Do kids belong in martial arts?

When I began karate classes in 1969 there were no kids in class. No kids even tried to come. There were a few teens like myself training but generally it was men and an occasional woman who wanted to train very physically.

There were no pads, just bare knuckle sparring (until we thought about using boxing gloves). When I began teaching on my own it was just after the karate kid movie came out. My class was designed for adults and I didn't even take kids. I had a friend beg me to take his son because he desperately wanted to take martial arts so I gave in. We put him through the paces and he kept up. Eventually he turned into a talented teen and became my first Black Belt.

These days we have tons of kids in class, kids of all ages. There are definitely benefits for students of all ages. From the tiny tigers to the adults we can all improvement from the mental, physical and emotional training. I love watching the kids as they accomplish in all these areas and especially love watching them become teens and adults who excel in martial arts.


Mike Bogdanski
www.martialart-skills.com

School Visits

Over the years I have visited many schools and watched classes as well as trained with many great instructors. Recently I was in Los Angeles and I traveled to the Inosanto academy in Marina Del Rey. Inosanto was the protege of Bruce Lee back in the 60's and 70's. He has become one of the foremost authority's on Bruce Lee's system of Jeet Kune Do.

Many guest instructors that have visited our school have often commented how nice our facility is and we have tried our best to have a professional training facility. After visiting the Inosanto Academy I was able to compare our school, children's classes and adult classes and feel that we have achieved a top place in the martial arts world. Honestly, I felt I was going to view some magical experience, super training facility and world class students. I think that our school would rate high in comparison in all these areas. I can see that every facility needs to be clean and bright, but the instructors need to be skilled in not only martial arts but in motivating their students to do their best.

What is the biggest room in the world?
The room for improvement!

The Tang Soo Do Internationals

I just wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of these super students!

Cool video/web site

Brazilian Jiu Jutsu- the hottest thing to hit the planet in the martial arts world. Here is a bjj technique that will amaze you. John Will and David Meyer are our coaches in grappling. You can check out their site, www.grappling.us.

Partner Training

Everybody needs a training partner and I bet Matt Hughes has many. I am lucky to have Mrs. Duethorn as a workout partner. She motivates, she sets a great pace and has high standards and is never shy about helping me do my best.

There have been stages in my life that training was a chore. Achy knees, loss of motivation and stress can be debilitating to maximum training. Over the years I manage to do some workouts because I have to, and others because I want to but training will always make you feel better. Some days are tough but I still manage.

I encourage all martial artists to stay training and make it fun for your self. Do forms becasue it is a personal challenge mentally and physically. Point spar, wrestle, grapple, box or MMA style sparring can all be fun and keep you training. Do it at a pace that is manageable, keeps you learning and part of your martial arts family. My students have forced me to be a better teacher. They keep learning and keep wanting more!

Committ to being a life long student and you can't go wrong. Find a great training partner, a nurturing school and the right atmosphere and you can train and have fun. Use Tom Callos philosophy- It's all self defense to me- self defense against apathy, against pollution against poverty- fight the good fight...

Friends input

Hello Everyone,
I hope that you had a great weekend. I want to share a wonderful opportunity and learning experience that was meeting Master Mike Bogdanski this past Friday.

Last week while looking at the discussions on the group, Master Bogdanski send out a message asking if there was anyone in the Sierra Vista area and I responded with my contact information and so forth.

After a few calls and coordination Master Bogdanski came to our humble school and after the proper introduction he took the floor and WOW, he was amazing!

He shared personal stories and experiences, techniques, talked about bullying, dedication and how the 7 tenets impact what we do in our daily lives. Everyone watching or participating in the class (me included), was touched and energized by him. This will hopefully, will give them the drive to excel in life as well as in martial arts.

I want to thank him for taking the time to visit and spent time with us and for the friendship and fellowship and to the parents, students and supporters that participated.
TANG SOO!

If you ever have the opportunity to meet him, you’ll see what I’m talking about. He is a member of the group, and you can contact him thru his website.

Samurai Latino

Hi everyone, Mike Bogdanski was here all last week doing anti-bully seminars at 9 public schools. During his stay in South Texas he treated us to training and teaching a few days at our school. Just a couple observations. Invite Mike to your school.

We learned a wealth of information from him. When you teach for a long time the same way it's quite refreshing to listen and learn different methodologies of teaching, explaining, disciplining, and telling stories that make the point. This Thursday Mr. Juan Carlos Nava will be here doing the same thing. Mike is very knowledgable, kind, funny, he has a command of the English language. Great job Mike, we look forward to having you here again.

David Borowitz

MMA Influence

Here we are receiving our blue belts in Machado Jiu Jutsu. Our instructor, Brian Johnson of Seattle Washington did the testing. (Me, Brian, Kristin Duethorn and David Salisbury after six hours of testing and rolling)

Photo with UFC president Dana White.

MMA is everywhere. HBO show entourage featured Chuck Liddell, Spike had a show that featured Randy Couture- you can't escape it.

I began boxing at age 10- 1963 with my fifth grade teacher Rollie Pier, a pro boxer. I went throught the choppy weak sparring of the 70's, started kickboxing in the 80's, more point sparring and now have made the evolution to MMA style sparring with my Black Belt class.

This grappling with boxing has made me feel like I have come full circle with the boxing I learned as a kid. Some of it has stuck but I really need to smooth out these skills too.

One thing I am struggling with are the wrestling takedowns. Never having any wrestling in high school I am only now working with a wrestling coach to improve my performance. Here I am at age 54 and a beginner again!