-         You can be anything you want to be – how bad do you want it?

-         Never, EVER, give up. Nothing is ever accomplished by quitting.

-         Give 100 percent effort, 100 percent of the time.

-         Be realistic, but push yourself

-         Strive for progress, not perfection.  You will always fall short of perfection, but you can always make progress each day.

-         Be a better person today than you were yesterday

-         Be kind and humble, but have a warrior mindset

-         You are your toughest opponent

-         Train hard and enjoy the benefits

-         Be a good winner and a good loser – you always learn something

-         Set a good example by being a good role model

-         Make each day your masterpiece

-         Try to resolve conflicts without fighting – fight in the ring

I’m not saying you will never slip up here and there.  We are not perfect and never will be, but if you sincerely try your best to follow these principles they will help you become all you are capable of becoming. 

TCB…

Your mind is a powerful tool and is the most dangerous weapon you possess.  The power of positive thinking produces positive action.  You are what you think.  If you don’t like the way you feel, change the way you think.  Try to become a better and more positive person each day and reap the greatness of a rewarding life. 

I came across “The Four Agreements” which I found interesting and very true.  I don’t know where they came from or who created them, but it wasn’t me.  Try to incorporate these agreements in your life.

 The Four Agreements

Be Impeccable with your Word

Speak with integrity.  Say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.  Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Don’t Take Anything Personally

Nothing others do is because of you.  What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.  When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Don’t Make Assumptions

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.  Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.  With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Always Do Your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.  Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.  

Our Mission:

The Objective

To teach students how to think and become self – correcting through learning concepts, principles, and theories that are practical in thought and action with realistic modern training modalities to better their lives on all levels, while creating a Kenpo mindset allowing logical and practical thinking through personal interpretation, analyzing, dissecting, and creating to become the best they are capable of becoming at their personal style of Kenpo by always remaining a student who is humble, loyal, respectful, disciplined, motivated, and leads by example through appropriate behaviors and character.

The Purpose

To improve the lives of every student who walks through the studio door by teaching proper values as well as high impact drills to help build better balance, coordination, agility, flexibility, stamina, strength, cardiovascular health, and muscular endurance to create a much happier and healthier student who is motivated to set goals, and stay on course to achieving those goals while being focused and disciplined, creating self-confidence and a healthy self-esteem. Also, to teach students to learn to be optimistic and take personal responsibility for their own lives while learning a modern practical system of self-defense and personal protection based on logic and reason, not tradition, while molding their own personal style of Kenpo tailored to them, eventually becoming fully qualified black belts who are role models for our community.

The Plan

To teach quality classes that focus on improving every student each class, as well as to get on a personal level with each student so that the student can be properly taught according to his or her ability, desires, needs, thoughts, personality and body type to produce a student who has reached his or her full potential and looks forward to a continued journey of success. 

If you fail to recognize the signs of abuse, you could be put in danger.  The longer you are with an abusive partner, the more difficult it will become and the more damage that could be caused to you emotionally and physically.  I found a really good, accurate checklist to help you recognize if you may be in an abusive relationship.  I am a fan of Dr. Phil and he has a lot of great things on his Web site (www.drphil.com). I took the following from his site:

Are You in an Abusive Relationship?

Sometimes when you’re in an intense or passionate relationship, it’s hard to recognize when lines are being crossed. You can get comfortable with dysfunction and not realize when you are being abused, especially if your partner hasn’t yet become physically violent. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has a quiz for indentifying abuse.

Go through the following checklist to find out whether your relationship is unhealthy and could be dangerous:

Does your partner:

Isolate you from friends, family members or supporters?

Embarrass you with put-downs?

 
Look or act in ways that scare you?

 
Control what you do or who you see or talk to? 
 
Manipulate you with control of money?

 
Dominate all decisions?

 
Criticize your parenting and threaten to take away or hurt your children?

 
Prevent you from working or attending school?

 
Deny or downplay abuse or try to blame you for “provoking” it?

 
Destroy your property?

 
Intimidate you with guns, knives or other weapons?

 
Shove you, slap you, choke you or hit you?
Force you to drop charges?

 
Threaten to commit suicide?

 
Threaten to kill you?

 
If you answered yes to even one of these warning signs, you may be in an abusive relationship. For support and more information please call The National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-SAFE (7233) or at TTY (800) 787-3224.

[end of Dr. Phil]

Hopefully you are not dealing with a partner who displays any of these behaviors. Be assertive and stand up for yourself. Do not allow anybody to control, manipulate, or abuse you in any way.  Study these signs so that you don’t get hooked up with someone who acts the way mentioned above. 

