Jack Scott- United Karate- Cookeville, Tennessee Around 1988, I arrived at my inlaws who had relocated to Cookeville from New Jersey. We had brought my four year old son there to visit his grandparents and spend some quality family time. After being there a few days I casually leafed through the yellow pages to see what karate schools were around. My eyes landed on Jack Scotts United Karate Studio and I decided to call. I explained I was visiting family and asked if I could come down and watch some karate classes. Mr. Scott said it was not a good night to come down but the next night would be better. Of course that prompted me to go down and see why I could not watch. Well he received me with open arms and let me watch for several hours. We talked for a long time and then he asked if I would like to take a class the next night. I responded I would like to but had not brought my uniform. He loaned me a uniform and Black Belt and we had only just met! The ne
Back in the 80’s we ventured out on the tournament trail across New England in the pursuit of higher levels of karate competition. The karate king of Rhode Island, Grandmaster Nick Cerio, had the largest contingent of students and ran the biggest tournaments. Being a student of Mr. Cheezic opened a lot of doors for us so GM Cerio welcomed us with open arms. Over the years we spent a lot of time together and got very friendly. One of my fondest memories is having a dinner that lasted late into the night with Mr. Cheezic, Nick Cerio and Chuck Merriman. Oh the stories that they told. What rich history.
Special K Karissa Choquette came into her first introductory class with a port in her chest for her chemotherapy treatment. Her Mom only asked that partners take care not to damage it during training because it had to stay in during her chemo treatments for her cancer. Karissa trained alongside all the teens and adults in each class with no worries about whatever special needs she might need or be entitled to because of her condition. Her training was always enthusiastic and the smile on her face was always there. For a long time, no one even knew of her medical condition and we always treated her just like all the other students. As her training progressed she really connected with many of the students instructors and teens in the school. It was a pleasure to see how great she did. Karissa was able to go through the rigorous Black Belt training and achieved first dan in Tang Soo Do. The support the entire school showed was outstanding Thanks for lett
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