Dear students, teachers and parents,

Congratulations to all those students that tested for their new rank
this last weekend. Although a new belt will not win any battle for
you, it is important to have specific benchmarks to help towards our
long-term goals.

The Timberveiw karate club will start this week on Tuesday evening at
6 pm. If you need sempai hours, you can earn those hours at any of
our clubs as well as the main dojo. We currently have clubs at Air
Academy High School, Rampart High School, Challenger Middle School,
Horace-Mann Middle School, Pike Peak Community College and now
Timberveiw Middle School.

We are adding a weapons class to the schedule on Monday evenings and
we are moving most classes 15 minutes earlier to allow the kids to
get done and home a bit earlier. Please pick up a new schedule this
week, and let us know if there is anything we can add to our schedule
to better serve you as customers. We also have a special guest
instructor this Friday for competition class – Mike French. If you
want a hard work out – be sure to attend.

Our instructor training class begins this week. Please talk to Mary
if you want more information about the program.

Our school does not emphasis breaking boards or bricks the way some
school do, but at the same time we want our students to know the
proper method of breaking so they will not be hurt should they ever
attempt to break. Each year we have our chop and shop where we teach
our students the proper way to break a board and at the same time
make any shopping decisions they made need before Christmas. This
year's chop and shop will be held on Saturday, November 16th. Please
see the board for more info.

The Pikes Peak Karate Championships were scheduled to be held on the
23rd but due to a scheduling conflict with Air Academy High School,
may need to be moved. We will let you know as soon as we have a new
date.

We will be closed on November 11th for Veterans Day and also the 27th
through the 30th for Thanksgiving. Please make those classes up on
non-normal training days if possible.

Lesson of the Week:

Okuden – Inner Circle Teachings

The average student joins a martial arts school and begins training
in the basics. As a student advances in rank, he begins to develop
more complex moves and learns to integrate these techniques into an
over all strategy on how and when they are to be used. It is at the
highest level that a student is taught the true inner concepts and
principles that are the real key to success within a system. This
knowledge is usually only handed down to an inner circle of students
that is chosen very carefully. While this ancient martial arts custom
has been this way for a long time, it is a common tactic with most
mentors and coaches today.

The absolute best way to progress in any endeavor is to find a
teacher that has already accomplished great success in a specific
area, and then duplicate the strategy and tactics the instructor used
to get to that position. The remarkable thing is that most people
that have achieved any level of success are usually more than willing
to share their secrets, but at the same time do not wish to waste
their time on unworthy students. The prerequisites with most mentors
for acceptance are usually the same as they are with a martial arts
teacher – a sincere desire to learn, as well as, the willingness and
discipline to stay the course.

A good mentor will look into the future in order to see what a
student will potentially do with the knowledge once he has attained
it. This is where the character test is used. To share the summation
of a life's study in any area is seen as a priceless gift and
therefore should not be given to someone that doesn't appreciate that
value. If knowledge is indeed power, then every serious mentor or
sensei carefully screens his students before he shares the fruit of a
lifetime of work. The gift of knowing the little things and how they
are integrated into the overall system can save years from learning
the old fashion way of trial and error. This concept is true in
business, personal relationship and the martial arts.

In the dojo the sensei watches the students as they train and sees
which ones train hard and which ones tend to coast during their
training. He watches to see which ones are disciplined and are always
respectful to others. He looks for the student that trains the way he
is told even though he doesn't understand the reason just yet. Little
subtleties are shared about protocol, which allow other senior
teachers to recognize who is "senior" and deemed worthy of higher-
level training. Gradually the student progresses into an inner circle
of students that the teacher begins to share things that the average
student will never see.

A person is always only as free as the options they maintain in their
forte. Most of the time the truly best developed alternatives are not
common knowledge and are only shared with a small specific group.
Knowing where to find this knowledge and the proper etiquette
necessary in order for this information to be shared is a big step
towards black belt excellence. Many times the okuden of a classical
martial art is based on character, etiquette and behavior as much as
it is on physical techniques.

Respectfully,
Terry Bryan