If you need help with confidence or self-esteem, look into a martial arts program, where you will reap many more benefits along the way.  If you are not interested in martial arts, you need to get some form of help or something to help you create a more positive self-image.

I’ve been inducted into the U.S.A. Martial Arts Hall of Fame every year since 2006. I speak from actual experience about these scams and I will share everything with all of you. I originally got a phone message on my answering machine at my martial arts school one day in 2006 saying I’ve been nominated for this award.  I never returned the call. Up until that point I hadn’t heard of that particular hall of fame. I had heard of many of the other fake halls of fames, but not this particular one.  Being a writer, I research everything. You can do a Google search by typing in martial arts hall of fame scams and you can find all the info you need.

I ended up getting a packet in the mail stating that I had been nominated by some martial arts instructor I had never heard of.  The best part was, however, that I was nominated as the Korean Master of the Year.  First, I’m not Korean; second, I don’t teach a Korean system; and third, I am not a master – in fact I will never ever refer to myself as a master, and I never want to be called that. I am a student, a teacher, a mentor, and a coach – but never will I be a master. There is only one master in my life and that’s my lord and savior. Aside from this ridiculous title they had nominated me for, there were several other things that stood out about this hall of fame.  Reading through the packet, they give you a nomination form to nominate six people to be inducted.  It could be anybody.  If you filled out the form and mailed it, they would then induct the people I mentioned as well. Aside from that, they mentioned that if I didn’t like the reason I was nominated (Korean Master of the Year), I could change it to something I would prefer.  They even gave well over 150 categories to choose from: Fighter of the Year, Kung-Fu Master of the Year, Kenpo Instructor of the Year, Self-Defense Instructor of the Year, to name a few. I couldn’t believe anybody could be fooled by this.  All the signs of non-legit were shining on every page of the 8 page packet.

After all that, I finally got to the real reason why this hall of fame was nominating everybody and their brother – MONEY.  I got to the part where it says, our award banquet will be held on this day at this time and this place. It’s an all weekend event and these celebrities will be there.  Come receive your award in front of Bill “Superfoot” Wallace and Cynthia Rothrock. Get your picture with these legends.  The fee for the banquet is $259, and the fee for any guests is only $99. If you can’t make the banquet, send us $129 and we will send you your trophy. First off, for people who get star struck it’s a good way to fool them into going. I don’t – I’ve talked to and met so many of them. In the martial arts world I’ve trained with many of them.  For instance, I have trained with Bill “Superfoot” Wallace many times and have had him at my school for an entire weekend.  I’ve got several pictures of him and me training together, sparring, and just hanging out.  I don’t need to be fooled into paying for my hall of fame induction just to shake hands with him, get a picture with him, and then pretend we are best friends.  There is a reason why celebrities are there – they are PAID for the appearance.

The reality is, if you have to pay for being inducted into a hall of fame it is a scam. There are a few legit halls of fames such as black belt magazine’s hall of fame. That is real. That’s a hall of fame that you only get inducted in if you are extremely well known in the martial arts industry – such as Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, Don Wilson, and UFC fighters like Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and so on.  The reality is, you don’t pay to be in that hall of fame – it is real. 

Anybody can create a so called organization, and come up with a hall of fame. And as long as people are paying money the organization heads will be laughing to the bank.  Just because a hall of fame has been around since 1974, it doesn’t make it legit. It just means they have been fooling people for several years.  Well, they haven’t fooled me. It’s funny that I have been nominated every year since 2006 in the U.S.A. Hall of Fame like I will just buy into one of these years. Not going to happen.

I don’t understand how anybody can be fooled into thinking they were actually nominated into a legit hall of fame when thousands of other people are all ready in that same hall of fame. The purpose of a hall of fame is to induct people who were the best and were/are legends in that arena. Look at the UFC. They have only a handful of people who are UFC hall of famers, thus far. Not every UFC fighter – or every UFC champion -will be inducted. That’s a real hall of fame.

Go to just about any martial arts Web site and you will find the instructors boasting about being in five different halls of fames.  That doesn’t mean squat.  All you have to do is research each hall of fame they claim to be in and you will find the same answers I have found. If you are looking into a martial arts school don’t be fooled by those who brag about their hall of fame inductions.  I’m not saying that they are poor instructors; some are, but not all of them. They may be good instructors, but were fooled into the hall of fame scam. The instructor you want to look for is one who keeps the conversations about you, not him or her.  If she brags about her hall of fames and all the trophies she’s won, chances are she can’t help you reach your goals because she’s too stuck on herself.  If an instructor brags about his world champion status and puts down other instructors, you can pretty much bet that he can’t help you. 

