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As mentioned a couple of years ago, we at Chung Fu-do filmed our own "martial arts flick." After two-and-a-half years, it has finally been fully produced! We showed the short film at the end of class on March 7th, and it was a hit!

We showed another film that day. Put together by Gokyu Liz Cooley and Sankyu Dawn Hedges, it was a chance for many of the friends of Ikkyu Tom Briggs to send him our best wishes during his time in the Navy. We were most fortunate to have him back near the end of December when he co-led an informal workout with Ikkyu Chuck Fussman. It was great to see you again, Briggs! We miss you!

Gokyu Jordana Briggs also visited us for about a month over Winter Vacation. She left the warm climate of Whittier, California to spend some time with us in Colorado! We had quite a few great work outs and get togethers with her! As she was leaving, she promised to come back over the summer and possibly test for Purple! We look forward to that, Jordana!

Even outside of old friends visiting, our dojo has not been slow! We've been continuing our free Women's Self Defense Courses as well as our Discussion Thursdays. By the time this newsletter is published, we will have just had a Discussion on the topic of Anger.

We would also like to announce a couple of promotions:

Dan Gearhardt is now a Gokyu and excited about looking towards Yonkyu. Congratulations, Dan!

Additionally, Dawn Hedges completed her chute and more than adequately stepped up to the challenge of the Sankyu Exam. Hedges, we are very proud to have you in the Advanced Ranks. We look forward to the continuation of your journey with us!

Push on, everyone!

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Greetings from the Personal Protection Agency of Tyler TX. The fall came and turned into a mild Texas winter and already show signs of spring emerging. The past six months brought many new faces to our dojo and tons of advancements. Carlos Zavala, our most recent addition made his yellow belt. Micah McDearmont gained his orange, and Becky Carlisle earned her yellow and Orange ranks. Leon Lagesse with son Bryan and Daughter Jenna joined our class and have worked hard as a family to earn their yellow belts. Cory Loucks advanced to green belt. Yondan Bushue kept us all busy drilling and working hard to better our art. Students from the satellite school located in Longview Texas advanced as well. Michelle Loftin earned her Yellow belt and Josh and Holly Gonzales made yellow and orange ranks. The PPA conducted a self-defense seminar and demonstration again at Kissam Intermediate School. This made out third consecutive appearance and we look forward to returning next year.

The only thing we have to report from the Rose School of Karate is that we have simply been busy practicing our art, perfecting our techniques, and sharpening our spirits all in the tradition of the warrior.

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We are sorry and excited about the recent news about our Tuesday night private student Chad Rowlee. Chad was Veerrry close to testing for his yellow belt when he hit me with the news that he was leaving for the United States Navy on March 20. We hate to lose such a good Student but are equally proud of him for choosing to serve his county. We hope and wish him well in his new career and hope that the desire to continue his training will still be strong after his tour of Duty is up.

Recent events have forced Yondan Larison to relocate his class and reduce him to Monday night class only. This event has offered the Shadow Dragon Karate Guild a chance to extend a warm welcome on Thursday nights to Yondan and his students. Yondan Larison and his Pose have been holding Advanced class at our facility for about a month now. It is always a enjoyable evening helping Yondan with his advanced student activities.

Sandan Beccue and Shodan Ruff are still exploring the training methodology of some JKD principles and Filipino arts . We have compared and applied some material to our own Art, and have some fairly profound discoveries that we hope to share with all at the Colorado Retreat this year.

My name is Ikkyu Marty Richter and I am now the new school reporter representing the Somersworth School of Self-Defense. I am taking over the reigns from my long time mentor and friend Sandan Tim House. Thank you Sandan for all of the great reporting. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to take on this leadership role in our program.

The Somersworth School of Self-Defense is pleased to welcome our new White Belt, Jen Holman. Jen is the daughter of Nidan Larry Holman. We are also happy to welcome back after a long lay-off Chris Grover, Josh Grover and Luke Smith. Sensei is confident that these four students will bring a lot of enthusiasm with them to our workouts.

Our major goal at the SSSD over the past few months has been to increase our enrollment. With this in mind, we recently had a school meeting where our new marketing plan was introduced. The first phase of this plan was accomplished when we all collaborated on creating a new brochure. This past Saturday, all of our members were involved in distributing approximately 200 of these brochures to local neighborhoods. This was a great team effort and we look forward to more of these events in the future.

Recently, Sensei hosted a football party at his house. We all got together to watch our Patriots take the first step on their journey towards becoming the Super Bowl Champs!!! Our movie nights continue to be a big success. Each month someone plays host and we watch the movie of their choice. So far we have all gotten together to watch such movies as "The Green Mile", "A Few Good Men", and "Gladiator". I am sure that this popular activity will continue well into the future at the SSSD.

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Every one here is working hard on their next rank, we have three students chomping at the bit for san kyu and one for purple. We have gone though some changes lately in finding a new dojo. It's kind of ironic but we have moved to the Effingham Rec center where I stumbled into Master Landers' class some 20 years ago. Is that a complete circle or what? The only thing is, they can only give us one night a week, so we are keeping our eyes open for another place. Fortunately Shodan Ruff is letting us do an advanced class at his dojo.

The Storm Dragon Dojo Schools are proud to announce the promotions of Scott Petitjean, Dr. William Shuler and David Shuler. Nidan Petitjean has become a fine practitioner of the art. He has been like a sponge over the years, always wanting to absorb more knowledge. He has crossed this Nidan mile marker in the relatively short time of 6 years and 10 months, and looks forward to new responsibilities and challenges. He is currently living in Carbondale, Illinois. And is working as a correctional officer at the Illinois state penitentiary, a high-risk job, but it pays well.

       

Dr.and Dave are our first Father & Son team to reach the Shodan rank. They have worked very hard and always encouraged each other, along with their follow students, to focus and stay on track.Dr. Shuler runs his own Chiropractic practice and Dave is a senior at the Effingham High School and expects to attend collage in the fall. They are a big credit to our school and have blossomed into fine instructors.