Guest Blog Post: Sensei Mike I. 4/29/15

With the spring black belt test just days away I want to talk to you about hard work and dedication. Being dedicated means that you commit to something and see it through to the end. It also means sticking with something even when it is hard. One great example are our black belt candidates. They face many challenges along the path to black belt. These can include other sports, schoolwork, and classmates and friends deciding to commit to some other sport or activity.

The second piece to the puzzle is hard work. Black belt, like so many other things, is something that you ca are not given, but that you must earn.  To learn and truly understand the material takes many hours of practice. In the past few weeks many of these students have attend karate classes 4 and even 5 times during the course of a given week. These students truly embody the principles of black belt and without even knowing have shown that they are leaders at Amerikick Medford.

Make sure to check out their black belt essays, which will be posted soon. The topic for their essays is, "What Black Belt Means to Me." Don't forget to visit our Facebook page for updates about their progress.

Daisy Troop 20118 Visits Amerikick Medford

Today we were treated to a special visit by Daisy Troop 20118. The daisies participated in a beginner karate class that focused on character development and bully proofing. The troop donated non perishable food items that will be donated to the food pantry at Fellowship Alliance Chapel. The food will help feed local families. Please contact Sensei Mike  to schedule you Girl Scout or Boy Scout Troop for a visit. 

www.amerikickmedford.com

Knockout Brain Cancer Kickboxing Fundraiser

On Sunday, April 19 Amerikick Medford hosted a special fundraiser to support Sharon Nicholas who is currently undergoing treatment for brain cancer. We had an amazing turnout by family, friends and coworkers of Sharon. Keep fighting!!!

Guest Blog Post: Sensei Mike I. 4/21/15

This month at Amerikick Medford we are focusing on ways to have a positive attitude. Each week our Instructors encourage the students to connect our weekly theme to theme for the month of April. This week's them is looking on the bright side. At it's core looking on the bright side means maintaining a positive attitude and looking for a silver lining to take from negative situations. This can be as simple as learning a life lesson. A personal example that I always use is how I learned to deal with being bullied. No one likes being picked on or called names, but these situations provide a valuable opportunity to learn how to deal with bullies in a healthy way.

We found some good tips on how to look on the bright side on OperationBeautiful.com:

How To Look On The Brightside

By Caitlin, the editor of the Operation Beautiful site

• Count your blessings.  Even on your worse days, there are things to be thankful for.  Got both legs?  A family who loves you?  A dog that licks your face when you come home?  A job?  A car? I used to get caught up in what Ididn’thave, but now I focus on what I do have.
• Never say "I can’t."  You can do anything. Really.  But you’re never going to accomplishment a single thing if you think it’s impossible.
• Be quick to forgive and forget… the first time.  My issue was that I never cut people slack.  I never put myself in their shoes.  Being more apt to consider the other person’s perspective has drastically reduced the number of arguments I’ve gotten into (I’m a little hot-headed).  That being said, don’t turn into a doormat.  Being walked all over is never good for the soul.
• Pretend like every conversation is your last.  Per the hot-headedness, sometimes I really want to kill the Husband for little things.  Whenever I start to get worked up over something small, I fantasize what I would feel like if it was our last conversation.  Don’t sweat the small stuff.
• Do nice things for other people.  And don’t expect anything in return.  You’ll get your due karma, I promise.
• Fake it until you make it.  Even if you have to "pretend" to be positive, do it. Because eventually, it will become true.
• Re-assess your thinking from time to time.  There’s a positive way to approach every situation.  Life is hard enough without beating yourself down mentally.
• Ignore Negative Noise and Energy Vampires.  Energy vampires suck away your positive energy and you feel exhausted after dealing with them. Negative noise are small actions that distract you, stop you from being productive, and threaten to ruin your day.  Most urgently, negative noise threatens to overwhelm all the positive encouragement in your life. 

Welcome to the Team!

Just wanted to take a moment to welcome Austin to the team. Austin tags along when mom comes to kickboxing class. We are excited that he is old enough to start. Looking forward to working with this future black belt. 

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