Dear Students & Parents,

First and foremost, HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

The Dojo of Karate would like to first thank you for all of your support and encouragement during 2009.  It has been a wonderful journey so far, and we look forward to see what 2010 has to bring us!

Many of you have been asking how close The Dojo of Karate got to reaching our goal of 100 students, and well, we fell a bit short, but nothing to hang our heads down.

We finished the year with 88 students, which compared to the corporate giants across the U.S., that’s pretty good.

Class Schedule

We are currently looking at the class schedule for 2010 and getting feedback from many parents about times that could possibly work.  We have taken your input into consideration and will be looking at expanding our class schedule within the next 2 months.  A common request has been earlier classes for the stay-at-home parent.  So, we will address this as soon as possible.

Our Children Intermediate class has grown tremendously, and therefore we made some modifications.  For the meantime, we are allowing students in the Intermediate ranks to attend classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4pm or 6pm.

Please make sure if you plan on attending a certain class time, that you commit to that slot, so we can prepare for possible overflow.

Belt Tests

Many of you have noticed that our belt tests are currently being held once per month on a Friday during class – instead of creating an actual belt test.  We are going to continue this format until further notice.  It seemed to work fine during the Holidays, however, as our school grows, we may need to revert back to our old format — canceling classes on Friday and having a separate belt test.

Parent Appreciation Month

We really appreciate all that our parents do at The Dojo of Karate.  You bring your child(ren) to and from classes, feed them, prepare them for school, look over their homework, and all of the other unnoticed things many of us miss.

To show our appreciation, we are introducing a new program called Parent Appreciation Month.

If you have a child enrolled in one of our Martial Arts programs, than a parent can tryout 1 month of traditional Karate, Adult Self-Defense, Fitness Kickboxing, or Fitness Boot Camp for FREE.

Many of you have been hinting at the fact of giving one of our programs a shot… now this way you’ve got nothing to lose!

If you are interested in taking advantage of Parent Appreciation Month, please contact Mr. Lozano and setup an appointment with him, to discuss the program.

2009 Holiday Party & Banquet

Our 1st Annual Holiday Party was a great success.  We had about 85 people attend, and it was a sure blast.  If you happened to miss it, hopefully you can attend the next one.  But, we’ll probably have to host the party at a different venue because it was a tight fit in the school.

We also had a slide show, called The Dojo of Karate Year in Review – 2009.  If you haven’t seen it yet, go to YouTube and watch it there!  It basically takes you through the beginning, when The Dojo of Karate was preparing to open, to where it is now.

We than ended up giving out awards to various students for their amazing efforts in class.  For 2010, we would like to get the entire school involved in helping create different categories, so we can recognize outstanding students in our school.  As December nears again, we’ll announce it.

Board Breaking Seminar

Have you ever wanted to learn how to break a board with a sweet punch or powerful kick?  How about we teach you how to properly break boards, and have fun doing it.

We will host our first Board Breaking Seminar on Saturday, January 30th 2010 from 11am to 1pm.

This is your opportunity to learn how to properly break boards with a hammer fist strike, reverse punch, elbow strike, front kick or side kick.

We will have various board sizes for kids and adults of different ages.  Each student will have approximately 3-5 boards a piece with their initial entrance fee, and you can purchase more at an additional cost.

The cost of the Board Breaking Seminar has not been determined yet, but once we find out, we’ll let you know.

Inter-School Tournament

This has been something that The Dojo of Karate has been wanting to plan for a few months, but due to conflicting times, it has been put off… until now!

The Dojo of Karate will be hosting our 1st Annual Inter School Tournament on Saturday, February 27th 2010, from 10am to 1pm.

Each student will have an opportunity to learn what it is like to compete in a real Karate tournament, without the pressure that comes with competing at Open Karate Tournaments.

Students will be entered in various divisions by age and rank, in order to level out the competition equally.  Every student that enters the tournament must compete in both Forms and Sparring, as this will teach everyone how to balance their Martial Arts training at The Dojo.

There will be awards for 1st place through 3rd place competitors, and finalists awards for everyone else that competes.  So, no one goes hope empty handed!

We will also need adult volunteers to help judge in divisions and keep time and keep score during each event.  Volunteers will receive special training on how to properly perform each of these duties.

The cost for the tournament is yet to be determined, but we would like for families to mark your calendar, as this is a school function, and we would like for everyone to participate in it, since it is part of your Martial Arts training.

New School Closure Policy

The Dojo of Karate will now be observing U.S. Bank Holidays throughout the year, unless otherwise announced during classes.

In addition we will be closing The Dojo for 1 week during Independence Day and 1 week during Christmas.  This will allow for Mr. Lozano to spend time with his family.

Below is a list of Holidays we will be observing:

• New Year’s Day
• Martin Luther King Day
• Presidents Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day (1 Week)
• Labor Day
• Veterans Day
• Thanksgiving Day (2 Days)
• Christmas Day ( 1 Week)
• New Year’s Eve

We will also be periodically closed on a Fridays due to training seminars.  These days will be announced ahead of time.

Group Private Lessons

Recently we have had parents ask about Group Private Lessons.  Mr. Lozano is available for these types of lessons and they can be scheduled ahead of time.  We offer group discounts to students of 2-4 participants.

Lessons can be for 30 minutes or 60 minutes, and can cover anything that the students may want to review or learn.

Please contact Mr. Lozano to get pricing options and available times.

Corporate Seminars

The Dojo of Karate is looking for companies that are interested in taking advantage of corporate seminars that will cover Self-Defense and/or our Fitness Programs.

These seminars for for adults looking to learn basic self-defense skills, to give participants the confidence necessary to protect one’s self.

If the company is interested in a Lunch Workout, than we can conduct Fitness Boot Camp Sessions twice a week.

These seminars will be hosted at the companies location, however, it depends if there is enough space for all participants.

If your company would like to discuss more about these seminars, please have an associate contact The Dojo of Karate or pass on the main contact person’s information to Mr. Lozano, so we can get in touch with them.

Until Next Time…