Oriental Arts

05/12/2026

Happy Tuesday everyone! Last week was sparring week and with that came our Champion of the Month sparring tournament! Everyone competed hard and gave it their best which as always is so great to see from all of you. Please make sure to congratulate Tate and Xander for taking home the trophies! Everyone have a great week!

05/07/2026

Good afternoon everyone,

Hard to believe it’s already May isn’t it? Here’s an update for you all on what’s going on in May and over the next few months.

We are currently in the middle of a sparring week! The teens monthly sparring tournament occurred at the beginning of the week (congratulations to Tate on taking home the trophy!) and the preteens monthly tournament will take place on Saturday May 9th. Good luck to everyone! Our next sparring week will begin on Tuesday June 2nd.

Our next Parent’s Night Out will be taking place on Saturday June 13th from 5:30 - 8:30 pm. We had a lot of fun last time watching The Karate Kid and making our own pizzas. Admission is $40 per student and $20 per sibling/friend (yes feel free to bring a friend if you want).

Summer camp sign ups are still going on for the weeks of July 6th and August 10th. Camps start at 9 am and go until noon. Make sure to wear comfy clothes and bring a snack as well! Please feel free to add your name to the list, it’s always a lot of fun. I’ll be taking sign ups up until a week before each camp starts.

We will be closed Thursday July 2nd - Saturday July 4th for Independence Day weekend.

I think that’s just about everything for now. Once I have our next testing date set up I will announce that as well. Have a great rest of the day and week!

Sensei Mike

04/29/2026

Good evening everyone,

I hope we are all having a good start to the week. Unfortunately I haven't been feeling great the past few days and I need a day to rest and recover. So I will not be teaching classes tomorrow (4/30). Thankfully, Master Sally is able to fill in and teach you guys! Please try your best to attend as this is quite a special treat. But because of this I do have to change the class times slightly to accomodate her work schedule. So the preteens class will be at 5:45 - 6:45 pm and the teens will join the adults for 7 - 8 pm. I know that Thursday is a school night so if 7 pm is too late the teens can also feel free to attend their normal time slot. Thank you all for your understanding and a big thank you to Master Sally for helping me out. If I need to cancel any other classes this week I will let you know, but for now please assume that Friday and Saturday will carry on as usual. Have a great evening!

Sensei Mike

04/11/2026

Congratulations to Zach and Zara! They won the April Champion of the Month tournament in the teens and pre teens class. They both did so great and I’m so proud of you both. Everyone competed hard and I’m looking forward to May’s tournament. Have a great weekend!

Sensei Mike

04/10/2026

Happy Friday everyone! Hope everyone is having a great week so far! Here are some updates for April and beyond.

Testing will be happening on Saturday April 25th. There will be no regular classes this day. Good luck to everyone testing! There’s still plenty of time to earn your third stripes.

Summer Camp sign ups are up in the school. Dates for camp are July 6th - 10th and August 10th - 14th. These are always so much fun and I’m looking forward to running these. As always the camps are different each week so if your student wishes to attend both it definitely won’t feel repetitive. Camps are 9 am - noon and no gis required. One week is $225 and both are $400.

May - September is T Shirt season here at Oriental Arts. Our new t shirts this year are similar to previous designs with the leaves of the logo now featuring different colors. A photo can be seen below with all the options. These will be $35 each and you can sign up today to grab one. All our previous shirts can also be ordered as well (the cotton t shirts are $25 and the gi top t shirt is $45. I’ll have the sign up sheet going for a couple of weeks then I’ll place our order.

Looking forward to seeing everyone and have a great day!

Sensei Mike

03/12/2026

Good afternoon everyone!

It’s been a while! I hope we are all doing well. I wanted to take a moment and update everyone on what is going on here at Oriental Arts for the next few months.

Our first Parent’s Night Out is Saturday March 28th from 5:30 - 8:30 pm. We have some newer students so here’s a quick explanation. You drop off your students and we play games, make pizza, and watch a movie for a few hours. The price for one student is $40 and each additional sibling or friend is $20. As always I’m looking forward to spending some time with you all outside of class.

I am finally reviving our year long sparring tournament in April. Champion of the Month is a year-long sparring tournament. Each month we hold a small tournament and whoever wins gets to keep a trophy at their home for the month. Whoever wins the most months will get to keep the trophy forever! April’s sparring week will start Tuesday April 7th. The teens class will have their tournament on that day while the preteens will have theirs at the end of the week on Saturday April 11th.

Summer camp is already on my mind. Like always we will have one camp in July and another in August. These run Monday - Friday 9 am - 12 pm. Prices are $225 for a single week or $400 if you attend both weeks. While there is some overlap on activities, each week is different so both weeks can be attended if you wish.I have a couple of weeks in July and August that are possible dates which I’ll list below. If you are interested in attending this year please let me know in the next few weeks which weeks work best for you. My goal is to have the sign up sheet ready for the beginning of April.
July 6 - 10 / July 13 - 17 / August 3 - 7 / August 10 - 14

My goal this year is to be a little more social with emails and updates for everyone. I recently started an instagram page for our school (oakarate). This will feature photos from classes and update videos from me. I want you all to know what your students are working on in class week to week.

I hope everyone has a great day and weekend ahead!

Sensei Mike

02/24/2026

Hi everyone!

I hope we all were safe and enjoyed the snow over the weekend. Unfortunately I am going to have to cancel classes for today (2/24). While shoveling out my parents on Monday I hurt my back. And moments ago I hurt my back worse while bringing groceries inside and slipping on some ice (it's never a cool injury suffered at the school). I'm going to take the day to rest and stretch so I will be good to go for the rest of the week. Have a great rest of your day and as always I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Sensei Mike

01/16/2026

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope everyone is having a great Friday! Unfortunately, I am going to be canceling classes for today (1/16). I am feeling better today and my hope is to teach all the Saturday classes. So I am going to take one more day of rest and recovery to ensure I can do that. Hope everyone has a great day!

Sensei Mike

01/15/2026

Good afternoon everyone! Unfortunately I have to cancel classes for today (1/15). I seem to have come down with something. While I feel okay for the most part, I have a fever so I won’t be putting anyone at risk. If more classes need to be canceled I’ll update you all. Have a great day!

Sensei Mike

12/05/2025

Good afternoon everyone!

I hope everyone has been doing well as we blast towards the end of the year. This is our final update for 2025. A couple of things first for the upcoming weeks. This Saturday (12/6) is our final test of 2025 which means there will be no classes. We have a few students going for their first rank of black belt so please wish them luck in class this week! The following week (12/9) will be our final sparring week as well.

Now I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and I have decided that our final class of 2025 will be Saturday, December 20th. Classes will resume 2 weeks later on Saturday January 3rd of 2026. This will give all of us (myself included) a much needed rest as the year comes to a close. There’s also a lot behind the scenes I’m working on for next year that I need some time to set up. So please try and get here as often as you can these next couple of weeks.

I hope everyone has a great day and weekend ahead!

Sensei Mike

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