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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Kids with disabilities are taking karate classes, performing difficult karate maneuvers, in a program that helps them improve their physical, cognitive, and emotional health by focusing on concentration and strength. Sensei Jeff Kohn of Glenview IL, recipient of the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Paralympic Coach of the Year for Karate, coaches The Karate Can-Do! Traveling Team as [...]

8-year-old Jacob Soliz-Amaya used his karate lessons to save his own life from a would-be murderer. He woke up to his father’s ex-girlfriend trying to smother him with a pillow. Thinking quickly, little Jacob used a headbutt to push her away. Jacob’s father’s ex-girlfriend, Helen Marie Newsome, had apparently broken into the home and had [...]

Jesse Enkamp recently interviewed the UK’s Kata Bunkai expert Iain Abernethy. Abernethy loves analyzing and researching kata. He says kata logically and structurally records everything necessary for protection against extreme violence. He teaches his own students to “read” kata so they can reevaluate for themselves. He believes in teaching the meaning behind karate-ka or he [...]

Sensei John has students Chris Morris and Mark Moore demonstrate the double wrist grab. Chris has studied karate 5 years, Mark has studied 7 or 8 years. When your opponent grabs both your wrists, you stomp between his feet with your right foot, lift the knee up high, step back while throwing your hands up [...]

If you have been taking karate for awhile and are having trouble with Oizuiki hip rotation, this one minute instructional video might help. The instructor first shows the correct movements. Then he shows the hip rotation with the strike. Notice the care he takes to demonstrate the movement and position of his shoulder while striking. [...]

Somewhere in the Dekkan Plateau of India, one of the states have passed a mandatory regulation for school girls by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI): all government high schools must teach martial arts training to all the girls. This bold move has come about as a result of increasing reports of sexual predators committing [...]