Greetings all. I hope all is good for you! Just got over the flu and am looking forward to getting back to teaching . Today while I was out running errands, i came across a 5 year old child with his mom. He was wearing a GI, with a brown belt. He was quite boisterous about almost being a black belt. In addition, he was quite rude and disrespectful to his mother. I asked her if he is really a brown belt, to which she replied. Yes, he has been training since the age of 2. He had just turned 5. I was a bit dumbfounded for a moment. I thought about minding my own business, but then I thought Wait a minute, this is my business, and I am getting sick and tired of fraudulent "martial artists" fraudulently making their customers believe that they are black belts. So I told her. If you bring that behavior to the attention of his instructor, he will be bale to help you to correct it while it can still be corrected. I added, no disrespect intended, but the attitude in which your son is displaying is no where even close to the attitude of a perspective black belt. She replied "Oh so now you're gonna be one of those know it all about MMA?" I chuckled and said, no Ma'am, not MMA. But given the fact that I have owned and operated my martial arts school for more than 22 years, and have been training for more than 30 years, I would definitely say that qualifies me to make an obvious observation of an example of another person who has been lied to by their instructor. She became irritated, and before she could come back with a sarcastic reply. I told her "No offense to you, or your child is intended, but I see this all the time, and honestly it's getting old. Schools promote students to black belt because that is what the parent wants them to do, not because they have earned it." I went on, My youngest son also started training at the age of 2. although his classes were just 15 minutes at the time, because his attention span had not developed to the point where Karate training would be of benefit for him yet. He just tested for his black belt last June, at the age of 11 and a half. thats almost 10 years of training." My son has the utmost respect for his mother and those around him. Additionally, by your sons display of a serious lack of respect for you, it is also a display of the caliber of training he has received. She asked me for a card and said she would be interested in bringing her son in for an evaluation, "you know, like a second opinion." I chuckled and politely refused. I told her it would be best to find another alternative. We parted with no animosity, (which was my intent) but definitely made her mind start to think about it more in depth.      There are so many martial arts schools these days, but very few good ones. Most schools are concerned with teaching their students how to win at tournaments, or give them their black belt so that they can benefit from the financial aspect of the black belt test. which in some cases can run upward of $1,000.00. Enough is enough!  I am committing myself to set up and launch a how to site on finding the best martial arts school for yourself or your children PERIOD. The choice may not always be my Dojo, and thats ok, but these fraudulent people need to be stopped.  

Wow, it's been quite a while since I wrote in my Blog. Guess I'm not much of a Blogger, or is it Bloggist? Anyway, I am going to try to dedicate a little time each week to writing something in the blog. Hope you enjoy the insight, and my efforts. Please feel free to offer your feedback on my blog posts when you visit the Dojo. 

So as most of you know, when We moved the dojo to its current location in December of 2013, we had anticipated utilizing both suite D4, as well as Suite D3, (to the right) Apparently it was not meant to be for us to have both suites. The Botox center has opened and they seem to be doing very well. We wish them the best of luck and success. There is always an opportunity to learn from experiences in life that do not go the way we had hoped for. I have embraced the concept of a smaller facility, and am focusing on making some improvements in our current location. Though I am not quite at the point to make announcements, I offer this little insight to those who read my blog that I never post to LOL. We will be remodeling the lobby, and creating more seating opportunities as well as giving the whole appearance of the lobby a makeover. I have had plans drawn up and am in the planning stages. Most everything will be built off site, then once completed, we will close for a couple of days and complete the install. I am excited to get started on this project and am equally excited to be able to build this out the way I have it pictured in my mind. Of course I will post some before and after photos of this process. 

On another note, I am excited about the recent growth of the Dojo, and am feeling highly motivated again about everything. Be prepared for some amazing training in the coming weeks. I am also revamping our Kickboxfit program, and will be pushing everyone in that program to truly achieve greatness through an increased amount of effort. This will start Monday March 7th. If you are in the Kickboxfit program, get ready to look your best for the summer. That's all the time I have for now. Thanks for reading, and We will see you on the mat!