Dear Students Teachers and Friends,

Congratulations to everyone that competed at the Pikes Peak
Championships – all our students did a great job!

We have a nunchaku seminar this Saturday from 1-3. Sensei Scott will
be teaching. Please see Mary if you are interested in attending.

Also don't forget the black belt testing and training camp coming up
the weekend of May 10th and 11th. The testing and seminar will be
held at Air Academy High School, and the awards dinner will be held
at the press box at the football stadium. Please see Mary for more
details.

Lastly, we will not be having regular classes on Saturday morning for
a while due the heavy amount of special events. W will try and set up
our special seminars on Saturdays. We will have a new schedule this
week to show these changes.


Lesson Of The Week

One Encounter – One Chance

This concept is easy to understand when it comes to a life and death
scenario on the street. I mean after all, how many time can you loose
in this environment? What most people fail to recognize is that this
same concept applies to every thing we do. In a world where
mediocrity is the standard, it is easy to loose site of striving for
excellence.

We have watched as sport karate has evolved from 1-point matches, to
three point matches and now finally 8 point matches. Standard testing
has come to a point where one just keeps testing until a passing
grade finally occurs. Consequences for making the wrong decisions are
down played. It is very easy to fall into a category of just getting
along, and enjoying this level of progress.

Did you know most people create an impression of a new person in the
first 5 seconds? Do we ever get a second chance on creating that
first impression? How many people get to go back and re-do their high
school years? College years? The highly trained person tries to do
his or her very best the very first time.

Every minute of every day we are at a crossroad, and the decisions we
make will take us towards a more successful life or away from it.
Every action has a consequence and we are completely in charge of
those actions. Each action should be decided with the attitude
of "One encounter, one chance", because it is. It is this attitude
that propels one towards black belt excellence.

Respectfully,

Terry Bryan