July Martial Arts Newsletter – 2010

July 14th, 2010

Greetings!

I know July has already started and it seems like it’s almost on its way out, however, after being on vacation all last week, I didn’t have a chance to send out the July newsletter sooner.

So, with that said, here is all of our July updates and upcoming events.

1st Annual Summer Potluck

As many of you know we held our 1st Annual Holiday Party in December last year.  We had over 80 people gather at our school with a giant potluck, award ceremony, and video presentation.  Families had fun, kids ate a ton, and we all socialized with others.

We are now going to host our next school gathering for the Summer to get students, families, and friends together again to enjoy Colorado’s beautiful Summer, and just have some fun!

On July 31st from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, we will have our 1st Annual Summer Potluck at the Big Dry Creek Park.  This is located on 128th Avenue, just south of The Dojo of Karate (within walking distance).

The Dojo of Karate will provide hot dogs with condiments for all guests to enjoy.

All we ask is that every family bring a dish to share with the rest of our guests.  We may expect around 100 people to attend.

Feel free to invite friends and family members interested in attending our 1st Annual Summer Potluck, even if they are not members of our school.

Families can also bring water guns, and we can all have a big water gun fight!

There is also a softball/baseball field at the Big Dry Creek Park.  If anyone is interested in getting together and playing some softball during our Summer Party, please feel free to bring some bats and softballs.  Everyone else should bring their own gloves.

There is a signup sheet at the front counter.  All families please signup to bring a dish to share and the amount of guests that plan on attending.  We want to make sure everyone gets a enough food.

Possible Class Expansion

It is very exciting to watch our school grow, especially in the Beginners Karate Program, since so many kids are getting the benefits of learning Martial Arts.

Since this program is growing during the Summer months, and Back-To-School is around the corner, we will potentially add an additional time slot for the Beginners Karate Program for Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30 PM to 6:15 PM.

This will than allow for The Dojo of Karate to offer Martial Arts classes 5 days a week for new students.

However, please keep in that Beginning Students are only allowed to attend between 2 or 3 classes per week.

What is Black Belt Club?

Well, it’s our program for students interested in taking their Karate training to the next level.

However, this isn’t just some ordinary Karate Program… There are all sorts of benefits and requirements in being apart of the Black Belt Club.

Students will have the opportunity to receive the following:

  • Unlimited karate training.
  • Special Black Belt Club classes every Friday.
  • Weapons training, such as the Bo Staff, Kamas, or Nunchucks.
  • Custom embroidered, brushed cotton, middleweight uniform with students name on the front and The Dojo of Karate log0 on the back.
  • Eligibility for Demo Team.
  • Eligibility to compete in Karate Tournaments.
  • Eligibility to be on Leadership Team.
  • Discounts on seminars and events.
  • And much more!

How do you become a member of Black Belt Club?

We are now updating the process of our Black Belt Club membership.

The first step is that students must write a letter, in their own words, on “why they want to become a member of Black Belt Club”.

Next, we sit down as a family to discuss Black Belt Club membership, what it entails, requirements, etc.

After we have our discussion, the family will need to go home and have a discussion whether this is going to be something that everyone wants to be apart of.  This is a family decision, not a single person decision.

Why do we do all of this?

Black Belt is a very difficult goal for students to achieve.  It requires a lot of training and dedication, and you need to be mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared.  For most students it can take between 3-4 years to achieve this goal, pending they do not miss belt tests, pass all of their exams and display proper attitude at home and obtain ‘B’ average grades in school.

In addition, we require students to be a minimum of 10 years old to achieve a ‘Junior Black Belt’.

Why?

Kids may “know the moves” but they will not know HOW to perform the moves as designed… until their bodies develop.  Usually that won’t happen until they are teenagers or adults.

If your child is interested in becoming a member of Black Belt Club, please talk to Mr. Lozano, so he can guide your child in the right direction.

Wado Karate Seminar

As many of you may have heard, we are hosting a Wado Karate Seminar on Saturday, August 7th and 8th.  A colleague of mine, Sensei Bob Nash is coming out from Seattle, Washington to teach this seminar.

Sensei Nash is one of only 2 people living outside of Japan that has earned a 7th degree black belt in JKF Wado-Kai.  He has been training in Wado-Kai for nearly 50 years, and brings a wealth of knowledge about our classical Japanese martial art.

He travels around the world, from Europe to Australia, and cross the United States hosting Wado-Kai Seminars at various dojos and facilities because of his technical expertise and understanding in the art of Wado Karate.

