In the beginning, follow your heart, says Ferguson. If you like ground fighting, enroll in a grappling school. If you like kicking, enroll in a taekwondo school. Determine why you want to be in the martial arts. Reevaluate your priorities after six months or so.
Some people go in for one thing and end up loving another.
If your school does not offer what you want, shop around. Don't stay in an art to be loyal to an instructor. Due to misguided loyalty, people will stay in an art for a long time, even though they are unhappy. When students are between six and nine years old, the martial arts are about character development. When they get to be about nine or ten, they start to develop a purpose and motivation.