Category: Achievements

ALLEN PARK — With the Detroit Lions scheduled to strap on pads for the first time on Tuesday, and all the hitting that goes along with it, focus will soon turn to that promising offensive line. And with good reason.

Taylor Decker was a first-round pick who became one of the best left tackles in the league last year. Frank Ragnow was a first-round pick who became perhaps the very best center in the league last year. Penei Sewell is a first-round pick who, well, let’s see what happens when he finally gets to hit a professional football player. But he was considered the best offensive line prospect in the country for a reason, and the early results have been promising.

And then there’s Jonah Jackson.

He’s become something of a forgotten man up front, although that has much more to do with the star-studded cast around him than anything else. Because he’s coming off a strong first season — he just might have been Detroit’s most consistent rookie — and has returned bigger and more refined than ever in Year 2.

“I can tell you this, Jonah’s one of the handful of guys who’s been here since basically I got this job, been in this building working like every day,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “I bring that up because I’ve seen him since February, at least seeing him around, know what he’s doing. He’s been down there with (strength and conditioning coach) Josh (Schuler) and those guys working out in the in the weight room. I already know what he’s all about, and I know the work that he’s put in, and I know what his body is able to put out. We’ve had our eyes on him, and he’s a workaholic.”

Jackson, taken in the third round of last year’s draft, opened last season at right guard before moving seamlessly to left guard. He played 1,004 offensive snaps in all — topped by only Decker on the team — and allowed five sacks, three of which came in his worst game of the year against Carolina. Otherwise he was a consistent force for Detroit in both the run and pass games.

But he knew there was a lot of room to improve, and remained in Detroit to get in more work with the coaching staff than almost anyone else on the team. He added about 10 pounds of good weight in the strength program, then used his off days on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get in some martial arts training with assistant strength and conditioning coach Morris Henry

Continue Reading: https://www.mlive.com/lions/2021/08/wax-on-wax-off-lions-bulked-up-jonah-jackson-adds-martial-arts-to-offseason-training.html

A local karate studio is turning students of all ages into champions. Three inspiring medal winners overcame serious challenges to get to the podium.

Joel Westbrook is 14-years-old. He was born with a condition that affects his spine and that’s why he’s in a wheelchair, but it doesn’t hold him back. Westbrook is one of the best para karate athletes in the country and just added another gold medal to his collection.

“I just wanted to do it. I set my mind to it and I’m like I’m going to do this,” Westbrook said.

Kate Gore has been doing karate at Green’s for about 8 months. She said her training helped her when she was attacked by a komodo dragon.

Continue Reading Here: https://www.local3news.com/archive/local-karate-studio-turns-students-of-all-ages-abilities-into-champions/article_90d1270e-5442-57d6-a754-02df871d97f2.html

INMAN, S.C. —

Mike Westbrooks and his daughter, Abby, always shared a love of karate movies together. It wasn’t until Abby took up the sport that they realized, they also shared a love for competition.

The Upstate daddy-daughter duo have become two of the most successful karate competitors in their classifications; Mike in sparring, and Abby in kenpo forms.Advertisement

But for all their trophies and championships, Mike’s karate career was nearly cut short in 2015 when he suffered a stroke following a torn carotid artery and spent months on blood thinners.

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Linda Weimer is 68 years old and has had both knees replaced, yet she keeps going.

“At this point in my life, it’s trying to develop mental and remembering things and how the katas go, how the rules and regulations go,” Weimer said.

https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/44794873/local-karate-studio-turns-students-of-all-ages-and-abilities-into-champions

In martial arts, there’s judo, taekwondo and karate. The Tokyo Olympic Games will officially debut the sport as one of five this year.

Sensei Najib Amin of the Shotokan Karate Club of Maryland leads the way with swift punches, focus and intention inside his karate dojo.

“It’s amazing. People come and they sit and they watch, and it always from the stands looks a lot easier than it really is,” Amin said.

Detail is key for the Shotokan style of karate. One of four major styles recognized and incorporated this year at the Olympics.

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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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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/

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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Hanna Fraser is a 72-year-old Halifax grandmother who can snap a board in two with the palm of her hand.

And that’s just one of the tasks she’ll have to do during her black belt test on Saturday. If she passes, she’ll join her daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and grandson in wearing a black belt.

“Let’s put it this way, I’m the last hold out in the family,” Fraser said with a laugh. “There are certain expectations.”

Fraser is delighted that she’s worked her hardest and made it to this point. It’s something she never considered years earlier.

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Recently on a visit back home, I met my one of my close friends at his son’s martial arts studio so I could drop in and see what young Ethan was up to. Ethan was one step away from getting his white sash in Poekoelan, an Indonesian martial art. He beamed with pride as we watched him do various forms and drills. Shortly after I left town, Ethan earned his white sash, upon which he got to join the big kids in the adjacent room. There the big kids practice more advanced forms, techniques, and even some sparring. He was thrilled.

Ethan’s always been a good kid, but from what I observed the martial arts gave him quite a healthy dose of self esteem and self respect – two of the many benefits one gains with participation in them. Whether your kid is too bossy, too shy, or perhaps just a little hyper, the martial arts can help your child learn many important life lessons. (And, of course, those same lessons apply for all of us, not just kids.)

Here are seven reasons why your child should practice martial arts:

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