Base an instructor on what he can do for you, not on what he’s accomplished. Even if the instructor is really legit and she accomplished real accomplishments, it doesn’t mean she can teach you how to accomplish what you need to accomplish. It takes a special teacher to get you to reach your full potential, and any instructor sporting an ego and the “all eyes on me” mentality can not help you. In fact, those types of instructors will only brainwash you and possibly get you hurt or killed someday. Also, if an instructor doesn’t allow you to watch a class first, or participate in a class before you make a decision, that school isn’t for you. If you do watch a class, pay particular attention to how the instructor teaches and how the black belts are. You will easily spot the schools that we call “belt factories” where people are promoted extremely fast and get black belts in 2-3 years just because they are writing a pay check.  Being a black belt with only two or three years in an art will only give you a false mindset.

If an instructor was inducted into a legit hall of fame, that is awesome; a big accomplishment.  The thing is, he won’t brag about it.  Good instructors care more about the growth of their students than they do about their own past achievements.

About the Author:

Michael Miller is a real world self-defense and personal protection expert who holds a 4th degree black belt in American Kenpo (a modern reality based system of self-defense based on logic and reason), and also teaches boxing, kickboxing, Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu, and Modern Arnis. He’s also a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and boxing trainer/coach. He operates his full-time school, Miller’s Kenpo Karate Dojo, in Bradford, Pa. He is also a writer who has been featured in Inside Kung-fu and Black Belt magazines several times as an authority in his field and is the author of the Legends of Kenpo biography series.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh in writing with a minor in sociology.  He can be reached by e-mail at michael.miller@millersdojo.com or by phone at 814-368-3725.

In the old times, there was only one belt – white, and its purpose was to hold your uniform top together. The practitioners found that after all the years of training, the white belt turned black from sweat and dirt, which then symbolized that if you were wearing a black belt, you had been doing it a long time, because it took years for it to get that dirty. Later, a color belt system was created to show the different levels. It gave students a sense of achievement and a way to set short term goals. The reality was that most students would quit if they were a white belt for several years and then had only the black belt to be promoted to.

The black belt symbolized an advanced practitioner – someone who had mastered the basics and stood above all others under him. A black belt was tough, but kind. He could fight, but avoided them. He could break bones, but would rather shake hands. He was a warrior, but stood for peace. A black belt was EARNED and RESPECTED. Is a black belt viewed the same way nowadays? Not hardly, but it depends on who is viewing it and who the black belt is.

Non martial artists view a black belt one of two ways – either the fallacy that the black belt is someone you don’t mess with because he is unstoppable, or that having a black belt doesn’t mean anything when it comes to fighting. So you have two extremes – either a black belt is indestructible, or isn’t tough at all. Usually, however, many non martial artists are in the first group viewing black belts as nobody to mess with. The non martial artists in this category primarily base their belief off the movies they’ve seen. They saw Chuck Norris kick the crap out of eight guys at once in an episode of Walker Texas Ranger so they believe that’s what black belts can do. Sorry, but it’s a television show. Think about it: do you really think anybody could take out eight guys by himself? Although there are ways to get out of that situation, even by taking out two or three of them, but to beat the tar out of all eight guys and the black belt walking away unharmed? Not going to happen, unless he is armed.

Those on the other side of the coin, who view black belts as nobody’s, are usually ego driven tough guy wannabe’s who call themselves street fighters and are infatuated with wanting people to think they are tough. Other possibilities include: they saw a black belt get beat up by someone and the belt lost all validity; they saw that the black belt didn’t look like a black belt when throwing punches and kicks (in other words the punches and kicks looked horrible); or, they saw the black belt doing acrobatics and using unrealistic weapons like fans and swords, which made them realize that the only place that kind of stuff works is in the Dojo (training hall) when the training partner stands there for you with no resistance.

In the martial arts world, however, the black belt is viewed in several different ways. Most students have a goal of becoming a black belt. It’s a great achievement if you actually earn it. The problem is, nowadays, a black belt isn’t what it used to be. First off you have little kids getting them – something that is completely bizarre. No offense, but what is a 6 year old black belt going to do? He wouldn’t have a prayer of defending himself against an older punk – let’s say 10 years old – who decides to push him around, unless luck took over.

What I’ve found in today’s society is that 75 percent of black belts are not qualified to wear that rank – in my perception of what a black belt should be. The other 25 percent make up what a black belt should be (physically and mentally), in my view. The black belt has lost validity due to children getting them and due to people buying them and not earning them. Many instructors will promote people up through all the ranks quickly for the money. They end up with black belts who not only look horrible, but also couldn’t protect themselves if their lives depended on it. Not to mention, these so called black belts have a false belief system of actually thinking they are capable of defending themselves in any situation. The instructors who foolishly promote people like that are setting so many students up for failure and could possibly get them killed someday.

