Meet SwiftKick’s 2026 Future Community Leader Awardees: Addison Darling and Charlotte Sarmiento

Leadership doesn’t depend on your age, your title, or how loudly you speak.

Most of the time, it looks much simpler. You notice that someone needs help, step forward, and do what you can.

That’s the idea behind SwiftKick Martial Arts’ Future Community Leader Award. It recognizes students who make a difference inside the studio and in their schools, neighborhoods, churches, volunteer organizations, and communities.

This year, we’re proud to recognize Addison Darling and Charlotte Sarmiento as our 2026 awardees.

Addison and Charlotte are both Junior Black Belts. They’ve taken the patience, confidence, discipline, and responsibility they’ve developed through martial arts and put those qualities to work helping other people.

That’s what being a black belt is supposed to be about.

Martial Arts Lessons That Travel Beyond the Mat

SwiftKick students learn practical Boxing, Kicking, and Grappling skills. They also spend a lot of time learning how to listen, work with partners, manage frustration, accept corrections, and keep practicing when something doesn’t come easily.

Those habits don’t disappear when class ends.

A student who learns to stay patient while practicing a difficult combination may bring that same patience to a younger child. Someone who gains confidence leading a warm-up may find it easier to speak up at school or volunteer in the community.

Addison and Charlotte are already doing that work.

Their stories also show what can happen when young people feel safe, connected, capable, and supported. Psychologist Abraham Maslow explored these needs in what’s commonly called Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Real life doesn’t follow the model in a perfect order. People move back and forth between different needs all the time. Still, it offers a useful way to look at how a supportive martial arts community can help young people build confidence and find meaningful ways to contribute.

Addison Darling: Leading With Patience, Connection, and Care

Addison has trained at SwiftKick since elementary school. She originally wanted to learn how to stand up for herself. What she found was a community that became an important part of her life.

Over the years, she grew from a student into someone younger martial artists could look up to.

Helping teach children challenged Addison to become more patient. She learned to stay calm when a student was struggling, adjust the way she explained something, and help children feel comfortable enough to keep trying.

Teaching isn’t just about demonstrating the technique correctly. A good instructor also pays attention to the student standing in front of them.

Addison does that well.

Four Years of Service at Ride Above Disability

Addison’s service goes far beyond the martial arts studio.

For four years, she has volunteered with Ride Above Disability Therapeutic Riding Center, a Poway nonprofit that provides recreational horseback-riding experiences for children and adults with disabilities.

Some of the work is demanding and far from glamorous. Addison has cleaned barns and stables, cared for horses, helped organize events, and assisted during lessons when extra support was needed.

She shows up and does the work.

Addison has also served through her church’s youth group, youth band, and children’s ministry. She has cared for children at Forest Home Christian Camps and volunteered with animal sanctuaries.

No matter where she’s serving, Addison notices both the task and the person. She’s willing to handle difficult work, but she also takes time to connect with the people around her.

She brings the same patience to a child that she brings to a martial arts student learning a new skill. She adapts. She stays composed. She keeps going.

For Addison, the best part of serving is forming real connections and helping a child smile.

That says a lot about the kind of leader she’s becoming.

Charlotte Sarmiento: Finding Her Voice by Helping Others

Charlotte helps students across a wide range of ages and experience levels.

At SwiftKick, she has assisted in three different classes with students from ages 4 to 17. She helps them improve their martial arts knowledge and technique, and she regularly steps forward to lead pre-warm-ups, warm-ups, and stretching.

That may sound natural for her now, but it wasn’t always.

Charlotte describes herself as shy and introverted. Speaking up didn’t come easily. Serving gave her a place to practice.

Each time she led a warm-up, explained a skill, or helped another student, she became a little more comfortable trusting her own voice.

Confidence didn’t appear all at once. She built it.

Teaching at Church, at Home, and in the Community

Charlotte also serves at Lighthouse Bible Church, where she has helped in the nursery and with Vacation Bible School.

Working with younger children requires energy and flexibility. Charlotte teaches, reads, leads activities, and makes room for each child’s personality.

She also tutors students every week in subjects ranging from third-grade math through algebra.

Charlotte doesn’t simply hand over the answer. She helps students work through homework, understand the ideas they’ve already encountered, and become more confident solving the next problem themselves.

She has also helped a neighbor by caring for his son when work requires it.

None of these roles comes with a big stage. That isn’t what Charlotte is looking for. She sees something that needs to be done and helps.

