MASuccess Magazine

by Herb Borkland

Texas tournament legend Al Francis ranks among the top 10 fighters of the Lone Star State’s golden era of karate. A man of principles and character, Francis has put in decades as a recreation specialist in San Antonio, proving the social value of karate training for at-risk youth. His local educational TV program, which showcased the varieties of martial arts available in the city, ran for a decade. Today, he remains one of the best spokesmen for the power and discipline that the martial arts can bring to children.

MASuccess: Where did you grow up, and what did your dad do?

Al Francis: I grew up in San Antonio, Texas. Dad was the master chef at the Galveston Hills Restaurant, but I took off in a totally different direction. In high school, I wanted to be an artist.

I was about 130 pounds and couldn’t play every sport there was. I got jumped when I was younger. My mother taught me how to block. (laughs) I knew I needed to learn how to...

by Michelle Hodnett

Project Dojo is a nonprofit community outreach program in Pueblo, Colorado, that works with at-risk children. Through the power of martial arts, Project Dojo seeks to inspire and motivate kids within a safe environment, while continuing to teach the traditions of martial arts. This is an article of Project Dojo co-founder Michelle Hodnett’s experiences on holding Dojo Christmas Parties.  

 ‘Tis the season to be jolly! Be sure to let your community know during on-the-mat announcements that you will be holding a Christmas Dojo Party. Utilize your existing community by having an instructor and volunteer parents run the pot luck, crafting stations, face painting, and selling merchandise. Another black belt or volunteer should be taking pictures of the event for Facebook. (Note: make it clear to attendees that pictures from the event will be posted online. Most people will not have any objection, but it’s something you need to...

by Dave Kovar

In the November/December 2019 issue of MASuccess, I presented the first six of my 12 rules for training: Empty your cup, focus on the present, don’t compare, warm up thoroughly, focus on one detail at a time, and visualize the application. Here, I’ll discuss the remaining six rules.

7. Embrace Fatigue

As legendary pro-football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” Rarely do we perform as well when we become fatigued.

From a fitness standpoint, however, fatigue is valuable. Training to the point of fatigue helps us become better-conditioned martial artists.

Learning how to handle fatigue is also important from a self-defense standpoint. If you’re targeted by a mugger, it won’t be because you look alert and energized. Criminals are more likely to strike when you seem vulnerable, when you’re worn out from a long day at work or after a long run. The stress and the “adrenaline dump”...

By Guest Blogger Dwight Trower

At St. Louis Family Martial Arts Academy, we recently held a special class in our year-long series: “Dads and Sons - Doing Good Work.”

Why “good work?”

You might be curious why we chose the phrase for this particular program. It actually goes back to my old boxing days from the late 1980's and early 1990's. In the martial arts, it’s traditional to show respect to your training partners or instructor by bowing or saluting at the end of the workout. The local boxing gym I trained at had a similar customary ending. A typical workout lasted about an hour and a half and was broken down into multiple sessions depending on what each individual boxer was working on that day.

We always began with a simple calisthenic warmup followed by fifteen to twenty minutes of continuous shadow boxing. Next would be up to ten three-minute rounds of work. This might include any combination of heavy bag work, focus...

By Dwight Trower

I’ve been training as a martial artist for 38 years. The last 28 of those I’ve also been a school owner. Over that time, I have had the opportunity to visit and network with countless other martial arts professionals. As an industry, we’re all aware that many of our students have learning disabilities or physical limitations, and that we have to be able to adapt our programs to allow them to benefit, while maintaining the integrity of the martial arts and our chosen way of teaching.

One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that every student is unique. Each and every one of them has their own needs and goals. I’ve seen many schools, just like my own, train and develop elite martial athletes, successful adult students, children with learning disabilities, and those with special needs all within the same program.

October is Down syndrome Awareness Month, so this is a great time for me to get to share how...

By Dwight Trower

October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month! To shine the spotlight on the amazing members of our martial arts community with Down syndrome, and those who know them training partners, students, family and friends, MAIA is proud to feature this guest article by Dwight Trower, Director of Instruction at St. Louis Family Martial Arts Academy. 

 In my many years as a martial artist and school owner, I have had the fortune of being able to instruct many students with Down Syndrome, as well as others on the autism spectrum and with various mental and physical disabilities. Given the inclusive nature of martial arts (no one sits on the bench!) I know that many of my fellow school owners have also had this experience. However, in 2010, thanks to Deidre Pujols and the Pujols Family Foundation, I was given the opportunity to do even more.

With help from the Foundation, I was able to create a stand-alone program and...

by Dave Kovar

To be quality martial arts instructors, we must keep up with our own training. Over the decades, I’ve relied on a dozen rules that have helped me develop my skills and maintain my longevity in the dojo.

The rules started as unconscious habits, but as time went by, I became mindfully aware of them to such an extent that I solidified them into rules. Whenever I put them into practice, good things happen. I’m confident you will find them as valuable in your training.

1          Empty Your Cup

Most martial arts instructors have their students bow onto the mat before they train and bow off the mat afterward. They do this for a variety of reasons, but the one that’s most important for me is it helps me empty my cup. Bowing can remind you that the world outside ends the moment you step onto the mat.

By making this action a ritual and consciously trying to clear your head before every training...

by Nguyen “Tom” Griggs

In this column, I would like to share some perspectives on the value of yielding when it comes to working with others. First, I must make a distinction between yielding and surrendering.

In Japanese jujitsu, the principle of yielding is often essential to the proper execution of a technique and the successful defense of oneself. Yielding can be understood as going with another person’s energy or movement instead of fighting it. Surrendering means giving up and letting the other side have its way at your expense. I hope this helps you see how these two concepts differ.

When I was in my early 20s, I earned my MBA. Our family insurance agent helped me get a job at a local firm. When I left, I went to work for a much larger corporation. My manager — I’ll call him Phil — was a great example of how not to act as a leader.

Phil was self-righteously moralizing, inconsistently strict and condescending. The worst part was, he...

Guest Blog by Michelle Hodnett

Project Dojo is a nonprofit community outreach program in Pueblo, Colorado, that works with at-risk children. Through the power of martial arts, Project Dojo seeks to inspire and motivate kids within a safe environment, while continuing to teach the traditions of martial arts. This is the story of Project Dojo co-founder Michelle Hodnett’s experiences in her martial art journey.

Halloween is a childhood-favorite holiday. However, due to the dangers in today’s world, many parents aren’t comfortable with the idea of letting their children roam around after dark. And, unfortunately, many children live in neighborhoods that are genuinely unsafe. Holding a Halloween event at your dojo gives them a safe way to enjoy Halloween, and gives all your students a family-friendly, fun event! Also, making your event open to the public, or giving your students “tickets” to use to invite friends, is a great way to get new...

by Karen Eden

One of the hardest things for me to master during my time as a TV news reporter was learning to “hurry up and wait.” You have to hurry up and get to the scene so you don’t miss anything. But once you get there, you just stand around — sometimes for hours. You try to figure out what’s really going on, which information is relevant and which is superfluous, whom you can interview and how you can get them to talk.

That’s usually the way it is when it comes to covering any kind of breaking news. As I’m sure my directors would attest, it was never my favorite thing to do.

Seasoned reporters are the best at this. They can show up and wait from high noon until sunset — and still present the story with smiles on their faces. Why? Because they’ve done it a million times, and they don’t even entertain the thought of going back empty-handed. They’ll find a way to get people to talk and to get that story on...