Another thing to ponder is that there are ten degrees of black. This means when you first get your black belt it’s actually a first degree black belt. Down the road you will get a second degree then third, fourth, etc. With that said, what I have seen quite often is rank jumping. I’ve seen unworthy instructors go from 4^th to 7^th completely skipping over 5^th and 6^th. I’ve also seen 3^rd to 5^th, 5^th to 8^th and 7^th to 10^th. Funny thing is, most of these people aren’t even good enough to be wearing a 1^st degree black, in my opinion. If you are a Jiu-Jitsu 3^rd degree black belt you shouldn’t be screwing up basic arm bars. If you are a Taekwondo 7^th degree black belt, you better be able to kick above your waist. There is no excuse for jumping rank. Personally, to me, a black belt is a black belt, and I feel you will either continue to grow or you won’t. That’s where the other degrees come into play. If you continue to grow and mature as a martial artist you deserve to get higher degrees. If you don’t grow, you don’t deserve higher degrees. Since unworthy black belts keep getting higher degrees, nowadays, being higher ranked doesn’t make you better. I’ve seen several 6^th and 7^th degree black belts who aren’t as good as some 2^nd and 3^rd degrees I’ve worked with.

I’ve also noticed in a lot of cases that the higher up in the degrees people go, the less they do and the worse they become. If you are worse now than you were two years ago, you don’t deserve being promoted to another degree of black. You don’t deserve birthday cake rank – just because you got another year older, so another year IN the art. The thing is there is a huge difference between being IN the art and being AT the art. Someone who is IN the art for 10 years is nowhere near someone who has been AT the art for 4 years. Paying your monthly fee on time, and showing up to class once in a while doesn’t mean you are doing what you are supposed to do and doesn’t mean you will be ranked every 3-4 months. Yes, most schools will do that, but those are the schools that end up with horrible black belts. Also, as an instructor, just standing in front of class barking orders all the time and never training yourself, is not setting a good example. By training, I mean actually breaking a sweat. I train everyday. I train with my students. Yes, I teach them, correct them, assist them, and motivate them, but I still work out with them, partner up with them, spar with them, etc. What better way to set the example and for them to believe in you than by you showing them by being able to do everything you are asking them to do?

Personally, I don’t base my opinion of somebody according to belt color. I base my opinion according to her character and her actions. If I see a black belt on the mats, I pay attention to how she carry’s herself. Is she helpful to the under ranks or is she strutting around acting better than everybody? Is she working out or just standing around? Is she a talker, or a doer? I love black belts who talk but never do. The one’s that talk like they are great, but will never spar, or never roll (Jiu-Jitsu). For example, if you tell me you know Jiu-Jitsu and hold a pretty good rank in it, but you won’t roll, you are full of it. The old adage, “actions speak louder than words” comes into play here. I see it all the time.

Back to the question, what does a black belt mean today? In my view, the black belt doesn’t mean anything unless you earned it. If you’ve worked as hard as you are capable of working for several years accumulating some bumps and bruises along the way – possibly even shed a few tears, and pushed yourself to never settle for where you are at and to always strive for improvement, then that black belt is something you deserved. Now that you are a black belt, your training begins.

I’ve noticed in a lot of cases that once people are promoted to black belt they think they have reached the top. Some think they don’t need instructors anymore and others think now that they are black belts they don’t have to train anymore. Why is it in most schools black belts just stand around while everybody else works out? When you are training it is a journey, not a destination. I know for me, I work harder and harder every year. I gain more knowledge and try to improve my physical skill daily. And, it’s not for rank. In my heart and in my mind rank doesn’t mean a thing. That is just my opinion for my personal life. I had a goal of becoming a black belt and it was an awesome accomplishment; but since I have become an instructor and have traveled all around the United States training with the top martial artists in the world and teaching at seminars, rank has lost value for me. In fact, most of the time, I don’t even wear my black belt. I usually teach in Gi pants and a Miller’s Dojo t-shirt with no belt. I put the full uniform on and wear my belt only once in a while at my school, and anytime I teach seminars at other schools or attend seminars. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of who I was promoted under for my degrees of black and I know I earned every one of them, but I’m more interested in knowledge and skill – not belts. I’ve fought in the ring and protected myself several times on the street and my belts had nothing to do with it.