The fact we are able to have Sensei Nash come to our school and teach a seminar is an opportunity of a lifetime for many practitioners because he’s as close to the source as it comes from.

We plan on splitting the group from kids and adults, to make the floor more manageable.

Kids will have about a 2 hour seminar, while teens and adults will have the entire weekend to train, approximately 8 to 10 hours.  The schedule will look something like this.  However, we still need to finalize the time slots.

Saturday: 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM — Kids

Saturday: 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM — Teens & Adults

Sunday: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM — Teens & Adults

Students must be a minimum of an Orange Belt in order to participate.

We also plan on having a friend of mine, Sensei David Sasaki, bring some of his students from Conifer to attend the seminar too.

The cost of the seminar has yet to be determined, but we will have it shortly.

Please make sure you pre-register for the seminar so we know how many people we need to accommodate.

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Martial Arts Holiday Party – 2009

December 22nd, 2009

Westminster — December 22nd, 2009 – The Dojo of Karate had their 1st Annual Holiday Party on Friday, December 18th, 2009 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

It was a Potluck style event where students and members brought a dish to share with everyone else.  There were  a wide variety of food, from pasta dishes, to dips, sushi, enchiladas, and all sorts of desserts. And, the food never seemed to run out… which is a great problem to have.

It was entertaining to see how much the kids were enjoying the wide selection because some kids had plates of Doritos and a huge slice of cake, while others were eating ‘real’ meals.

The Dojo of Karate Holiday Party was a great time for students to hangout, parents to mingle, and Sensei Lozano to get out of his Karate uniform and where normal clothes.

There were approximately 85 guests in attendance, which is quite a bit, considering that The Dojo of Karate offers just over 1800 square feet.

In order to fit all of the guests, Head Instructor and Owner, Javier Lozano, Jr. had to pull up their state of the art training floor mats with the help of a couple of students. Each mat had to be numbered in sequence, in order to place them back down correctly.

At the conclusion of dinner, all of the students and guests sat down to watch a video created by Mr. Lozano — “The Dojo of Karate Year in Review – 2009“.

This was a 5 minute clip of pictures and videos from how the school began with demolition and construction, to teaching small classes, and eventually growing to it’s current size of 90 active students in 18 months.  The video clip played the hit single, “Clocks” by ColdPlay — a magnificent coupling of music and memories.

Below is the video that is currently being viewed on YouTube.

At the conclusion of the video, Sensei Lozano had a special presentation — awards.

“When I was a child training at David Deaton Karate Studios, I remember every year we had a Christmas Banquet at the Opryland Hotel. There were 3 schools, and after dinner the Master Instructor and founder, David Deaton, would do an award ceremony to recognize students within their own school, says Lozano. At the conclusion, there was also a Martial Arts demonstration. This was a great way to close out the evening and begin the new year.”

So, Mr. Lozano created various award categories for students and surprised them with a plaque. Some of the categories consisted of ‘Best All Round‘, ‘Best Focus‘, ‘Most Dedicated‘, and ‘Best Mile High Kicks‘.

For each winner, Sensei Lozano had a little story to share about the student. This was a way of honoring and spotlighting their efforts at The Dojo of Karate and in their training.

After the award ceremony, there was a short speech from Mr. Lozano telling families and members of The Dojo of Karate, that our school will continue to grow in 2010 and that our community of Martial Artists will continue to make an impact around the community. From raising food for the Broomfield Fish Organization to helping out with fund raisers, The Dojo plans on getting students and parents together to help others.

“As Martial Artists and members of the Broomfield / Westminster community, it is our duty to help others in any way, shape, or form, said Lozano. This will teach our students Life Skills that are sometimes not taught in other sports.”

The Dojo of Karate would like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas!

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November Martial Arts Newsletter

November 2nd, 2009

Wow… It’s already November and Turkey Day is right around the corner.  We’ve had our first snow day last week, and the mountains are beginning to get their trademark look – snow caps.

November is an exciting time of the year.  I’ve always enjoyed it because it meant that the mountains are starting to get covered with snow and snowboard season is right around the corner.  Others enjoy it because of the fall festivities and Thanksgiving – an opportunity to spend time together as a family.

For The Dojo of Karate this is our chance to start a tradition.  For the entire month of November, we would like to begin a Food Drive for a local food bank called FISH of Broomfield.

We have never done this before, and I understand many schools and businesses are doing the same.  But, as Martial Artists, we should always lead by example and try to give back to others.  With that said, we are going to take food donations for FISH of Broomfield.

