Today - August 10, 2008

Yes, a post long time in coming.

The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity and 'goings on'. To say it has been challenging would be an understatement.

The St. Paul's program is no more and has moved to the Hispanic UMADAOP Youth Center. It was a much better location in terms of size and parking but deeper in inner-city Cleveland and some students were put off by the move. I can understand the trepidations, but overall the move was a good one. Besides, the St. Paul's location was not exactly a safe area either. I think people were comfortable at St. Paul's and didn't like going to a new place.

Some have asked me why I don't move to the suburbs with our program. The kids in the 'burbs can afford to pay the outrageous prices for Karate training (if they want to call that McDojo KarateKid day care that!). The inner-city is where our program is needed the most. Kids are at risk from drugs, alcohol, abusive relationships, etc. etc. By giving them purpose and direction, we hope to instill in them the sense that "yes I can!" in anything they wish.

I just wish many of the students would take the time to put more into the training. Sometimes I see that those that can pay for something actually appreciate it more. It's sad. But I say, if you come to class and do your best and give your most, you will be paying for it in sweat and effort. As I am known to say: "shut up and train" and get what you can out of what we do.

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August 23rd we will be having our 2nd fundraising tournament. Proceeds benefit the Hispanic UMADAOP Youth Center and our inner-city Karate program. We hope we can get as many participants as possible to raise money for our program and the HUMADAOP YC. As I mentioned previously, we were shorted $2,000 in our grant request this year and need to make up the shortfall.

We will be working katas and self-defense hard in the next two weeks. We hope that students will give their best to the training and work hard!

See you in class!

OSU!