To Attack or Not To Attack...

Master Gichin Funakoshi, considered to be the "father of modern Karate", taught five guiding priciples for Karate students to follow in their training and life in general. These are called the "Dojo Kun". Whether you train in traditional Karate or another style, I think these are solid principles to aspire to.

One of the principles is this: "Kekki no yu o imashimuru koto," or "Refrain from violent behavior." A further teaching by Master Funakoshi and some of his students, reflecting this same principle is, "...in Karate, never attack first." This is not about being passive, as it seems on the surface, as much as it is about being wise!

How can we apply this to everyday life? It seems easy enough to practice this in our training...being aware of our opponent's moves in order to block or deflect an attack. Being patient, confident and poised, instead of allowing ourselves to become nervous, anxious, or confused. Showing respect and discipline in our every action, word, and thought. The application is apparent and numerous in Martial Arts.

What about life? I think we can find many ways there too... Read on...

Newest Legend and Athlete

Sammy Smith, KICKgen's featured Athlete is 11 years old from Dix Hills, New York. She has been training in the martial arts for the last seven and a half years in Kenpo Karate at Busto’s Karate in Plainview, New York. Unlike many kids her age Sammy trains everyday sometimes two to two and a half hours on her various martial arts talents. Sammy is a well-traveled young martial artist. She has been to countries such as Canada and has traveled to many of the respective states within the US. She was also the youngest member of Team US, a group of martial arts competitors, who were invited to St. Petersburg, Russia in 2008.

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Le-gend [lej-uhnd]: a collection of stories about an admirable person; a person who is the center of such stories. If you live in the Northeast, you probably have heard of this legend many times over again. And it is likely that you have seen his magazine, Action Martial Arts Magazine. Our legend this time is innovator and traditional stylist: Alan Goldberg.


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KICKgen Legend Don and Christine Rodriguez

The next KICKgen legends (yes two) are two people very close to us on the KICKgen team. These two are long-time friends and fellow promoters to two of our founders, Mike McCoy and Mike Sawyer, and JPM coach to Lauren Kearney.

Don and Christine Rodriguez have both contributed so much to sport karate in so many ways. You don’t get to brush up again such legendary people every day.

Read on…

KICKgen's featured Athlete...

The KICKgen team would like to introduce a youth who lives her life demonstrating the values she is taught and our 2nd featured athlete – star of our athlete’s corner…. Andi Woods.

Read on...

Help spread the word and win!

One of the keys to helping KICKgen continue to develop a strong voice and champion the cause of martial arts is grow our community to be larger and more influential.
Guess what – you can help and win prizes.

It’s easy! Here is what you do…

Go straight to your instructor and ask him/her to add your school to the FREE KICKgen school directory. You can even forward this email and give them this link: ADD MY SCHOOL TO THE FREE DIRECTORY.
When your school has been added to the KICKgen FREE directory and you have added your name and your school’s name to the KICKboard section: contests / my school, you are entered to win a really cool prize pack.

Want to know what you could win? The prize pack contains: 2 KICKgen Rising Stars Calendars, 1 US Open Cap, 1 US Open slingback, and 5 DVDs from 2002 to 2007 of the US Open International Martial Arts Championships. Total prize pack value over $200.
Deadline to post in the KICKboard that your school has added their listing is 4/30. The winner will be randomly drawn and announced on 5/1/09.



If your school is already a KICKgen school - no problem - a separate contest will be announced early next week. You have a chance to win and win BIG!

Quest Crew nails # 1 spot on America’s Best Dance Crew

MTV started as network airing just music videos and has transformed over the last decade into a network predominately of reality TV shows. In addition to the Real World and Road Rules the network has seen its share of popularity from today’s teenage generation with such shows as “The Hills” and “The City”. But as the times continue to revolutionize so has the opportunities for creative individuals looking for an outlet to get some exposure.

Much like the martial arts industry, for years dancing has been very much an underground and under appreciated creative outlet. Until, recently and even still now dancers work hard and get little appreciation or return for their efforts. However, with shows like “Dancing with the Stars,” “So You Think You Can Dance” and MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” today’s generations are given hope that creative outlets have the potential to allow individuals to follow their dreams and make a living pursuing their passions.

For those of you who haven’t been following MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” (ABDC) is in its third season of airing. The show has been slammed with applications and crews trying to prove to America that they truly deserve the title of being America’s Best dance crew. This season held a lot of great challenges that pushed each dance crew to become creative - think outside the box and even at points get familiar with styles of dance they were not necessarily the best at. Steve Terada, known for his extreme flips and creative forms capabilities has danced with several groups over the last couple of years. His creativity and capabilities from the martial arts have helped him to excel in yet another creative industry such as dance.

On March 5, 2009, Steve and his friends, Quest Crew, faced the ladies of Beat Freakz for the title shot of being named America’s Best Dance Crew. The seven weeks of battling had finally come to a conclusion and it was nail biter at that. Quest was always among the top of the crews involved in the show and had several performances during the course of the competition that were absolutely amazing. However, it would be proven in week seven as everything was being put on the line that Quest Crew could put together the better performance. American voted and Steve and his friends were officially crowned America’s Best Dance Crew.

We’d like to Congratulate Steve and the guys of Quest Crew. Their performances where inspirational and their title is certainly well deserved.

If you’d like to see some of Quest Crews past performances you can check them out at http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/dance_crew/videos-full-episodes.jhtml.