News From Around The Dojo

About those technique cards (Your path to Black Belt)

The Black Belt is yours to win. Its achievement cannot be a gift, and is not a mystery. One of the lessons we teach to our kids (and a comfort we offer to our adults) is the straightforward simplicity of its earning. If you do this, you will get that. Earning rank at our studio is not a matter of popularity or preference, it is not even a competition. Nobody stands in your way, when you help your friends and neighbors it helps you. Your rank is a challenge for you alone, but you have people who will help you do more than you thought you could do, to succeed.

You also have tools. For the adults, the technique cards are a fairly simple tool. The requirements are spelled out and you figure out what you do to fulfill them. It's essentially the same for the kids, but as with so many things faced in childhood's hour, they are handled differently. We want our kids to realize that their destiny is theirs to achieve, and that the technique cards, besides being simply exactly the beautifully designed useful cool things they are, stand also as a metaphor for that process of personal achievement. Continue Reading

Bob White's Invitational, March Mayhem and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Arnott Kenpo Karate

Last weekend hosted some extraordinary events. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend five seminars, four of them led by some of the most significant kenpo instructors in the world- Lee Wedlake, Stephen LaBounty, Jeff Speakman, and Gilbert Velez. All students who had begun their kenpo education with Mr. Parker, and offered decades of insight and growth. A deeply educational day.

And I got to meet Marcelo Carvalho, one of the most gifted teachers I have ever met, who has agreed to come teach a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seminar at our school. Kenpo relies on not going to the ground, but we cannot always depend on avoiding the pavement. Mr. Carvalho's simple, exciting, and powerful lessons will come in handy for those times when situations sweep us off our feet. I look forward to his first visit.

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What are the advantages of learning American Kenpo Karate as an adult?

Most people know what a great benefit that learning a martial art like Kenpo Karate is for kids and teens. In an ever growing world of bullies, we know how karate can help kids build self esteem, learn how to get along in a group so that they are not singled out, and how it gives them tools to deal emotionally and physically when they are in danger. However, what most don't know is how Kenpo Karate greatly benefits adults as well.

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