Patrick O'Rear was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in May 2020 and has been on a mission to beat it since. Patrick joined our martial arts school when he was only 9 years old…

Is there something you have dug into your bunker about? Is there a mistake you have made but won't admit, or a person you have offended but won't reconcile with?

What is success? For some people, the attainment of a long term goal is success. For others it may be the completion of smaller tasks. Similarly in Martial Arts training, achieving Black Belt or “under” belts may be what some students consider being successful.

That level of confidence comes from facing the real obstacles they will encounter and then overcoming them. Like anything, the more you practice the better you get at it.

One of the central tenets of all forms of the martial arts is an absolute focus on self-discipline. Today’s kids are so accustomed to receiving instant gratification that lessons in self-restraint and discipline aren’t always easy to come by…

Many parents today are raising their children to be quitters. I am sure that this is not deliberate; I doubt that any parent intentionally decides, "I'm teaching my child to be a quitter."

A few days ago, I received my instructor jacket and certificate proving that I passed my instructor certification. I never could have accomplished any of it without support from my parents and mentors…

Many times I think the parents of the newer students look out at the floor and see the instructors and black belt kids and say, “Man, I wish my kid tried that hard and looked like that!”

I think anything that I've accomplished can be attributed to the discipline I learned through martial arts.