You Think It’s Easy to Teach Martial Arts?

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Attention all junior Hapkido students ever wanted to be an instructor?  This is your chance to become your favorite instructor and teach a friend martial arts.  Invite one friend to Evolution Martial Arts Academy on November 16th for a special fun filled class at 6pm-7pm.  

All students will teach their friends the same 1 technique.  We will see who does the best job by watching each friend perform the technique.  Lets see who has what it takes to become a great martial arts instructor.

EVO closed Friday June 15th. Celebrating Sensei Benny “The Jet” Birthday.

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We wanted to let all of our students know that Evolution will be closed on Friday June 15th.  Mr. Jason and Mr. Brandon will be attending Sensei Benny “The Jet” Birthday Reception at Team Karate Centers.  Sensei Benny is a living legend and one of our teachers, we would not miss his 60th Birthday for the world.  Team Karate Centers is hosting a 3 day Benny “The Jet” Kickboxing and Certification and Training Camp.  Evolution will be back to regular business hours Saturday June 16th.  For more information read the Press Release below or visit: http://www.bennythejet.com/seminar.asp
   
Press Release

Contact: Fariborz Azhakh
Cell phone: 818-355-1107
Email: azhakh@gmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WORLD’S WINNINGEST FIGHTER ENTERS ROUND 60
Woodland Hills, California – In a world where fame is fleeting and most people fight for their 15
minutes of fame, martial arts movie star and kickboxing legend Benny “The Jet” Urquidez is reaching
one more milestone: his 60th birthday.
To celebrate a life dedicated to martial arts and personal excellence, Urquidez will host and teach
a Kickboxing Certification and Training Camp on Thursday, June 14, through Saturday, June 16.
Attendees to the training camp, (to be held at Team Karate Centers in Woodland Hills, CA) will have
the opportunity to hear Urquidez teach words of wisdom garnered in a professional career without peer.
Most pro fighters hope for a hint of the limelight, perhaps a chance at a title shot. Urquidez’s pro
fighting career spanned more than two decades, with 63 world titles. He is the only fighter in history to
have retained six World Championships in five weight divisions for 24 consecutive years. He was
named Black Belt Magazine’s Fighter of the Year and inducted into their Hall of Fame. He became an
international movie star in his own right, appearing with Jackie Chan, John Cusack, and Jean-Claude
Van Damme; and simultaneously trained with and choreographed fights for Hollywood A-listers like
Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, and Mark Wahlberg. Urquidez even founded and created Ukidokan Karate,
recognized by the Okinawan Masters of Japan as an official modern martial art.
But above and beyond all his other accomplishments, Benny “The Jet” Urquidez is and always
has been, first and foremost, a teacher. To that end, he invites all comers to share his birthday
celebration and participate in the Kickboxing Certification and Training Camp.
Attendees will spend Thursday, Friday, and Saturday training with “The Jet” and learning his
methods and skills. And more important, they will have the priceless opportunity of hearing his
philosophy and the life lessons that have kept him going strong in careers where most people last
months, not decades. There will also be a special reception at Team Karate Centers on Friday night to
celebrate Urquidez’s 60th birthday, and all attendees to the seminar are welcome to share in the
festivities (as a special treat, the birthday reception is open to any and all who have trained with “The
Jet”). Those who complete the weekend course to Urquidez’s will also have the opportunity to test for
Level 1 Ukidokan certification at the end of the course.
Tickets for the once-in-a-lifetime event start at $249 and are available at http://bennythejet.com/
seminar.asp. Past and present students of Urquidez who wish to attend the 60th celebration may
RSVP to BennyTheJet52@gmail.com.
###
For more information, please go to http://bennythejet.com/seminar.asp or call or email Fariborz Azhakh.