Truth is the concept of a black belt will never have a definitive definition. It’s a subjective thing – everybody will have different opinions about what a black belt should be and even martial arts masters will have their own opinions that differ from other masters. In a lot of schools, becoming a black belt is about how many Katas you have memorized, which has nothing to do with being able to protect yourself. In other schools it’s about who you beat in tournament sparring. If you are an orange belt and you beat a blue belt, you become a blue belt. The way some people get black belts is totally asinine, but again, the black belt will never be the same all around – it’s impossible, because there are so many different martial arts styles out there that a black belt can’t be the same all around. Aside from that, you could take 10 black belts in the same style or system, even under the same instructor, and you will have 10 different black belts. One may be better at point sparring, another may be better at full contact, another may be better at forms, another may be a better kicker, etc.

To me, as I mentioned earlier, the only way the black belt means something is if you earned it. My personal definition of a black belt is that she should be able to protect herself pretty effortlessly, be able to spar a few full-contact rounds without getting knocked out or giving up, be able to teach, have good character, respect all people, have glowing confidence, always stand up for what’s right, lead by example, always help others, be civic minded, have a teachable spirit, never stop learning, and have no ego.

It used to be that 1 out of every 100 students became a black belt, because it was so difficult to reach. Now everybody who sticks around and hands in a monthly check becomes a black belt. That should put things in perspective for you. It used to be getting a black belt was like getting a PHD. Notice not everybody gets a PHD; only those who put in all the hours of schooling and hard work by studying and getting good grades. Nowadays, getting a black belt is like graduating kindergarten – tough feat there; and the only PHD we would be talking about would be piled high and deep.

I know this was a long article that mostly covered my views of the black belt and belt rank in general from a martial arts expert viewpoint who’s honor, dignity, and integrity are more important than taking money to give away false rank. I came across a similar article about belt rank that I really enjoyed and I am going to share that with you now. It was written by a guy named Sami Ibrahim. Here it is:

BELT RANK

One schools master is another schools novice. One studios black belt students are another studios orange belt students. Even within the same martial arts system and same organization you will see the inconsistency or disparity in equally ranked students. Even in the same school and with the same instructor no two students are the same in skill or understanding who have the same rank why?

Take for example a room of white belt students who are learning the Upper Block Basic. Each student sees the same move and works to get it right repeatedly in class, the instructor goes around making simple corrections until all the students are on the right track. If the upper block is a required basic for the next belt rank test, what is considered knowing it?

Is it simply that the student can make the motion that resembles the instructors motion superficially or does the student need to have all the joints at the correct alignment? Does the student have to demonstrate 1, 2, 3 maybe 8 applications with that basic? Is the student expected to know the when and when not to of that basic or do they have to show they can use it reflexively during a sparring portion of the test? Maybe some of those things will be required by the time they are third degree black belts or maybe not.

Some of those students will over the next few years put in countless hours of training at home while others will only train when they come to class. Some of those students will spend countless hours in research and experimentation with a given basic and others will never give it much thought. In the end some arbitrary test will award some token of progress. Later down the road the student or customer if you’re the commercial sort, who has met the tests and payment requirements can be given a teaching certificate that amounts to the instructor or associations endorsement that said individual is a capable of teaching the system.

The belt ranking system is idealistic in theory but not in application. In these modern times the value placed on the mighty dollar helps sway the vote, helps that instructor look at OTHER FACTORS…in promotion, such as well the guy lost weight and came to class on time, sure he still moves like a Yak but he quit smoking and he is such a nice guy, I guess I can overlook his lack of skill and award him a brown belt that he can grow into. Sure the boys still young but I can give him a Jr black belt after all his mom is rich and wants to take private lessons. In the end, the belt ranking system does help put food on the table or pay the rent and all those other things but as far as maintaining some kind of standard of measurement of skill or knowledge forget about it. These days all it really does is promote inflated egos and overconfident, unskilled teachers.

A belt ranking system is indeed a tool but for what true purpose lol (greed, control, bait, etc)

Boxing is a great sport for several reasons. First off, in boxing, you learn the proper ways to punch, how to have good body mechanics, how to have good rhythm (which builds coordination and agility), and how to have good timing. Secondly, it’s a good method of self-defense. One of the most well known street fighters of all time, Marc “The Animal” Macyoung mentions in his book, Taking it to the Street that “boxers are dangerous.” He was a street fighter, and bouncer for several years and has been in hundreds of real life brawls. He knows what he is talking about. Lastly, it’s a great way to get in better shape. It improves endurance and cardiovascular health, helps you lose weight and tone your body.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to box? Wouldn’t you like to reap all the benefits mentioned above? At Miller’s Kenpo Karate, we now offer a full comprehensive boxing program that is offered three times per week: Mondays and Thursdays from 5-5:30pm and Sundays from 1:30-2:15pm. This program is for anybody, male or female, ages 12 and up. You never have to jump into the ring to compete, unless you choose to. This program will teach you all you need to know to become a great boxer. You will reap many benefits and if you decide you want to jump into the ring, once you get to a certain level, you will be able to do so.