We want to challenge our students and parents to see if we can bring in 500 pounds of food to The Dojo of Karate.  And, on November 30th, we’ll go to FISH of Broomfield to deliver a giant surprise.  I’m sure many families around Broomfield will greatly appreciate it.

So start looking in your pantry, or go to Safeway and King Soopers and start looking for some non perishable food for this Community Center

Bring-A-Buddy Month

The Dojo of Karate is continuing to grow and we are nearing our goal of 100 students by the end of the year.  With that said, we are having a contest for the entire month of November to help us achieve our goal, and start off the New Year with a BANG!

If you bring a friend or family member to a Beginners Karate Class, than each student will have their name put in a drawing for weekly prizes and a Grand Prize at the end of the month – which will be a Powerline WaveMaster, valued at $200!!!

Here are the rules:

  1. Your buddy or family member must fill out a permission slip.
  2. You can only bring your buddy once during the month of November.
  3. You must attend the Beginners Karate Class with your buddy, unless they are an adult.
  4. You can have your name in our drawing bag as many times as you bring a friend.

Weekly Prizes will be announced each week, so come to class to find out what you could win.

The Dojo of Karate Web Promotion

We are doing a new website promotion for the next 5 weeks.  Prospects can try out 1 FREE week of Karate lessons if they bring 3 can goods to The Dojo of Karate.  We are trying to help increase the food supply of a local food bank called the FISH of Broomfield.  According to a Broomfield Enterprise article published a couple of weeks ago, their stocks are running extremely low.

So, if you know someone that is interested in trying out Karate lessons, they can come to Bring-A-Buddy Month AND bring 3 can goods to get 1 week of Martial Art classes FREE… Not a bad deal, especially when you’re helping others.  This special promotion will be running through the 1st week of December.

Self-Defense Black Belt Program

As many of you know, we have launched one of our latest programs that is geared towards adults wanting to learn reality based self-defense techniques for today’s world.  The Dojo of Karate is the ONLY school that offers this unique Integrative Martial Arts program.  If you are interested in trying out one FREE class, than please talk with Mr. Lozano to setup an appointment.  Classes are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7pm – 8pm.

School Closures

The Dojo of Karate will be closed on the following dates.

November 13th due to a training seminar in Orlando.

November 25th to 27th for Thanksgiving.

December 23rd to 25th for Christmas.

December 31st to January 1st for New Years Eve.

Please plan accordingly for the Holidays and make up classes if necessary to stay on track with your training.

Belt Tests

Since Mr. Lozano was out for 1 week in October because he was down with the flu, he will be pushing Octobers belt test to November 6th.  The test will be held in class.  We are experimenting with this format to see how it does.

The last two tests for the year will be November 20th and December 18th.

Friday Class Schedule

In order to get more White and Gold belts to attend Friday classes, we are going to make a slight adjustment to our schedule.  This will allow students to make up classes during the Holidays.

White / Gold – 5:30pm – 6:15pm

Orange & Above – 6:15pm – 7:00pm

Black Belt Club – 7:00pm – 7:45pm

This will be in effect immediately, starting this Friday, November 6th.

Nutritionist Advice

So, have you been thinking about talking to a nutritionist…?  Or, are you curious to learn a bit more about nutrition, health, and what you should eat.  GREAT!

On Wednesday, November 18th from 4:30 – 8:30pm The Dojo of Karate will have special guest Susanna Burr, a Master Nutrition Therapist Candidate.

She is looking to fulfill some internship hours and offered to help our Martial Arts school out by coming by and sitting with families, parents, and adults for 20 minute sessions.  If this is something that interests you, please go to the front desk and signup up for an available time.

I HIGHLY recommend all of my Fighting Fit2 Fitness Boot Campers talk with her because she can shed some light on our Nutrition guide…

What’s Up Next Month???

The Dojo of Karate celebrated their 1 year anniversary in August which is a HUGE milestone to accomplish for any business.  And, the fact that we are still growing speaks volumes.

Therefore, The Dojo of Karate will have our 1st Annual Christmas Banquet / Potluck held at our school on Friday, December 18th from 7:00-8:30pm.

We ask all guest and attendees bring a dish to share during the potluck.  We will have a signup sheet for families to write down their dish.  This Potluck will also give parents and students an opportunity to chat with other members of our school, socialize, and become a closer community.

But don’t miss out… there will be a surprise at the Christmas Banquet.

Until Next Time…

Javier Lozano, Jr.

The Dojo of Karate

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