05/28/2026
Every single day that people come into the dojo — or what we call the Kwoon in Chinese martial arts — I meet wonderful souls. I watch them progress, learn, and build a connection with their coach, or what many would respectfully call Shifu.
As a practitioner of the arts for nearly 30 years, I still train today with the mindset of a student. I am not here to be a dominant practitioner or a dictator. My purpose is simply to guide others, like a signpost pointing them toward a path that could potentially change their lives forever.
Sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes attitudes change. But as instructors, we often see potential in people long before they see it in themselves. We see what they are capable of becoming.
When you bring your child into martial arts, you are not just teaching self-defense. You are teaching essential life values. You are teaching them how to push forward through hardship. Self-discipline is not something that naturally appears overnight — it must be developed through consistency, structure, and perseverance.
Without discipline and the ability to endure hardship, it becomes difficult to succeed in life.
As parents, we must be careful not to allow children to simply quit every time something becomes difficult. We often give children choices at very young ages — sometimes as young as nine years old — even though many adults themselves did not always make the right decisions at 16 or even 18 years old.
We allow children to eat whatever they want, spend endless hours on entertainment, and avoid responsibilities. But if these habits continue into adulthood, they may never learn how to save money, work hard, raise their own children responsibly, or develop the discipline needed to truly enjoy life the way it was meant to be lived.
Martial arts is not just about punches, kicks, or self-defense. It is about building character, responsibility, resilience, humility, and discipline — qualities that last far beyond the training floor.