Instructor H. James Young returned to AKMS for a visit November 13th-17th. Mr. Young is from Denton, Maryland. He has been in the Martial Arts for over 35 years. While at American Karate Mr. Young trained and taught class. He also competed at Sam Price's tournament taking first place in the black belt empty hand and weapons kata divisions. We look forward to his next visit.
CAPOEIRA MASTER VISITS AKMS
Mestre Galo (Greg Flickinger), who is one of a few non-Brazilian capoeira mestres (masters) in the world – Canto do Galo (“The Rooster’s Crow”) has been sharing the rich traditions of Capoeira throughout the Front Range of Colorado since the mid-90′s. Mestre Galo and his students conducted a Capeira work shop for Mr. Williams and his adult class. Every one in attendance had a great time. The Capoeira students were very interested in karate and at some point Mr. Williams and his students will travel to Colorado to return the favor.
TOURNAMENTS SAM PRICE ALL STAR KARATE CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
November 17, 2012
Dakota Douglas
1st Place 8-9 Int Kata
1st Place 8-9 Int Kumite
H. James Young
1st Place Black Belt Kata
1st Place Black Belt Weapons
Wells Bridges' 32nd Annual Karate Spectacular
December 1st 2012
Central Park Community Center 1534 SW Clay
Topeka, KS 66604
CONTACT: 368-0101
PROMOTIONS
November 17, 2012
H. James Young, 5th Degree Black Belt
HOLIDAY GIFT SHOPPING
There is just over two weeks left for Holiday Gift Shopping at the school through Century Martial Art Supply. The Holiday Gift Catalogs are out and you can place orders at anytime. There are specials on training bag and sparring gear bundles. Special gift and novelty items go fast. Do not wait until the last minute! See Mr. or Mrs. Williams about placing orders today for Christmas!
STUFF THE BUS
For those that wish to participate Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence is collecting items for their Women's Shelter. They are asking for New items such Food, Household, Children, Personal Care and Kitchen items. Items collected will remain in the community to assist local victims and may be used for Christmas family sponsorship. Feel free to drop by your items at the karate school between 5:00 pm and 8:30 pm. We will be collecting items until December 6th.
WHO WANTS TO BE A MASTER?
Traditionally in Eastern culture, a master is a person who founds a style or is the individual appointed by the master to continue the lineage. In Western culture, a master is traditionally a person who devotes his whole life to his/her craft and who reaches a level of excellence that surpasses the average practitioner. It is interesting to watch the changes of time after forty years of martial arts training. “Master” was not a term that you heard on a regular basis. The closest term we had in the 70’s and 80’s was “Martial Arts Expert” or one “Bad A_ _ Dude!” We now have a generation of martial arts practitioner that will introduce himself as Master Joe Blow, a title designated by himself. A title self imposed by someone who hasn’t been on this earth as long as I have been studying and practicing the arts. Don’t get me wrong…..I use titles to market my school as martial arts schools in Hutchinson are a competitive business but a title is not what defines me. Masters have rarely considered themselves to be masters. Instead, they are designated as masters by their peers. It is difficult to get over the fact that the martial arts industry is an unregulated game of "I'm a master". It's great to have credentials, but it's largely a waste of time pursuing "rank" for the sake of how it appears in a yellow pages ad. Parents don't care how much we know until they know how much we care (and they never care much for instructors who are more concerned with titles at the end of their name or stripes on their belt, compared to giving their students the best possible instruction). Besides, although all instructors should be Black Belts not all black belts should be instructors and most are definitely not masters.
HOLIDAY CLOSINGS
This year American Karate will be closed Monday, Christmas Eve through Monday, New Years day. Classes will resume Tuesday January 2nd. This will be the first time that we have closed the school during this period of time. The past two years we have only had a few students per class.
If you or your employer would like to make a donation to the school to help purchase equipment or help a disadvantaged youth take martial arts lessons please fill out this form or pick one up at the school.