Our program is based on a level system. Each level (1-10) has specific requirements. Once you have learned the requirements for a particular level, and are sound in those requirements, you will have a step exam to be promoted to the next level. Once you become a level 10 boxer you will qualify as an assistant coach.

In this program you will learn, stances, guards, head movement, body movement, foot movement, punches, defenses, combinations, shadowboxing, different sparring methods, interaction drills, focus mitt training, heavy bag training, and more.

If you or someone you know is interested in this program, visit our Web site at www.millersdojo.com or call Michael Miller at 814-368-3725, or e-mail him at michael.miller@millersdojo.com.

Miller’s Kenpo Karate student Matt Morris won another MMA fight on Saturday, September 24, 2011 in Logan, Ohio. This was Morris’s fifth MMA fight with the win taking his record up to 3-2. Morris’s only losses came by split decisions, which means they could have went either way. All three of his wins, however, have been finishes. His first win was a TKO second round, second win was by submission (kimora) in the first round and his third win was by submission (guillotine choke) in the second round.

For this fight, Morris had his hands full with an experienced opponent, Karate Mike Williams. Morris knew this fighter was no slouch and that he would have to work hard to get through him. Williams had twice as many fights as Morris as this was Williams’ tenth fight. All three of Morris’s trainers, Michael Miller, Charlie Fitzsimmons and Art Vulgamore were in agreement that the game plan needed to defeat Williams was that Morris had to push the pace and utilize strong boxing skills to, hopefully, not give Williams a chance to capitalize on his plan.

Morris followed his trainers’ advice and began the first round strong by moving forward with good jabs, connecting a couple times. Morris came out in a good guard with his hands up and elbows in, whereas Williams had more of a low guard, but moving his hands up and down to keep good movement. Williams cuffed a couple of Morris’s jabs and responded with a jab of his own. Both fighters utilized some leg kicking, and in a punching exchange they ended up in the clinch.

They ended up against the cage and both fighters threw in some dirty boxing and some good knees. After a few exchanges, Morris was able to take Williams down and ended up in Williams’ guard. Williams attempted a sweep, but couldn’t make it work. He then went for an arm bar, which was close. Morris did a great job keeping his composure and was able to get out of it. It was obvious that Williams had a good ground game. Once Morris got out of the arm bar he threw in some good ground and pound and was able to mount Williams. Morris continued with some ground and pound. During the last few seconds of the round Williams swept Morris and then the bell rang.

The second round began with both fighters coming out strong with some striking exchanges. Morris fired a front kick that landed on Williams’ midsection. After the exchanges Williams went for a double leg and Morris wrapped his right arm around Williams’ neck. Morris’s head trainer Michael Miller told Morris to “use it” so Morris pulled Williams down to go for a guillotine choke. Williams was unable to get out which forced him to tap.

Morris has been a seven year student under Miller, who is an ex boxer and is an internationally recognized self-defense and personal protection expert. Throughout the past seven years under Miller, Morris has been learning American Kenpo, boxing, kickboxing, Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu and Modern Arnis. Morris currently holds a 2^nd degree brown belt in American Kenpo under Miller.

Morris also has two other trainers who have a major impact on his MMA career. Ex boxer Charlie Fitzsimmons, who is probably the best boxer in the history of Bradford, and ex Navy SEAL Art Vulgamore who was also a boxer and kickboxer. Miller is in charge of Morris’s overall training structure and is his fight strategy coach and his head striking coach. Fitzsimmons is Morris’ nutrition coach, as well as conditioning and striking coach. Vulgamore, from the Knockout Factory in Salamanca, is Morris’ head conditioning coach as well as a striking coach and his manager-the person who sets up his fights. One thing about Vulgamore is that any fighter that he trains is always in tip top shape. Miller corners Morris as his head trainer, and he is always accompanied with either Fitzsimmons or Vulgamore who are the one’s to go in the cage in between rounds and are the cut men.

Morris plans on turning pro, but will stay amateur for now and just play it by ear. He definitely has what it takes.

The Guardian Angels held their first graduation of their new program, “Stomp the Bullying” on Friday, September 16, 2011 in Bradford, Pa. The program was created by Guardian Angels, Sean P. Kelley and Michael Miller. Kelley came up with the concept to take an active approach to the bullying epidemic our society is facing, and Miller designed the program manual and was the first person to run the 3 month program leading to the first graduation.

