My brother is 18 months younger than I and we were pretty close when we were kids. He was a professional ballet dancer with The Pennsylvania Ballet and he had many dancer friends who ran local dance studios. He would guest-teach at their studios from time to time. One of his friends was married to one of the sons of our neighborhood corner store grocer, and had recently opened a neighborhood dance studio. It was almost like working with family. She was teaching at the studio part-time three nights per week and on Saturdays, and most of her clientele was school-age girls. I consulted with my brother, and asked him to approach his friend to see if she would entertain the the idea of leasing the studio out two nights per week and sharing the Saturday time. Long story short, she was interested; we met, and cut the deal.
I shared the developments with my junior blackbelt friend, Sal, and Master Marvil, he was my teacher at the time. They were excited to hear such news but didn’t quite understand my vision. My plan was to first recruit the brothers of all the girls who danced at the studio. This would be the original seed for our classes. Our lease arrangement was defined by a one-year percentage agreement. I also convinced our new landlord to split the cost of making the space suitable for both dance and karate. We were responsible for buying the material and he would supply the labor. I recall spending less than $500 on the build-out and less than $25 on flyers. The build-out was completed over a long weekend. I needed help with teaching responsibilities and I wanted to build something special with my teacher and closest junior member. At the time, I still had to be able to meet my personal work obligations, and that meant sometimes having appointments in the evening for showing houses and meeting real estate and insurance clients. I found it relatively easy to work out my schedule, and I was on-site most of the time when there were classes. Our student body grew to well over fifty in the 1st three months. We were very busy. We knew that we would outgrow our part-week space arrangement by the time the lease was up for renewal.
This tremendous success helped me realize the potential that I possessed as a teacher, but more importantly, as a change agent. A school-age student applied to our program that was identified as learning disabled. His name was Nick. Nick was 11 years old and was diagnosed as having hyperactivity disorder and Tourette syndrome. His parents accompanied Nick when he applied, and they were asking me about if the discipline of martial arts training could make a difference. I thought so, and I shared my opinion based on my experience. They then asked me if I would take him as a student. My reply was that if he could do what the other students did, then he could achieve anything. I consulted Nick and asked him if he was willing to do whatever I ordered him to do during class while he studied with us. I looked deep into his eyes and I sensed his desire to change. He agreed and I accepted him as a student. All students made the same pledge prior to being accepted, but this case meant more.
Nick’s condition was pretty challenging. It kept him back a grade in elementary school, and he struggled greatly with conforming to school norms and regulations. His parents described him as uncontrollable and they needed help (Philly’s Karate Kid, South Philly Review circa 1992-1993). His first few classes were a total bust. He was very unresponsive and slow to move. I thought I had made a mistake, and I spoke with his parents about it after class one evening. I was going to release him right away, but his Mom admitted giving him his medicine before class. They wanted us to not kick him out for being disruptive. I laughed because I was going to remove him for being a zombie in my class. At least if he was acting out, I could have some energy to work with and try to redirect it. I asked if they would be willing to have him attend on days that he did not take his medicine. We would reevaluate him in a week or so. Everybody was on the same page. The next class that Nick attended was very interesting. He had a lot of energy and imposed himself on the whole class. He would stand in line calling out curse words. He stood there clucking like a chicken, saying the “F” word, “F***, F***, F***” he said and then laughed! I didn’t believe my ears. All the kids in class started laughing. I commanded the whole class to do push-ups. I controlled the count and I made sure to lecture them while they were holding their bodies upright in a plank position on our newly installed hardwood floors. After push-ups, I sat the class down aside and explained that we all were going to help Nick. Then I sat with Nick and told him that every time, and I meant every single time, that he moved out of line, spoke out of turn, or disrupted my class in any way, he would do push-ups. The first infraction would be our base number, and every time afterwards it would double until he was sick and tired of making these mistakes. The next two weeks were the hardest. Nick continued to come regularly; now he was taking my “medicine.” Within six months, Nick didn’t need medicine at all and he got his act together. He earned praise from his parents and teachers, and he earned recognition in the form of colored belts from me. In time, he developed a steely sense of concentration. Nick’s success was identified and written about in the local community paper. It brought us more students, and I began to develop a reputation for being a pretty capable instructor. Meanwhile, the rest of our student body was progressing, too.
I signed a formal partnership agreement with my two colleagues and invested all of my savings ($3,500) to acquire and fit out a new training space. I was elated to be doing martial arts with my beloved teacher and one of my best friends. Considering that I was working in real estate at the time, I took the lead on this project. My special role in the partnership was “Marketing Director”. Sal had a B.S. in accounting and we made him the “Finance Director” and Master Marvil would be the ‘Martial Arts Director”. In martial arts traditions, and in the U.S.A., if you possess a rank lower than a 4th degree black belt, then you should be supervised by someone of master level or higher. In Asia, you need a license to teach martial arts. We were to share instructional responsibilities equally.
I found a suitable location for our new facility less than two city blocks from our original location. Funny enough, Sal’s dad had his business as a tenant in the same complex. We signed a lease, renovated the space, and opened without any gap between when the previous lease expired and the new school was ready to open. I remember my father’s friend Mike giving me a book written by Bruce Lee on the occasion. Mike wrote a very sentimental message inside the front cover. It took only a few months before the new school needed a full-time staff person. I volunteered to step up because I loved what we were doing. I got out of real estate and finance and embarked upon becoming a full-time real-life martial arts teacher.