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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Thornton Martial Arts School | Harvest Fest Demonstration, Part 1

April 20th, 2010

The Dojo of Karate was contacted by The City of Thornton in August 2009 about performing at their annual Thornton Harvest Fest on September 12, 2009 to celebrate Multi-Cultural Month and teaching kids about Japan.

The Dojo of Karate is a traditional Japanese Martial Arts school, so it made complete sense for our students to put on a demonstration at the Thornton Harvest Fest.

Nearly 36 students got together over the next 6 weeks to practice and train on Saturday mornings.

Our theme for the Martial Arts Demonstration was “The History of Japanese Karate”.

We took the audience through the beginnings of Karate, and how it was introduced to the people of Okinawa through the Chinese Tang Dynasty.

Than we go through how Martial Arts became main stream in the 60s and 70s due to overseas training, movies, and Martial Arts Super Star sensation, Bruce Lee.

Finally, we take the audience to how Martial Arts has become a household sport or activity, and that many schools, including The Dojo of Karate, teaches students about life skills, confidence, and self-defense.

Below is the 1st part of a 3 part series.

Enjoy, because our kids worked hard and had a blast performing.

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Future Leaders Are Being Created At Local Karate School

March 3rd, 2010

Every student at The Dojo of Karate will learn leadership skills because they are put in a position to lead by example.

Here’s what we mean…

When your child enrolls in our Beginners Karate Program they will slowly understand and learn what it takes to be a leader.

Our Master Instructor Javier Lozano, Jr. basically sets the tone and expectation of what they want to see leaders act like in Karate class and in everyday life.

From there, students begin to see how their Sensei carries himself during Karate classes and begin to work harder in class because there is a reward for working hard and standing out.

During Martial Arts training sessions, we break the class up into smaller groups of 2-4 students.  What this does is allow them to interact with each other and help each other get better.

Typically, the instructor will pair a very skilled student, or higher rank, with another student that may be struggling, or lower rank.  The skilled student’s job is to help the other student do better by improving their techniques or stances.  They lead by example by performing with precision, while the other(s) follow.  Once the less skilled student learns how to become a leader, they than get the opportunity to lead a group.

This basically becomes the foundation of future leaders at The Dojo of Karate because they develop a skill that requires repetition, action, and guidance.

As you may notice, our school is only as strong as the weakest link, therefore we empower students to become leaders and make the school stronger as a whole, by helping others.

If you would like to have your child learn leaderships skills that can carry on through elementary school, middle, school, high school, college, and beyond, enroll them in our Beginners Karate Program.

Leaders are being made at The Dojo of Karate everyday.

Call 303.920.4500 to setup an appointment or email us at: [email protected]

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Broomfield Karate School Hosts 1st Inner School Tournament

February 24th, 2010

Westminster, CO – February 24th, 2010 — Local business owner and Martial Arts expert, Javier Lozano, Jr. will be hosting their 1st Inner School Karate Tournament for students & members of The Dojo of Karate.

This is a great opportunity for kids and adults training at The Dojo of Karate to apply their new learned skills in a safe and fun setting — by competing against fellow classmates.

During a Karate Tournament, competitors will typically compete in various divisions or events, such as the Olympics, where athletes enter different events to win medals.  Most Karate Tournaments have divisions that include Empty Hand Forms, Weapons, and Free-Style Sparring.

Each division essentially has different requirements, making it challenging for competitors to become “complete” Martial Artists.
In the Empty Hand Forms division, competitors will perform a floor routine, in a sequence, which includes kicks, punches, and blocks, while showcasing their strength with low stances, displaying their focus and balance with difficult kicking combinations, and exhibiting power and precision with strikes capable of injuring an opponent.

The Weapons division has the same type of format as Empty Hand Forms, however, it requires competitors to use a traditional Okinawan weapon, such as a Bo Staff (long stick to carry water) a Kama (a modified sickle designed to cut wheat), or Nunchaku (two sticks with rope holding them together to break down wheat).

Free-Style Sparring is where competitors actually apply theirs skills of body movement, punching combinations, kicking precision, and timing in a setting against an opponent.  This teaches the competitor how to react in a real self-defense situation.  Free-Style Sparring is always performed with proper safety equipment in order to protect competitors from injury, as well as controlled contact when executing techniques.

The Dojo of Karate will have two events for competitors to compete in -  Empty Hand Forms and Free-Style Sparring.  Students will be required to compete in both divisions, as this will assist in creating well-rounded Martial Artists.
The purpose of this Martial Arts Tournament is to help students hone their Karate skills in a competitive format.  Students will learn several characteristics of how a Black Belt should carry themselves, since that is what all of our students are training to become.

For instance, students will learn about Sportsmanship and how to win humbly, yet lose gracefully.  In addition, they will develop their confidence because it takes courage to compete against others, when they are in the spotlight.  Students will also find their indomitable spirit – a characteristic that Michael Phelps is widely recognized for.
Why are these Black Belt Principles important?  Because The Dojo of Karate teaches Life Skills in all of their Karate classes. This will prepares a child to become better people in society with integrity and perseverance.  Something that our generation of kids are missing out in.

To add a spin on this Inner School Karate Tournament, Sensei Lozano decided to setup the Free-Style Sparring a little different from most typical tournaments, known as the bracketing system, which is widely accepted in all major sports.

Instead, he is establishing a Spar-A-Thon format.  Basically, students can spar in as many matches as they desire.  This allows students to take full advantage of the tournament, and not experience a “one-and-done” match if they lose their first outing.

In order for a competitor to achieve a Gold Medal, they will need to score a total accumulation of 60 points throughout all their matches.  For a Silver Medal, competitors need to score 40 points.  And for a Bronze Medal students need to score 20 points.

This Spar-A-Thon format teaches kids about goal setting skills and determination.  Not only that, but the students leave the tournament like they achieved something, and most importantly — with a smile on their face.

The Inner School Martial Arts Tournament will be hosted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 from 10am to 1pm MST at The Dojo of Karate, which is located on 12910 Zuni St. #200, Westminster, CO 80234 in the Safeway Shopping Center.

To learn more about their martial arts and fitness programs, please call 303.920.4500 and a representative will be more than happy to assist you.

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Student and Parent Karate Testimonials

January 29th, 2010

During our 1st Annual Holiday Party, we had a few students and parents give us a quick testimonial about The Dojo of Karate and Master Instructor Javier Lozano, Jr.

It was pretty interesting to hear what they had to say…

Please keep in mind these kids may have been under the influence of massive amounts of sugar.

Enjoy!

Nathaniel thinks Sensei Lozano “rocks”.

While his sister thinks he’s “strict”…

And Kim & Riley… we really have no clue what they said…

Than, we have Jack… he has a few more words to say about training at The Dojo of Karate and Sensei Lozano.

And finally  we have a parent, who’s kids were one of our first members of The Dojo of Karate.

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