Twelve students ranging from ages 7-15 became the first graduates of the program after twelve one – hour sessions at Miller’s Kenpo Karate Dojo, and became Junior Angels. “Stomp the Bullying” is an educational course that creates Junior Angels and it focuses on five key elements: the Guardian Angels (Junior Angels); leadership; community service; bullying; and verbal, mental, and physical self-defense. Each session includes an education portion – like a school setting, which focuses on one or more of the five key elements, and a physical portion, where the students work on the physical self-defense.

The primary focus of the program is bullying, however, where the students learn how not to become a bully, the different forms of bullying (physical, verbal, emotional, and cyber), the risk factors, common myths, statistics, how to avoid becoming a target, how to recognize the signs of bullying, the 3 t-steps to verbal harassment, the rules of engagement, and what to do if you see somebody getting bullied.

Miller’s Kenpo Karate Dojo is the East Coast Headquarters for the program and Miller is in charge of teaching other Guardian Angel members how to implement the program. Aside from Miller, Kelley was present for the graduation as well as Pennsylvania Regional Directors Scott Koppenhofer and Jason Weston, both based out of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

“Stomp the Bullying graduation was a huge success and had a great turn out considering the small population of Bradford, Pa,” Koppenhofer explained. “This goes to show bullying is a concern in all size communities. I have a personal interest in this program considering I was a victim of bullying from middle school through high school. The military, martial arts and the Guardian Angels empowered me not to be a victim anymore.”

The program is now currently being implemented in Pottstown, Pa through Pottstown Shotokan Karate/Crossfit under the direction of Rob Mathews, the Guardian Angels chapter leader in Pottstown. He is the second person to run the program and graduation will be on Sunday, December 11, 2011.

 The program has been well accepted and is gaining a lot of interest. Miller has already been contacted by two schools to come in and speak about bullying and the program “Stomp the Bullying.” Since bullying is at an all time high, this program is the perfect community service program for any community.

“It comes as an honor for me to see leadership being exampled by someone like Michael Miller and his staff that have stepped u and become role models as Guardian Angel volunteers in seeing the first graduation of the ‘Stomp the Bullying’ program become a reality to the global crisis of bullying,” Kelley explained. “The program has set such a profound impact with our tag team efforts that it is now being considered a module program for other Guardian Angel chapters to utilize. We feel confident that between the efforts of myself, Michael Miller and other Guardian Angel leaders across the world, this will begin to make a huge impact in areas that have been effected by such tragedies due to bullying and its serious effects.”

It can still be seen on the news quite often, where a child either commits suicide, or goes on school shooting sprees due to unending torment that he goes through at school. Children bully all the time. In some instances the child cries out, but nobody listens. In other instances the child keeps it to himself until it is too late. As Guardian Angels we hear those cries and we do something about it. We also teach the children to talk about it. There is hope, and there is help. We “dare to care” and now we are daring you.

“This is a program that is needed in every school, martial arts facility, community center, etc. If there is a place where youth are organized then this program should be part of that setting,” Koppenhofer concluded.

Below is our mission: (www.stompthebullying.org)

The Reality

Bullying is a major epidemic in our society. All forms of bullying, such as verbal, non verbal or emotional, physical, and cyber-bullying happen every day in the United States and it causes serious lasting harm to victims leading to severe depression, violence and/or suicide. According to statistics, 19,000 bullied children attempt to commit suicide over the course of one year; on a monthly average 282,000 students are physically attacked by a bully each month; and on a daily average 160,000 children miss school because they fear being bullied. In a recent survey it showed that over 100,000 children carried guns to school as a result of being bullied.

The Dream

That all children will learn the appropriate lessons in life and will have healthy self-confidence and self-esteem, proper values, and a driven purpose motivated by a passion to become all they are capable of becoming. If this dream becomes a reality there would be no need for a child to bully another child.

The Objective

To bring a realistic and active approach to dealing with bullying behavior appropriately by educating about all aspects of bullying through a martial arts standpoint, and to get celebrities, martial arts instructors, teachers, parents, and anybody else willing to join our team to take a stand and become active in stomping the bullying.

The Purpose

To get children and adults to understand the full effects of bullying and why “bully’s” bully; to teach children how to come together and stand up against bullies – strength in numbers; to instill confidence and emotional defenses to protect victims against verbal bullying; and to empower victims with self-defense techniques and principles to protect against physical bullying.

