Archive | Styles RSS feed for this section

Phenominal growth rate in popularity of Nigerian taekwondo creating enthusiasm and problems

Maybe it has something to do with Nigeria’s national hero George Ashiru, silver medalist at the 4th All Africa Games in 1987, Team Manager of the 2008 Olympics, Seventh Degree Black Belt International Master Instructor, first time ever in Africa, and International Referee Class A, inductee to the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Hall of Fame, [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Jesse Enkamp believes karate to be the world’s best martial art form

Jesse Enkamp wishes to express his reasons why he thinks karate is the World’s best martial arts form. First he explains the need to define “best.” Best at what? Competition? Self-defense? Physical training? In Jesse’s opinion the “best” is what you love the most. And he loves, of course, karate! He loves karate’s variety of [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

These pictures alone of small children practicing Wushu show artistic promise

Wushu, an artform incorporating martial arts, dance, and acrobatics, is practiced by this school of small children in Kathmandu, Nepal. The artistry of the students are phenominal. The pictures shown have a wonderful artistry of their own. These 5- to 6-year-old students can kick well over their own height, and train with swords, spears, and [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Five-year-old boy with black belt in karate overcomes disease

What would you do if you were 3-years-old, had painfully stiff joints, and been told by a doctor that you suffered from juvenile arthritis and an immune deficiency disease? Probably go back to playing with your red fire truck and watching cartoons, right? Not so for Jake Frood. After watching the movie The Karate Kid, [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

‘Teen rises to assistant karate instructor

Keep up with your karate training and you, too, can rise to assistant instructor. Take Nicholas Dean, a sophmore from Lincoln Pius High School and a black belt in karate; he now works as an assistant instructor at Lincoln Karate Clinic. Lincoln Karate Clinic has been a wonderful school for Dean. It teaches more than [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Aaron Cook makes big comeback and wins the gold at Pan American Taekwondo Open

Sometimes a guy just can’t win; and sometimes he can win big! Like the gold medal at the Pan American Taekwondo Open. Overlooked for the London 2012 Olympics and suffering defeat at the 2013 opening-rounds of the Taekwondo World Championship in Puebla, Mexico, US contestant Aaron Cook finally won the gold at Mexico’s Pan American [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Combining karate instruction with psychotherapy for a complete path of wellness

A licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist, Paul Sweetow, teaches karate in Winnetka, Illinois. This 5th degree black belt sensei won a gold medal at the Cincinnati, Ohio Amateur Athletic Union National Karate Tournament on June 29. He studied karate in Japan for one year with Okinawan masters and learned to speak Japanese. He’s been [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Karate referee taking out fighters? Or was this staged for our amusement?

It’s hard to know whether to find this video amusing or shocking. It belies all logic. A referee takes out two karate fighters with a severe kick and fairly heavy blows. Several attendees have to pull him off the second fighter. It’s possible this little demonstration was staged in hopes of getting the video to [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Australian collegiate to compete internationally in karate for the first time

Can you imagine yourself getting so good at karate that you get to compete internationally? This dream has become reality for Miss Alex Gray of Rockhampton, Australia who will compete in Canada next month. It’s her first International competition, and she expressed a little worry at the level of expertise she’ll be facing, never having [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Ripley’s Believe It or Not brick chopping karate instructor doesn’t believe in violence

Kevin “Big K” Taylor has made it in Ripley’s Believe It or Not book for karate chopping through six bricks. With a 4th degree black belt, this multiple world champion and record holder in the sport of speed brick-breaking puts on quite a show, but he’s a sweet, polite, mild-mannered person who doesn’t believe in [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

10-year anniversary of Kumite Karate Klassic attracts 30,000 spectators

The 10-year anniversary of Kumite Karate Klassic this past September attracted 30,000 spectators and featured several top martial artists and fighters during this spectacular weekend showcase. Bill Viola, Black Belt Artists and creator of the Kumite Karate Klassic, his father karate legend and martial arts Hall of Famer Master Bill Viola, Sr., World Boxing Champion, [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Autistic kids making the grade with karate

Autism is on the rise. Kids who suffer autism are finding help with karate. ATA Martial Arts Owner Theresa Anderson not only believes in kids with autism, she incorporates them into the classes with other kids who have no disabilities. “[T]he key to teaching kids with any kind of disability: we don’t treat them different [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Tawkwkondo world champion Sarah Stevenson appointed to 2013 SportsAccord World Combat Games

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has announced the appointment of Sarah Stevenson, Briton’s 67 kg bronze medalist of the 2008 Olympics as an ambassador to the 2013 SportsAccord World Combat Games to be held in St. Petersberg in October. She joins the ranks of current ambassadors double Olympic fencing champion Katrina Aznavourian of Russia, two-time [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Korea to send international taekwondo coach to Nigeria to help them train for the Olympics

Quite pleased with the results of the three-day West African Taekwondo championship held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, organized by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) and the Nigeria Taekwondo Black Belt College, Choi Jung-Hyun, the Envoy of the Republic of Korea, announced the Korean government would send an international coach to further develop Taekwondo [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Homemade video shows interesting technique for home karate practice

Now here’s an interesting approach to practicing karate at home. This small boy’s father has suspended an object from the ceiling for him to practice kicks, and hand and elbow strikes. It looks like a couple of plastic kitchen utensils tied together. Obviously something harmless. Notice the object is head high with the boy so [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Al Jordan, 11, one of the few youngest in the world to receive black belt in karate

He’s the real deal, the real “karate kid.” At merely 11 years old, AJ Jordan, from London, England, who has won national and international championships, has just received a first class black belt in karate.He is the first one to receive a black belt in his club, and he is one of youngest internationally. When [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

South African karate champion Jeffrey Jackson inspires disadvantaged kids

South Africa may seem very far away, but the message karate champion Jeffrey Jackson gives to disadvantaged students near Cape Town is a message understood anywhere in the world. As a boy Jackson’s family had very little money or resources. His mother was a low-paid factory worker and his father was an unemployed alcoholic. Jackson’s [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Alvaro Mendez of South Windsor, CT named coach of USA Taekwondo Olympic Team

USA Taekwondo has announced the name of the person to coach the next USA Taekwondo Olympic Team. It is Alvaro Mendez of South Windsor. Master Mendez is the owner of Styles United Transformative Martial Arts in South Windsor, Connecticut and a 4th degree black belt and a level two coach, the highest level to be [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Taekwondo teaches self-defense and self-confidence

For some students taekwondo teaches more than self-defense, it teaches self-confidence. “I didn’t have the courage to defend myself,” said Justin Ramiriz a 12-year-old Kingsbridge resident, recalling a time, less than a year-and-half ago, when he was bullied in school. He now walks the street with confidence and traces his courage to the day he [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

37-year-old woman of India uses karate to save herself from an attacker on the street

During the first week of September, a 37-year-old woman in India defended herself from a would be gold chain snatching with karate moves. Apparently chain-snatching has plagued the country. While out on a walk and making her way through the streets of Naranpura Ghanshyam, resident Jigna Vyas sensed a man behind her wearing a handkerchief [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }