How I got Started!

The other day, one of the kids in class kept asking me questions about when I started training, how I started the school, when this happened and when that happened.  I laughed at all the questions because I am such an open book that I just assume people know.  When he asked me how old I was when I started training and I said 27, his head turned sideways like a puppy hearing a new sound for the first time.  “You mean you weren’t a kid?”  

I find it funny that people assume that you must be a kid to start training.  It is so contrary to the traditional practice that I forget that we are now in the Post KK era.  What is the post KK era?  Well, before the movie Karate Kid came out, children rarely trained in martial arts.  In fact, most schools required students to be 15 or older.  But after Karate Kid came out, every school in America was flooded with children and somewhere along the line people associated classical martial arts training with children. Guess what, nothing could be further from the truth.  Classical martial arts training is for adults!  We have only adapted HOW we teach our material to children.  Not what we teach. 

Take me for example.  I started training back in either 1990 or 1991.  While my instructor did teach children (this was post KK), he trained as many adults as kids.  Everyone I trained with was there for a different reason.  For me, it was for stress relief and to get back in shape.   

 At that time, I worked in a big law firm in Southwest Virginia.  It was a firm like the one described in the Grisham novel but instead of dealing with mobsters, we dealt with banks, insurance companies and politicians. (Insert your own political joke here.) I was a professional case administrator.  Which is just a glorified name for a paralegal/investigator/flunky.  I was hired primarily to investigate and help defend civil rights lawsuits the skuzballs would  file against the Sheriff’s departments in the region. (My personal favorite was when an inmate sued the Sheriff for being given ibuprofen instead of Motrin.)  My secondary case load was a mixed bag of all kinds of cases that were about to go to trial.  So basically, it was a pressure cooker.  Long hours, short pay and more stress than you can imagine.  Lucky for me, my employer had a stress management consultant work with us one day.  The guy took one look at my assessment and said, “You aren’t stressing out!  YOU ARE STRESSED OUT and nearly BURNT OUT! If you don’t do something about it right now, you will crack AND you will have health consequences.”  I was in denial about it leading up to the seminar but found that assessment almost amusing because of a fight I had with my wife a week earlier. She had been nagging me about all the weight I had gained over the last year.  Seems the burgers at the desk two times a day and going home late at night just to do it again the next day had more than just stressed me out.  I had ballooned into a fat pig with no energy or drive. 

I had been driving past Mr. Lacy’s school for weeks.  That day.  The very day the consult told me to “Start a vigorous exercise program as soon as possible.” I stopped driving PAST Mr. Lacy’s school.  I stopped in.  It was the best decision I have ever made. 

I remember my first class.  I wanted to puke.  I hadn’t worked out like that in my life.  What is really scary is that it wasn’t that hard a class.  Mr. Lacy took it extremely easy on me.  I hadn’t done a push up, well, EVER and I was in pitiful physical shape.  Emotionally I was bankrupt and longing to find something to do other than work.  Life had become nothing more than solving OTHER people’s problems.   But as I was trying to figure out that side kick, the problems of those other people started to fade away.  While doing my form, even my problems started to fade away because for the life of me I could not remember which was my left foot.  As I tried to keep up with the other students, the only thing I worried about was the kick or punch I was trying to learn.  I could feel the stress melt off me.  At the end, I was tired, drained, sweaty and exhausted.  But I also felt lighter than I had in years.  I signed up that day and never looked back.  

For you parents out there, never think you are too old or out of shape to discover what I did.  Every day you waste wondering “if” you should or you feel like you need to be in better shape before you start is a day that could be spent on the mats.  If you have never seen our adult classes, trust me.  They are very different.  If you try one, you will see just how much fun it is.  Don’t worry about signing up or anything yet.  Just try class for a while.  You will be glad you did.

Trust, but Verify!

I had just opened my school three weeks before I got the phone call that made my blood run cold.  At the time, I had about 6 students and was operating on fumes.  While I was pumped at the possibilities, I knew I needed students soon if I was going to make it.  So nothing could have scared me more than that phone call.  It was a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch.  He wanted to interview me regarding a martial arts school where the instructor had just been indicted for having inappropriate relations with his underage female students.  I knew when I moved here I knew there were many unprofessional schools still open in central Ohio.  However, I never dreamed I would face something like this. I thought for sure people would assume all martial arts schools were this way. I agreed to speak off the record with the reporter to explain what standards were enforced in professional schools but I didn’t want my name associated with the case in any way. To make matters worse within 6 months allegations began to circle around a second instructor in the area.  

I do believe what helped me more than anything to get through these incidents was that my wife was teaching in the school most of the time.  This was before the kids were born and it was just Mrs. Perdue, Mr. Dominach and I teaching every day.  People would ask about our policies and procedures and I would go over them in detail.  The clincher was always what I said last. “Plus my wife over there would kick me in the face if I even LOOKED at a female student!”  While they would laugh, they also understood we had procedures in place to protect their kids and that there were checks and balances in place to make sure those procedures were followed. 

While the Penn State, Syracuse and AAU scandals are the most recent revelations, we have to remember there have been similar scandals in volunteer groups, churches and schools all over the world for decades.  Predators, by their very nature, operate in places where the institution is looked at as a positive place for kids and the trust of the parents is easily granted. Predators are master manipulators and will slowly worm their way into those organizations posing as a benefactor and an all around great person.  This gives them the time to pick their victims. When the predator thinks the time is right, he will get what it desires.  I know the greatest fear parents have is a stranger abduction.  In reality, the odds of that happening are less than them being struck by a bolt of lightning.  The reality is, most children are made victims by someone they KNOW.  

