10/11/2026
I want to congratulate the students who promoted and thank the mentors who helped along the way. I am proud of running a “busy” and “active” dojo. What I mean by this, is every one of my students is involved in at least 1 other activity outside of karate. We have baseball, football, basketball, soccer, drama club, scouts, student council etc. The amount of scheduling, parent support and commitment is humbling to me. Choosing and training in karate when the options seem endless is nice.
I used this summer/fall to experiment with a different testing/evaluation format. Instead of a single day, we reviewed over the course of a few weeks under a “testing period” culminating with the final class to go through various aspects of the kyu requirements. Some dojos test technical ability on a single session, others require a physical fitness test and less technical knowledge and jujitsu schools will randomly promote on a given night. I feel a different format certainly gives focus and the spotlight on their day-to-day training.
We used the week before fall break to focus on some grappling fun, and had Tory Buchan, Sensei teach a bit on kata details for Heian 1-3. It was a nice way to end this session.
I also want to congratulate Jarrod Magee, Sensei on his 20th year in martial arts and presented him with a certificate celebrating the occasion.
He has cut his teeth in this dojo over the past 6 years and has developed and fine-tuned his teaching style and is working on his curriculum in hopes to open a small dojo in 2027 serving Muncie, IN.
We turn the page on this chapter and work towards the next batch of students working toward their next rank, we have a dojo training and cookout in November along with the annual kick-a-thon charity before finishing the year and switching back towards tournament/competition training in the winter.
Keep up the good work!
