Hello! There are some exciting changes coming down the pipe for the blog. For one, I'm working on getting a new domain, and will be moving the site to a different URL. For everyone else, nothing will really change, I just need to figure out how to do it. I started an internship for the …
Category: Ka-Ra-Te
Sparring Class: Teamwork and Laughter
I don’t want to say “pressure” because I believe that particular word has a few negative connotations. However, I think I may have hit upon something the other day in one of my sparring classes which happened to have a mostly younger population (8-10) Generally while teaching a sparring class, there’s a lot of drills …
Community: Karate Schools and Time
When I was in college, whenever someone would say “we need to build a sense of community!” I would roll my eyes and make some opinionated, pretty crappy argument against it. I don’t remember why I did this, but I was probably working from the point that community was something that didn’t have a …
Karate School Ownership: What I’ve Learned
The other day I was walking into the school and starting to get various things ready for the day. I had a few phone calls to make, a few contracts to enter, and some general upkeep that needed to be done. There was also the generally unglamorous task of cleaning all the bathrooms and giving …
U.S. Open Adventures: Disappointments and Realizations
The US Open is Big. Like, really big. They seemed to have rented out the entire Coranado Plaza Hotel at Disney. Everywhere I walked, there were martial artists huddled in corners sleeping on bags, and meandering around with preocupied expressions on their faces. But, no one is running through form in the middle of the …
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3 Things No-One Tells You About Being on A Karate Team
For the last several years I've been on Team Revolution. It's been a great ride so far, and I just got done with the U.S. Open (more on that later!) And during the inevitable hurry up and wait for a really long time that seems to characterize all major events. I had some realizations about …
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1 Week: Pre-event Jitters
I have one week until the US Open. And it's pretty terrifying. I've been working, training, and generally trying to push myself into something resembling comeptition ready. But, there are still times where I'm absolutely convinced that what I'm doing is a bad idea, and that I'll have no idea what to do. But, past …
To the Unrecognized
Just last night I was at the dojo wrapping up an adult class. One of the members came up to me and jokingly accused me of only talking about the karate kids. Every one was getting shoes on and wrangling the last few children who always seemed to be wandering around. "We aren't all kids!" …
Back to Basics: One Step at a Time
I have discovered a new wonder formula of incredible awesome-ness and joy. Basically, it's a liquid anti-inflammatory which works a lot like Ibuprofen. Except you smear it onto the area you want the most goodness to happen in. It's completely awesome (Obviously, use this responsibly and not like a complete idiot. Read the directions, and …
Step 2: Realize Goals and Dreams Don’t Always Match
Once I answered that phone call, things started happening really fast. That weekend I went down for an interview. While I was there I met the woman who would eventually become the girlfriend. Two weeks after that, I had dug my last hole, packed everything up and moved. It was a hot, irritating, and slammed …
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Kata Nerd 