The Plan

To conduct lectures, workshops, and seminars about bullying at schools, martial arts studios, or for any social groups such as girl scouts, boy scouts, youth groups, etc.; to get martial arts schools involved with the Guardian Angels and our concept of “Stomp the Bullying” and get the program implemented within those martial arts studios; and to petition congress to pass strict laws making bullying a criminal offense.

In martial arts, we strive to be good leaders.  One of the best leaders this world has ever seen was the great Coach John Wooden.  When I was introduced to the book “Wooden on Leadership” I truly loved Mr. Woodens philosophies.  I never knew him personally, but a lot of my teachings in martial arts emulate that of the great UCLA coach.  I have his Pyramid of Success hung in every room of my martial arts studio. 

I’m writing this because I came across a great story sent to Bob White (a Kenpo expert), by Andy Hill, who was an old student under Coach Wooden.  This is a great article.  I hope you enjoy it. 

POISE

At the pinnacle of Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is a quality everyone needs to thrive in tough times…COMPETITIVE GREATNESS. He defines this as “being at your best when your best is needed.” While it is true that all the blocks of the Pyramid play a role in reaching the zenith, there is one block that is an absolute necessity for those wishing to reach the top…and that is POISE…which lies right under COMPETITIVE GREATNESS.

How does Coach define POISE? He says, “Just be yourself. Be at ease in any situation. Never fight yourself.” This quality of clear headedness about who you are and what you value is also clearly a part of Coach’s Seven Point Creed. “Be True to Yourself” is the very first one of the seven points. But what does this imply for you, and how do you attain this sort of clarity?

The starting point for POISE is to have a solid sense of your own values. Is it more important to you that you make money…or have close relationships? Is it more important to you to have a bigger home…or be honest? Is it more important to you to get promoted…or to do the right thing when no one else is there to witness your behavior? Are you “the boss” who has to exercise power…or “the teacher” who needs to help those under your supervision improve and reach THEIR goals? A clear vision of who you are…and what you hope to become…are the essential ingredients you must possess to truly have “poise” and if you hope to some day have “competitive greatness.”

Like many of Coach Wooden’s ideas, they are probably most easily understood if you can see how he carried them out in real life. Beyond knowing that it held a spot high up in his Pyramid…how did Coach demonstrate POISE to us? Here’s a John Wooden story that hopefully will take this somewhat murky concept and make it unambiguous. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane and see if this doesn’t give you an insight into POISE.

My very first trip to the Final Four was in 1970, when we journeyed to Maryland’s Cole Field House. We beat an outstanding New Mexico team that boasted three future NBA first round draft choices…and looked forward to playing the winner of the other semi-final that featured two future Hall of Fame centers, Bob Lanier from St. Bonaventure and Artis Gilmore from Jacksonville. Artis’ team won a tough semi-final game, and we truly were concerned with how we were going to contend in the Finals with the 7’2″ giant who controlled the paint against the Bonnies. Behind an unbelievable performance from Sidney Wicks, we were able to prevail and once again the Bruins were the champs.

When you win a championship, you can only imagine the excitement and enthusiasm it ignites in your fans. As we finished up showering and started to make our way out to the bus for the trip home, you could hear huge cheers go up as Bruin players and coaches made their way out of the locker room to sign autographs and pose for pictures with ecstatic alumni and students. Pretty heady stuff when you are just 19. But John Wooden had been in this situation before, and Coach knew that those same fans who love you today could boo you tomorrow. He didn’t mind the revelry, but he sure didn’t get carried away by the excitement. So as I finished packing my travel bag to head out to the bus, Coach gave me a real life lesson in POISE that I never forgot. As I was throwing my shoes in my bag for the last time that season…anxious to head outside and feel the love from those fans…I took one last glance around the locker room and was surprised to find Coach Wooden over in the corner picking up a couple of orange peels that had been left on the floor. Knowing that the big-shots out in the hall were really hoping for a glimpse of Coach, I sort of jokingly went over to him and reminded him that surely someone was going to come in and clean up after we left. He didn’t miss a beat in responding, “Those fans can wait another few minutes. I always love it when janitors write or comment on how UCLA left their locker room spotless.” I was tongue tied…which is not my normal state. Here was the coach of the newly crowned champs, pausing before he accepted the cheers and congratulations of supposedly “important” folks, showing concern for a janitor whom he would probably never meet face to face. Why? Because Coach knew who he was, knew what he valued, and had the POISE to “stay true to himself” regardless of the situation.

POISE…there is no stepping stone to COMPETITIVE GREATNESS that is more important. Know yourself. Know your values. It makes it easy to know what to do…regardless of circumstance.