That might mean coaching a martial arts student, explaining an algebra problem, caring for a young child, or supporting a family nearby.

For Charlotte, the relationships she has built with students, coaches, and other volunteers are the most meaningful part.

In her words, service “has made me who I am today.”

What Maslow’s Hierarchy Can Tell Us About Youth Leadership

In his 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, Abraham Maslow described five broad groups of human needs:

• Physiological needs
• Safety
• Love and belonging
• Esteem
• Self-actualization

People don’t move through these needs like they’re checking boxes on a list. The needs overlap, and circumstances change.

Even so, the model helps explain why supportive communities matter so much for young people.

Safety: A Place Where Students Can Try

It’s hard to take healthy risks when you don’t feel safe.

Students need to know that mistakes won’t lead to embarrassment and that the people around them will treat them with respect. They also need clear expectations and coaches they can depend on.

SwiftKick’s practical self-defense training helps students become more aware and better prepared to protect themselves. The structure of the classes matters too. Students train with respectful partners, follow clear routines, and receive coaching in a setting where mistakes are part of learning.

Addison first came to martial arts because she wanted to stand up for herself. As the studio became a place where she felt comfortable and respected, she learned how to create that same feeling for younger students.

Belonging: Growing Through Relationships

Both Addison and Charlotte say that relationships are their favorite part of serving.

That isn’t surprising.

Martial arts students may work toward individual goals, but they don’t train alone. They hold pads for each other, practice with partners, learn from coaches, encourage classmates, and celebrate one another’s progress.

Addison values the connections she has formed with students, coaches, volunteers, and the people she serves.

Charlotte once found it difficult to connect with others. Through teaching and volunteering, she has built friendships with students, fellow volunteers, and coaches.

Service isn’t a one-way exchange. Young people give their time and energy, and they often find a stronger sense of belonging in return.

Esteem: Confidence Built Through Experience

Real confidence needs evidence.

Students gain it by learning a skill, taking responsibility, making mistakes, listening to feedback, and trying again. Recognition matters, but confidence can’t be built on praise alone.

SwiftKick’s Module Method gives students focused time to develop Boxing, Kicking, and Grappling skills while working toward personal martial arts goals.

Belt advancement doesn’t depend on one perfect performance. Students earn progress through steady effort, technical growth, coachability, and the willingness to keep working through difficult moments.

Charlotte’s path from shyness to leading warm-ups gives her clear evidence that she can stand in front of a group and guide others.

Addison has built the same kind of confidence through years of teaching, volunteering, and taking on demanding work.

Experienced SwiftKick students get more chances to practice these skills inside class. They may assist a coach, welcome a younger student, demonstrate a technique, train safely with a partner, or receive feedback in front of others.

The Future Community Leader Award recognizes students who are already putting those habits into action.

Self-Actualization: Growing Into Who You Can Become

Maslow used the term self-actualization to describe realizing your potential and becoming more fully yourself.

At SwiftKick, earning a black belt isn’t just about receiving a belt. It represents years of practice and the person the student becomes along the way.

Students set goals. They face setbacks. They learn to control their emotions and return to practice after a frustrating day. Eventually, they begin using what they’ve learned to help other people.

Addison has become a patient mentor who helps children feel supported.

Charlotte has found her voice by teaching and encouraging others.

They didn’t wait until adulthood to start making a difference. They’re doing it now.

Leadership That Reaches Beyond the Studio

The lessons learned in martial arts should show up in the rest of a student’s life.

Focus during a technique can become reliability during a volunteer shift. Self-control with a training partner can become patience with a frustrated child. Confidence developed through self-defense can make it easier to lead a warm-up or speak in front of a group.

SwiftKick’s structured Module Method rotates through Boxing, Kicking, and Grappling. Students get time to learn practical techniques, improve coordination, stay composed under pressure, and work through challenges.

The path toward black belt gives them clear goals. What they do with those lessons matters just as much.

Students who want more leadership experience can also participate in SwiftKick Leadership University. The program adds workshops, mentorship, goal-setting, studio leadership roles, and community experiences to the work students already do in regular classes.

Addison and Charlotte show what those lessons can look like outside the studio. They notice when someone needs help. Then they step forward.

Congratulations, Addison and Charlotte

Please join us in congratulating Addison Darling and Charlotte Sarmiento, SwiftKick’s 2026 Future Community Leader Awardees.

Read more about the Future Community Leader Award, explore SwiftKick’s youth martial arts programs, or book a free class at our Carlsbad or Rancho Bernardo studio.