 

2011 SuperShow Wrap Up.

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Las Vegas – the city hosting the 10 year anniversary of the MAIA SuperShow.  For those of you who don’t know the SuperShow is an annual event hosted by MAIA (Martial Arts Industry Association) where school owners from all over the world come to learn and network with other owners.  For others this is a chance to catch up with friends and colleagues.  This multi day event usually has seminar lectures covering various topics mainly how to improve your own school.  There are physical training seminars as well that give you the opportunity to get a taste of a different style of martial arts.  Lastly there are vendors who set up booths that usually have a products or services that can further improve your school. 

Opening Night / Keynote:

We flew in Thursday morning, grabbed some lunch then headed over to the exhibitors hall.  In the halls we ran into Cliff Lenderman one of Master Fariborz’s good friends who owns Lenderman Academy of the Arts in Tacoma Washington.  We visit Dave Kovar who has a booth this year, promoting his Instructor Toolbox material.  Lastly as we are exiting the exhibit halls we run into the Father of American Taekwondo Master Jhoon Rhee.  Master Fariborz, Dave Kovar and others always talk about Master Jhoon Rhee.  It was nice to finally meet the living legend.

This years theme for the SuperShow was “Legacy”.  Fittingly the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award went to  Bruce Lee.  Bruce changed Martial Arts forever, many started training marital arts because of him.  His daughter Shannon Lee proudly accepted the award and then gave a very touching tribute speech.  She is keeping his spirit and philosophies alive through the Bruce Lee Foundation.
 

The main keynote speaker this year was Aron Ralston.  His extraordinary story of survival and determination showed how an ordinary man pushed to the limits can seize the day.  His story was so incredible the movie 127 Hours starring James Franco was filmed in 2010.  Ralston an experienced climber and avid outdoorsman descended a remote Utah canyon alone when an 800-pound boulder broke loose, crushing his right hand and pinning him against the canyon wall. After nearly five days – without water and with no hope of escape – Ralston made a life or death decision. He chose life by severing his arm below the elbow, rappelling a 65-foot cliff out of the canyon, and trekking seven miles to find his would-be rescuers.  The story he told in person was so real and inspiring. 

Seminars Day 1 & 2:

Lots of very good seminar topics this year.  We had the opportunity to finally meet Steve LaVallee in person and sit in on his seminar, it was great.  The seminars offered many great tips on how to improve your school and how to possibly run a multi school operation.  The speaker we were looking forward to the most was Brandon Beliso, we loved his seminar last year and this year was no different.  His seminar discussed how to create community in your martial arts school.  A lot of his ideas were just so simple and made so much sense to us.  We are hoping to use some of their tips to improve our future school. 

In conclusion the 2011 SuperShow was great.  It was a chance for us to meet a lot of legendary martial artist.  The show was well organized and the sessions were very beneficial.  We look forward to attending next years SuperShow and many more in the years to come.  We want to leave our own “Legacy” in the martial arts world one day. 

Mr. Jason attends Tom Callos Seminar at TKC

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Sunday July 17th 2011, Tom Callos held a seminar at Team Karate Centers.  The seminar covered topics such as ingenious marketing, intelligent curriculum design, and the “new role” of the master teacher.  It was a lot of very good helpful information packed into one single day.

Here is a quick bio of Tom Callos.  Tom took his first martial arts lesson in 1969, he is currently a 6th Degree Black Belt under his senior instructor Ernie Reyes Sr.  For 15 years he owned and operated 2 of the largest martial arts schools in the US (at the time), teaching and managing more then 800 students in two locations.  In 1994 he began working exclusively with martial arts associations, school owners, and martial arts teachers,  helping them improve the quality of their materials and curriculum.   He is now involved with programs like the “acts of kindness” program (www.thinkkindness.org), The Ultimate Black Belt Test, and much more.

