Our Black Belt Hero.

This video may be disturbing and contains violence 

Tom Castonguay and his mom Chris began karate back in the 80's.  Tom was about ten.  His Mom watched in the back intently until one day one of the Black Belts asked if she wanted to join.   They have both achieved the rank of 2nd dan.

Tom, or TC as I call him was a quiet boy who always showed up and dedicated himself to martial arts.  After getting his Black Belt he and his mother, both became instructors in the school.  Once Tom became a young adult and graduated from high school, he decided to follow his passion for the military and joined the army where he excelled.  He aways mentioned how our karate school's demand for excellence and hard training prepared him for life as a military man.  He went on to serve for several years and was involved in the gulf war.

After leaving the military he followed his next dream of becoming a sheriff in Austin, Texas where he married a lovely woman and is the father of two girls.  He is a seasoned police officer and I have stayed in touch with him over the years.  Recently when I was touching base with Tom, I asked how things were going and he said he has a tough year.  I thought he was referencing the pandemic until he sent me this clip.

This video is actual body cam video of him responding to a distress call involving a woman and child.  He was wounded in this shootout so be prepared.  In the future we plan to host him in a seminar on how our martial arts program prepared him for life.  After a long discussion my favorite comment from him was "your martial arts program takes sheep and makes them sheep dogs".   Think about it, this is a powerful statement.  

I plan to do another post dissecting this video and how we can learn from it.  I look forward to the presentation of this Black Belt hero!

Master B
 

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