Author: tduschei

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Utah grandma, 83, receives karate black belt

SALT LAKE CITY — Carole Taylor may be 83, but she now has a fifth-degree black belt in karate — an honor she received from Chuck Norris himself.

The Utah woman’s passion for martial arts began 15 years ago at the age of 68, when she started taking her 11-year-old granddaughter to lessons.

“I thought: ‘Wow, this is mental and physical. This would be a good thing for someone my age to do. … So I asked the teacher if it would be all right if I joined the class, and so that’s why I did it,” she recalled.

Taylor learned karate alongside her granddaughter.

“We both got our first-degree black belts at about the same time,” she said.

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SENSEI SAVES KARATE STUDIO FROM SHUTTERING

One of the longest standing businesses on Daniel Island was on the brink of closing due to financial struggles wrought by the pandemic. But Sensei Glenn Raus refused to concede to COVID-19.  

After 18 years of business, Osupurē “Osprey” Karate, which was formerly called Japan Karate Institute Daniel Island, was forced to reinvent itself after nearly losing all of its membership over the past year. 

At 33 years old, Raus started his karate training at the Japan Karate Institute West Ashley and is now a fourth degree Black Belt with more than 20 years of martial arts experience and training. He worked for Blackbaud at the time when the tech company moved to Daniel Island in 2000 and saw it as the perfect spot to start a satellite dojo. 

Karate is much more than kicking and punching to Raus. As a man of moral fiber, he preaches precepts that focus on perfecting the mind, cultivating the spirit and keeping truthfulness in one’s heart.

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Karate teaches more than self-defense

I learned a lot of things in karate. I attend Action Karate Nazareth. I made new friends at karate. Over the past three years, I learned how to defend myself. I learned about confidence, discipline, self-control and perseverance.

Karate gave me something to do while COVID-19 was happening. We had it virtually but soon we were back in person.

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Martial arts studio ‘dream’ for retired Carson attorney

Kenpo karate instructor Jhan Yaple and fellow instructor Sean Morey pose for a photo inside of Yaples’s Adult Kenpo Karate business.

Jhan Yaple’s Kenpo martial arts studio has been his pride and his business since he bought the building about 11 years ago.

A recently retired attorney, Yaple slowly wound down from his day job into an ideal retirement opportunity in an art he’s studied for 45 years.

“Opening this studio was a dream for me,” said Yaple. “This wasn’t what I was looking for, but it fit my needs. I had my law office in the back. … I love the martial arts, I love to dance and I have to be an attorney.”

Yaple first learned jujitsu where he became a second-degree black belt, but as he got older he realized the physicality of being tossed around was too much for his body.

He turned to Kenpo Karate in or AKKI (American Kenpo Karate International) in 2001 to practice a new style of the art he loved, without as much wear and tear on his body.

“I’m doing an art that 70-year-olds can do. They way we do it, is a way older people can do. A lot of our students are black belts from other styles.

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Luxury Resorts Are Using Martial Arts to Highlight Local Cultures

Capoeira practice at the UXUA Casa Hotel & Spa in Trancoso, Brazil.

I’d spent three intense years training in jeet kune do—an expression of martial arts Bruce Lee developed—before finally making it to Leung Ting Gym in Hong Kong’s neon-lit Yau Ma Tei neighborhood. Among fruit and jade markets, a narrow staircase leads up to this living piece of history. It’s named for one of the last disciples of Grandmaster Ip Man, one of Lee’s most influential teachers, who helped popularize a 300-year-old kung fu style called wing chun.

Leung Ting Gym doesn’t normally allow visitors or drop-in students, so it’s a treat that my concierge at the Rosewood Hong Kong has brought me this far. Through a small window on a mustard-colored door, he and I watch in awe as three students perform the circular and linear hand motions of chi sau. Cantonese for “sticky hands,” it’s a calm, fluid way to diffuse the energy of an attacking opponent, a centuries-old lesson in grace under pressure.