We have been following Tom’s Blog and videos for a while now.  It was nice to officially meet him in person.  We can’t write about everything that was discussed at this seminar but we will mention some of the things that really made an impression.  Because Tom does not operate a physical school anymore he has what he calls a digital online school.  This online school school never closes and can be accessed from anywhere.  This gives him the flexibility to continue to train and teach from anywhere he chooses.  We like idea of the cloud and having everything available at all times to our students.  He believes in recording everything and uploading it online to share with others.  Videos get people excited, we have always thought it was a great idea because videos last forever.  If you visit Tom’s site, he posts multiple videos and blogs daily for his students.  We would like to follow in his footsteps and be able to communicate to our students effectively by the same means.

Tom said a line Sunday that had a lot meaning, he feels at his age now knowing what he knows, he doesn’t think he was qualified to teach back in his 30’s.  He believes that great teaching is not how to throw a good cross punch but how to lead others to be better individuals in society.  The best martial arts instructors prepare their students for life in the world, not just life in the studio.  Someone testing for a black belt should change and influence the people around them, their community, and maybe the world.  That is Tom’s vision for the Ultimate Black Belt exam.  We have been very fortunate to have him tell us these concepts and much more.  Listening to the views from people who have already trailed the path we are on will help us.  There is no reason to reinvent the wheel.  We must gather all the knowledge from the veterans in this business and pick and choose what would give us the best success in helping our students grow to become an “Ultimate Black Belt”.  Evolution Martial Arts Academy will maintain a good relationship with Tom Callos, he is a great asset to the martial arts community and our future.

For more information visit Tom Callos page at www.tomcallos.com




Mr. Jason attends Dave Kovar’s Instructor Seminar held at TKC.

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March 6th, 2011 Dave Kovar made a stop in Southern California to hold one his Martial Arts Instructor Boot-camp seminar.  More than fifty school owners and instructors attended this seminar held at Team Karate Centers in Woodland Hills.  This seminar was for senior and beginner instructors helping them become even better and more effective martial arts instructors.

Here’s a little information about Dave Kovar.  Shihan Kovar is the head instructor of Kovars Family Martial Arts Centers Inc. He has been teaching karate since he was 15 years old and currently holds Black Belts in 6 different styles of Martial Arts. In 1982 he was rated “California Competitor of the Year,” and in 1988 he won the United States Martial Arts Championships Men’s Heavyweight Division in Reno, Nevada. He has operated his own Martial Arts School in the Sacramento area since 1978, making Kovars Family Martial Arts Centers one of the oldest and most respected Martial Arts schools in Sacramento. With over 1,900 students, Kovars is ranked as one of the top schools in the nation.
Over the years Dave has developed a unique method of teaching that has earned him the distinction of being the Instructor of the Year in 1992 from the United States Martial Arts Centers (an association of over 1,300 schools in the United States and Canada). Dave’s teaching techniques give the instructor the unique ability to help students improve their existing skills while increasing their confidence, discipline and respect. In fact, so many other Martial Arts instructors have inquired about these techniques that the Kovar brothers have developed a series of “How to Teach Martial Arts…” videos. These videos have had phenomenal sales both nationally and internationally.*

With this wealth of knowledge and experience it was great he was able to come and share with other school owners who are following the same path he is leading.  This 7 hour seminar covered topics such as

  • Ways to retain current students
  • Using focus anchors to control the most uncontrolable classes
  • Disguising repetition
  • PCP – Praise Correct Praise
  • Optimizing classes for Zero Downtime
  • Preframing
  • How to better social with parents

So much information covered that it is difficult to list them all.  This was a great seminar because as instructors we do most of these techniques anyways but just really breaking them down and working on the techniques that are a bit lacking is all part of the evolution of an instructor.  He truly made it very simple giving plenty of realistic examples that we run into on a weekly basis. 

The best part about teaching martial arts is watching students progress and succeed.  We at Evolution Martial Arts Academy want to empower our students to be successful in whatever they do in their life. Teaching is definitely not a walk in the park, but this seminar will really help us help our students achieve their goals.

If you are school owner or instructor we highly suggest this seminar. 

*Courtesy of www.martialinfo.com