I love graduation!

Graduation is my favorite time of the year – and we get to do it 6 times each year! It’s where we get to see the students show off and take another step towards their next rank of Black Belt.

But to understand how it matters for the instructors and me, we also – 3 times a year – do a 4-5 hour instructor Boot Camp (in addition to weekly instructor training) to train on how we teach and also discuss how you are all progressing and how to make your experience and the outcomes of your training (what results you get – or for parents, what results your kids get) better.  

So when we see you graduate we’re not just looking at the form you do or the kick you are getting good at or how strong your punch is. We’re watching for what kind of person you are developing into. We are 100% serious about this. For Black Belts, it’s more explicit because they all write a “What Karate Means to Me” essay as a requirement for their next rank, and we can hear from them where they have grown (you can see some of these on Amazon in our book: The Stories Of The Black Belts: Volume I. – Click HERE to check it out). Maybe your essay will be in Volume II?! :)

None of the Black Belt essays are about the board breaks or the elbow strikes or blocks they learned. It’s 100% about the character they developed or the lessons they learned to become successful later in life (or right now). 

As you graduate today, tomorrow or Saturday, I’d like you to think about the progress you have made personally (for parents – your kids of course) since you started… and project that out to 1st degree, 2nd degree, 3rd degree and higher and think about continuing to grow and what that’ll mean to you. What that will mean for you…

When you think about this BIG future and the outcomes you can get for yourself or your child – it truly makes a difference in whether it comes true.

Sincerely,