Sacramento Martial Arts and Karate

Mike Oliver's Journal (71)

UBBT 2011 Team Requirements

I sent this out today the the students, parents, and affiliates of our school that have already committed to being on this year's team. I know that some others of…

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Added by Mike Oliver on November 25, 2010 at 1:21am — No Comments

In Isshinryu, there are certain standards that must be attained before earning a new belt. My students know that I can be particularly picky about small details. I'm sure you have overheard me making sure that a student's stance is just right or that his posture is correct. These are standards that we all must strive to achieve--they are set for everyone. But these aren't the only requirements to earning rank in at our school.

Many…

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Added by Mike Oliver on November 9, 2010 at 11:30am — 2 Comments

Your Black-Belt Test Starts Today

We are still a very young dojo and with that comes many unique advantages and disadvantages. One advantage that we do have, is that we can set our standards as high as we would like them to be. And while it is very debatable about what it means to hold a green or brown belt in the martial, there still remains a certain mystique about the coveted black-belt. When you hear that one is a black belt in karate, what…

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Added by Mike Oliver on November 4, 2010 at 1:00pm — 3 Comments

Okinawa - The Real Fountain of Youth?

"At seventy you are but a child, at eighty you are merely a youth, and at ninety if the ancestors invite you into heaven, ask them to wait until you are one hundred... and then you might consider it."

This ancient Okinawan proverb rests on a stone marker in Ogimi, a small village typical of Northern Okinawa. This phrase could very well typify the mindset and vigour of the Okinawan people, especially when considering the…

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Added by Mike Oliver on November 3, 2010 at 2:30pm — 1 Comment

Karate kids to ‘Trick-or-treat’ for donations benefiting Sacramento Food Bank

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Added by Mike Oliver on October 26, 2010 at 10:33am — No Comments

Sacramento Karate Kid Collects over 1000 Diapers for Families in Need

In a quest to earn her Little Dragon Black Belt, Naomi demonstrated compassion and leadership by undertaking a considerable community service project--collect diapers for women and children in need. All collected packages were sent to Wellspring Women's Center where they were distributed to families in… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on October 23, 2010 at 10:54pm — No Comments

Karate Kid's Journey to Green-Belt Begins with Kindness

By BENN HODAPP / Valley Community Newspapers writer…

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Added by Mike Oliver on September 29, 2010 at 10:22am — No Comments

Video: Kristoffer Inspires over 325 Acts of Kindness in Sacramento

Kristoffer is a student at Zen Martial Arts. In order to test for their green belt, every student must perform a community leadership project. Kristoffer chose to do inspire 100 acts of kindness. He is just one of many Sacramento karate kids that are acting as leaders in your… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on September 10, 2010 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

Tiny Tiger Class is Here

As our Martial Arts school in East Sacramento has continued to grow, I frequently heard requests to teach younger students--4 and 5 year olds. For years I had taught these ages at my teacher's school in Auburn and I am pleased to say that we are now offering classes designed just for this age group at Zen Martial Arts in Sacramento!

The Tiny Tigers karate class… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on August 31, 2010 at 1:30pm — 2 Comments

Local Boy Tackles 100 Acts of Kindness for His Green Belt

Local boy demonstrates that the martial arts are about much more than punching and kicking by taking on a city-wide “acts of kindness” project

Sacramento, CA Aug 21, 2010 – Kristoffer Brown, a 9 year old Sacramento resident, has been studying the martial arts for 14 months now. Five months ago he…

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Added by Mike Oliver on August 23, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Verbal Judo Founder Comments on our Work

Verbal Judo founder George Thompson developed Verbal Judo years ago as a way for police officers to deal with verbal insults and assaults as well as getting voluntary compliance without getting physical. With the help of 'Doc' Thompson and other Verbal Judo instructors we have incorporated these same lessons into our martial arts curriculum. Many of your kids have already had great success in using these techniques to deal with bullying.

Here's a short message from Doc explaining why… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on August 22, 2010 at 12:26am — No Comments

Safe from Assault: Are you Oblivious or Aware?

In our classes last week we talked about awareness and how real self-defense happens long before violence actually occurs. The U.S. Marines have a system for coding and identifying the various mental states that one can be in. We can apply these same color codes to our own awareness levels so that we stay safe.

Condition White - Oblivious

In this mental state you are completely oblivious to your surroundings. This is the state that people are… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on August 4, 2010 at 12:24pm — No Comments

Karate Kids Practice Compassion

Compassion must be practiced. You see, our school is about much more

than kicking and punching. Kindness is self-defense. Helping others is

self-defense. This video shows just one of the many ways that our

Karate Kids PRACTICE compassion… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on July 27, 2010 at 1:32pm — No Comments

Sacramento Karate Kid 'Kick-Starts' Operation Backpack

Jack, a Sacramento 3rd Grader, organizes "Operation Backpack" at Zen

Martial Arts in order to earn his next belt rank. At Zen Martial Arts

students are required to choose a Community Leadership Project that

demonstrates compassion. Jack chose to collect Backpacks for homeless

children in the Sacramento area. This is the news coverage from… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on July 27, 2010 at 1:29pm — No Comments

Project Idea: 100 Acts of Kindness

The Project: 100 ACTS OF KINDNESS

Outline: Jane is a 10-year-old white belt. Her project is to get 10 of her friends and/or classmates at school to do 10 acts of kindness each; recording each act in log that she supplies them. Ten students doing 10 acts of kindness each, equals 100 acts of kindness! Jane and her mother will design their own kindness log--and Jane will have an experiential lesson in… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on July 27, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

Project Idea: Women Take Back the Night

Helping this group would make a for a great adult project for Green-Belt.

Women Take Back the Night is an international tradition with marches and rallies occurring around the world since 1976. That year, in Belgium, women attending the International Tribunal on Crimes Against

Women marched together in solidarity, holding candles to protest the ways in which violence permeates the lives of women worldwide.…

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Added by Mike Oliver on July 23, 2010 at 4:30pm — 1 Comment

Your Help is Needed with "Operation Backpack"

The Sacramento-area community was more than generous last year – Operation Backpack 2009 exceeded its goal and collected more than 3,000 backpacks. That more

than doubled 2008's figure and demonstrates that even in tough economic

times, children in need command attention.…

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Added by Mike Oliver on July 19, 2010 at 2:16pm — 1 Comment

Video: Calling a Bully a Bully

Every office has one - loud, rude, egotistical, two-faced, and sometimes even dangerous. Left to their own devices, an office bully can turn your livelihood into a living nightmare. Carrie Clark, co-founder of the California Healthy Workplace Advocates, who promotes anti-bullying policy throughout the country, defines what qualifies as bullying and how to stand up to a growing problem that she describes as a national "epidemic".…

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Added by Mike Oliver on July 1, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

Give Power and Passion to your Goals

Go to any corporate training program, seminar, or meeting and the topic of goal setting and time management is likely to be of primary concern. Goal setting is also a major part of your martial arts training as well. People that don't set goals are less likely to achieve success in their lives. I can't tell you how many martial artists I've seen fail to achieve the rank of black belt because they never set real goals.

Today though, I'm not going to tell you that the secret to goal… Continue

Added by Mike Oliver on June 22, 2010 at 11:57pm — 1 Comment