Peering in, I think about wing chun’s founder, a Buddhist nun named Ng Mui from China’s legendary Shaolin Temple. Her fighting system tailored for smaller people has emboldened me as a 5-foot-2 Asian-American woman.

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Burn 500 Calories In 1 Martial Art Class

Not only is it a great activity that keeps participants physically active, but it also instills a sense of achievement and ethics as you practice and practice and work your way up to earning a black belt. Even if you have no previous experience in martial arts, it is still a great activity to pick up even as an adult. Here are the Top 10 from Health Fitness Revolution and author of the book ReSYNC Your Life Samir Becic:

  • Total body workout: Martial arts are a high-aerobic workout that uses every muscle group in the body. Your stamina, muscle tone, flexibility, balance and strength will all improve through martial arts.
  • Healthy lifestyle: Due to the total-body nature of a martial arts workout, tons of calories are burned during every class. However, you’ll also find that your natural eating signals become better regulated, so food cravings will disappear and you’ll eat less as a result.
  • Self-confidence: Due to the goal setting, positive encouragement and respect for values that are part of all martial arts programs, the greatest benefit usually reported by martial arts students is greater self-confidence. You become more comfortable in all situations – whether you’re in danger or simply doing a task that takes you beyond your comfort zone — and you’ll discover you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.
  • Improved cardiovascular health: Research has found that the only real way to improve the status of the cardiovascular system is by participating in activities that stress the heart, such as martial arts.
  • Weight loss: A one hour session of moderate intensity martial arts can burn up to 500 calories.

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Karate Kid: Georgia boy fights off attempted kidnapper with martial arts

From https://www.foxnews.com

When a would-be kidnapper attacked 10-year-old Georgia boy Sebastian Solache, the child put his karate knowledge to the test.

An intruder approached the Solache home in Hall County late Tuesday afternoon, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Solache was in the driveway when a man grabbed him from behind and attempted to drag him toward the back of a neighboring house.

The young boy decided to use his understanding of karate to protect himself from the stranger.

“He drags me and I elbow him in the ribs,” Solache told Fox 5. “From there he slammed me on the floor and ran.”

That’s when Solache ran into his home, where his mom discovered him frightened.

“I was fixing them something to eat when I heard him slam the door and lock it. He was just crying, having a panic attack. He told me, ‘somebody tried to take me, mommy,’” Flor Solache said, before noting she saw the man running away when she looked out the window.

“I just felt proud of myself that I was able to escape,” Sebastian said.

Hall County Sheriff’s Deputy Stephen Wilbanks told Fox 5 that Sebastian did everything right during the encounter — screamed and fought back.

“Criminals and predators such as this are looking for easy prey. Our advice is, don’t be that victim, fight with everything you have,” Wilbanks said.

Investigators described the unknown man as white, with dark pants and a white shirt, with a black cloth covering his face.

To read in this blog post in it’s original format:  https://www.foxnews.com/us/karate-kid-georgia-boy-fights-off-attempted-kidnapper-with-martial-arts

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Long Beach man living out childhood dream after opening martial arts dojo

For parents, seeing their child develop passion for something new is exciting, giving them a sense of pride for their child.

“Him being able to build up his self confidence through the little activities they do… He doesn’t even realize how much he’s blossomed just in the last two weeks,” said parent Jill Cibene.

Continue reading the article here: https://www.wlox.com/2021/04/01/long-beach-man-achieves-childhood-dream-with-opening-martial-arts-dojo/

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Wheelchair no disadvantage to earn karate black belt

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At first glance, Samantha Lunsford might be perceived as a young vulnerable woman, but don’t let that wheelchair fool you.

The 27-year-old Blountville native earned her first-degree black belt in Isshinryu Karate in December, and she’s not afraid to use her skills if she needs to protect herself.

One might think that the standards to reach first-degree black belt level would include numerous accommodations for someone in a wheelchair, but for Lunsford, that’s not true.

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