From Thea Kubota
I am excited about paying tribute to our many wonderful instructors. As many of you may know, International Karate Association is unique in that, not only do we have a true traditional Japanese Karate Master of the highest rank, we also have many, many high-ranking instructors who show up week after week to teach and to assist with the classes. What you may not know is that all of our instructors are volunteers.
All of the instructors have studied under Master Kubota for many years and received their black belts after thousands of hours of training and active participation in the IKA organization. In addition, many of them have studied various other martial arts, such as judo, aikido, tae kwon do and others and many are national martial arts champions.
We are an organization deep in ethic diversity, and we feel blessed that our instructors, who come from many different backgrounds, have chosen to share what they have learned with our newer karatekas year after year.
I am very pleased that I have found your Karate studio. I feel very welcome as a new student. I have found all staff/ instructors to be profoundly patient and beyond skilled on an exponential level.
The most evident thing to me as a new student is: I feel the heart and joy of this Karate because everybody in the studio conveys that feeling. So for me.. if you want my input as a newcomer,I like the joy the most :) and the : hard work, sweat, wood floors and nothing fancy.
I have told ALL my friends where I work ( in a hospital ) to come visit because I think that your studio is a GEM!! I have a friend who does Judo at work, and he was interested to stop by with his instructor - but... I do not know the policy on drop ins, and do not want to be rude.
So to sum up, if I had one recommendation to change it would be: don't fundamentally. That is the truth Your studio is very unique. I would maybe recommend some add'l items for purchase- like bumper stickers, or T- shirts w/ IKA logo - because I will so represent.
I think also that the Kumite tournaments you will be doing will benefit the kids. BTW- I also think your web site is excellent too. So that is my 2 cents. Thanks for this privilege!