Parents have to keep a wary eye at any institution or person they entrust their kids.  If something doesn’t feel right about it, your instincts are probably correct and further investigation on your part is needed.  Examine the procedures that institution uses to prevent predator’s from getting access.  I don’t care what kind of institution it is, if the procedures are not in place sooner or later a predator will find its way into that organization. Any good institution will understand this concern and be prepared to answer your questions.  Then watch and see if they actually follow their policies.  If they take short cuts, it doesn’t matter what is on paper.    

At our school, have you ever seen an instructor teaching by themselves?  Do we allow students in the school earlier than 15 minutes before the first class?  Do we have observation areas?  Are parents welcomed to watch at any time?  Do we have overnight events in the school?  Do instructors transport students?  Do you ever see instructors in enclosed areas with students?  Do you see inappropriate contact with students?  Of course not!  Why?  We not only have the procedures in place, we enforce them. Every instructor is trained, retrained and trained again to prevent even the possibility of something like that happening. 

Reagan said it best.  Trust, but verify!

The Old Rails

If you look around the Sunbury school, you will see two rails that look very out of place. They are a different color, they look battered and worn with a little blue paint on the back that seems out of place.  Why?  Just like the rails in the current Westerville school, they are from the first Westerville School that was in the Kroger plaza. Why am I using them?  Because EVERY student that has ever gotten on the mats for me have touched those rails and used them to learn their very first kick.  I was staining those rails when Mr. Krinsky first came into the school to get information about classes.  I was installing those rails when Mr. Smith came in to get information. I taught Mr. Morgan and every other instructor that has come since to fix their side kicks on those rails. 

I know it seems silly or sentimental to be lugging those old things around from school to school.  But to me, it is important that all of my current students know that they are on the same path as the people before them.  We would never ask any of our students to do anything that we have not done or will not do ourselves.  That is why we understand what they are going through and how they are feeling.  We have been there too.  Those battered old rails are the physical proof of the continuity of our program over the years.  No matter where we go, they will go with us.

It is said that training in the martial arts isn’t a sport but a lifestyle.  It is a journey of self discovery lead by other people further along the path than you and that we should enjoy the journey itself and not worry about the destination.  I totally agree with that.  But every journey has a starting point.  Those old rails, to me, are the marker that lets every student know, the journey starts here. 

Learning how to travel

Like everyone else, whenever I to drive I always figure out how long it is supposed to take to get there and then leave a little earlier than needed. While I was taught that “early is on time and on time is late,” I do it more to make the drive less stressful than anything else because I know SOMETHING I don’t expect will happen along the way.  I might not know what it is when I leave the house but I know I will encounter a traffic jam, road construction, a wrong turn, that old bat that doesn’t know how to drive or a multitude of other things along the way that could delay me.  By allotting that extra time on my drive, it makes it far easier for me to deal with the stress of those little delays and makes the entire trip more pleasant. 

You should find it no surprise I do the same thing on the floor at the school.  Lately, several parents seem concerned that their child is behind with their forms due to soccer, illness, vacations and other things.  Trust me, they are fine.  We do the same thing with out testing cycle I  do on a long trip.  While our testing cycle is 8 weeks long, with the number of instructors we have on the floor we really only need 6 weeks to get them ready to test.  But we plan, just like you do on a long drive, for life to get in the way.  So whether you are an adult or kid, just relax and get to class.  We will arrive at our destination on time just like we always do.  All you need to do is get to class and we can get anyone back on track no matter what the situation.

A Truly GREAT Day!

You heard us talk about it for weeks.  The Break-a-thon.  Not only did we break a bunch of wood that day and get motivated by the BUCK I GUY, we managed to raise about $8,000.  Not bad to be sure.  But what I am proudest of isn’t the total amount we raised.  It was how it was raised.

First of all, our corporate sponsors really came through.  You can see their names hung along the wall in the school and on the upcoming T-shirt. But without these people: The Faulkners, Haebegger Bryant Heating and Cooling, Dr. Shauna Hindman, Bennett Systems, CaféCouriers.com, and JesterZnet Media; we could not have pulled off this event.  They ensured that 100% of the money raised by the kids was donated to Autism Speaks.

Of course, who I am proudest of is the kids.  You could tell they really put their heart in it as the envelopes and baggies started to be turned in. I was thrilled to see the loose change and one dollar bills in them.  Yes, the bigger checks are important to the success of the event.  But seeing the wadded up one dollar bills, pennies, nickels and quarters really made me smile because they are evidence of the most important part of any fundraiser. The kids were putting their hearts into it and were learning that EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!  Those wadded dollars were probably in the pockets of the very kids breaking wood earlier in the week.  That change?  Probably dug out of a couch or taken from the change cup in the car.  The kids saw that those little amounts that were not good for much by themselves could be donated to do great things. Something I hope they will take with them as they become adults.  Learning this now is important.  Because sooner than we think, they  will be adults seeing the potential of an event and go from raiding the couch cushions to doing what they can as a corporate sponsor.

Make sure you check out the pictures and videos of the event on Facebook!