foundation to their character and disciplines them and that's what parents look for."
Parents who send their children to the centre agree on noticing visible changes in their children's attitude since beginning karate classes.
Father of three Ali Arab, 42, from Budaiya, said: "The classes have reflected a lot on my children. I feel they have become more mature and confident.
"I also feel that karate is an enjoyment and they seem to really like it."
Mridula Misra, 40, from Saar, has an eight-year-old daughter, Mallika, who attends the classes. She said: "Karate has helped her boost both mental and physical confidence. It is important, as a girl, to be able to defend herself in times of need and these classes are very helpful.
"The classes have been great and she enjoys them thoroughly. She's passed her stages of receiving the yellow belt and orange belt and hopes to win her green belt at the next assessment."
Mallika added: "If anyone comes and tries to trouble me now I can defend myself. It is also lots of fun especially after practice when we get to play games!"
Mr Eshehawi, 44, explained that the centre holds tests every three months and will host its first junior tournament next month.
He said: "The JKA Bahrain follows the JKA Tokyo-Japan curriculum.
"We offer students an authorised belt system that is directly certified and endorsed with diplomas from Japan.
"We also have occasional visits from Japanese instructors alongside regular visits to the branch by chief instructor for JKA Middle East, Okamoto Sensei as part of JKA Tokyo's education enhancements to students and instructors."
Last year, JKA Bahrain members and instructors travelled to Tokyo twice to take part in training camps at the JKA's head office.
And JKA Bahrain also conducts weekly classes for children between the ages of seven and 13 at the French School in Busaiteen.
Former president of the school's parent-teacher committee, CPE, Andrea Enaux, 41, from Adliya, said: "I was interested in enrolling my daughter, Rachel, for a sport and a friend mentioned about karate classes.
"However, travelling to Budaiya proved difficult for us and so last year as president of the CPE I thought it would be interesting to bring the classes to the school.
"The parents got really involved in this and it worked very well.
"The classes have proven to provide good balance and confidence in the children and even parents have been encouraged to begin classes for themselves."
Explaining his sport Mr Eshehawi said: "In true karate, the body, mind and spirit must be developed simultaneously.
"The result of true karate is natural, effortless action and confidence, humility, openness and peace is only possible through perfect unity of mind and body.
"This is the core teaching of the Japan Karate Association's philosophy."
Karate Fact-file
Karate is a martial art of Japanese origin defined as a weaponless means of self-defence.
Karate is generally translated as 'empty hand' in Japanese.
It uses weaponless techniques such as punching and kicking to overcome the opponent. Typically, fighters wear a white karate uniform and a belt that indicates their skill level and rank.
The standard belt colour system is white, yellow, green, brown, and black. In some karate schools and styles, the colour order is white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown, black.
In the old days the white belt was simply dyed to a new colour.
Karate was founded in the 16th century and formalised into different styles in the early 20th century
The development of karate began in Okinawa, an island south of Japan. Okinawans travelled to China, where they learnt the Chinese martial arts.
On their return to Okinawa they set about blending their own martial arts (initially simply called te, 'hands') with what they had learnt in China and called it to-de, Chinese hands.
From this, four main styles of karate developed - Goju Ryu, Shorin Ryu, Uechi Ryu and Shorei Ryu.
Gichin Funakoshi, who trained under several Okinawan karate masters, developed his own style of karate that he named Shotokan.
Funakoshi introduced Shotokan to Japan in the early 20th century. Other Okinawan masters soon followed him - Chojun Miyagi with Goju Ryu and Kenwa Mabuni with Shito Ryu.
From these masters many new styles were soon developed. For example, Kyokushinkai by Mas Oyama, Goju Kai by Gogen Yamaguchi, Wado Ryu by Hinonori Ohtsuka.
There are now hundreds of different styles of karate across the world, but all can be traced back to the original four from Okinawa.
