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Occasionally, you might find special events, photos, video and more!

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Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
2000 Clemson Road
Suite # 9
Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425
samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Remembering Martin Luther King

According to History.com, "Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was a Baptist minister and social activist who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. Inspired by advocates of nonviolence such as Mahatma Gandhi, King sought equality for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986."

Featured below is a video of the "I Have A Dream" speech King spoke on a march on Washington in 1963.  In my opinion, this is one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever heard.

Some ask, well why would a karate school be talking about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement.

Well, it's simple for me really.

Understanding history and the mistakes of our past is just GOOD self defense!

Practicing kindness and compassion for our fellow man is GOOD self defense!




Martin Luther King had incredible courage to speak out for injustice, even making the ultimate sacrifice for the cause he believed in so strong.

Let us never forget the legacy of what he did!



Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio 
2000 Clemson Road
Suite # 9
 Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425
samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Accusations of Bullying After Death of Teenager

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times


Keith Cummings said bullying “definitely played a major role” in his niece’s death.


By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
Published: January 3, 2012

Amanda Cummings was not shy about her interests: animals and poetry, shopping and Katy Perry music, summer afternoons by the swimming pool and excursions to Manhattan, where she hoped to live some day.

Amanda Cummings, 15, died six days after a witness saw her jump in front of a bus.


But in the days and weeks before her death, her family said, Amanda, 15, often concealed what some friends seemed to know: she was being bullied, in person and on Facebook, by peers from her Staten Island high school.


Amanda died Monday at Staten Island University Hospital, six days after being struck by a southbound Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus on Hylan Boulevard in Dongan Hills, Staten Island. A witness saw her jump in front of the bus around 7:30 p.m., and she was carrying a suicide note in her pocket, the police said.


“It definitely played a major role in it,” Keith Cummings, Amanda’s uncle, said of the bullying. “There’s only so much kids can take.”


Deirdre DeAngelis, the principal of Amanda’s school, New Dorp High School, declined to discuss specifics, but warned against drawing hasty conclusions. “Don’t believe everything you read,” she said.


Mr. Cummings made similar comments in The Staten Island Advance on Tuesday.

You can read the rest of this sad article at The New York Times.

If you, or someone you know is having problems dealing with a bully, please give me a call or email me and I will devote some personal time to helping you learn non violent ways of defeating the bully.

And if you can't afford it.....I will do it for free!

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425@gmail.com

What We Do

The recent statistics on domestic violence really are staggering.  1 in 4 women are predicted to be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime.

The reality of domestic violence became all too real for me this month.


I was contacted by a women who was interested in enrolling in my school but wasn't able to start after the holidays.  After talking to her on the phone for a few minutes, I could sense something was not right.  After questioning her, she confided to me that she was being abused by her boyfriend, who had threatened to kill her repeated.  Even though she had gone to the police, the legal system really wasn't protecting her and she was very scared.


I invited her to my school the very next day and worked with her for nearly 3 hours one on one.  While I realize one lesson will not make her safe, I tried to offer her some basic tools, mental as well as physical to help protect herself.

I also provided a folder of resources for her to look into, particularly, one of the local battered women's shelter's that does a very good job assisting women and family's that suffer domestic violence.


Some of my friends criticize me because I do so much community service, but this is a classic example of what Coach Callos talks about all the time.  


If we can save the life of one child or adult, well we have done some good work!


This is what we do!

Yes?

"Courage is not the absence of fear. It is going forward with the face of fear." Abraham Lincoln

 This blog post is a part of The Ultimate Black Belt Test (ultimateblackbelttest.com), an undertaking of The 100 (the100.us), and a part of Samurai Karate Studio (samuraikaratestudio.net).

Billy Blanks pushes martial arts to help kids with autism

By MARY SHEDDEN
The Tampa Tribune
Published: November 07, 2011
Updated: November 09, 2011

The first time Billy Blanks showed up at karate class, the instructor bet $5 he wouldn't stick it out.

Blanks, then 14, seemed like a lot of kids who showed up at the Martin Luther King Center in Erie, Pa., in 1969. Also, Blanks had spent years in special education classes because of dyslexia that went undiagnosed and untreated.

The boy knew martial arts offered something different. It would pay off, he told himself, as long as he watched the instructor's every move and practiced every afternoon at the gym.

Within six months, the teen's focus improved, at home and at school. In a year, he had earned a black belt.

"It really gave me a chance to see that I could do it, that I could really be successful," said Blanks, who today is known worldwide as the creator of the Tae Bo kick boxing workout.

"I was learning how to bring my body under control. I got my mind under control and it gave me confidence."

Blanks' personal experience has evolved into a new mission: To introduce physical fitness to children with autism and other special needs. He'll do just that this week in St. Pete Beach, when he leads two community workouts as part of the 2011 National Autism Conference.

Social interaction, language and communication are key challenges facing children and adults living with the highly complex autism spectrum disorders. Research shows that regular movement, such as exercise, can help with treatment, especially for children with still-developing brains.

Blanks, who still teaches regular classes, said he's seen first hand how music coupled with the fast-paced punching and kicking in his workouts appeal to children with autism. It helps them gain confidence and connect with others.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.




Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425
samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Living Hero

Fauja Singh says he lives 'a very simple life'. Photograph: Chris Young/AP

I found this inspiring person from the Daily Good and have re-posted the brief biography they provided on their website.  This man is incredible, not only for his physical abilities at his age, but we can all take a lesson from his philosophy about money, food and life!

Rock On!

'Anything worth doing is going to be difficult," says Fauja Singh, the100-year-old runner who this week became the world's oldest person to complete a full-length marathon, crossing the line at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront event in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds. (And he didn't finish last: five came in after him.)


At five foot eight and weighing a little more than eight stone, Singh is a spindly figure under his heavy turban and wispy beard. "Girl, you tell me: has anything you wanted ever been easy?" he says. "I was so worried we [he ran with his trainer] might not make it that we didn't tell our relatives we were doing it. I just wanted to break that bloody record."


He is referring to the record set in 1976 by a 98-year-old Greek athlete. "I lost my speed in this race," says Singh, "but it was the thought of that old man that pushed me through the last four miles. That and God."


Speaking in Punjabi, Singh says running has given him purpose and a sense of peace. "Why worry about these small, small things? I don't stress. You never hear of anyone dying of happiness." And Singh is, by his own admission, pretty happy. Having moved from India to England in 1995, after the deaths of his wife and son, he lives with family in east London, and leads what he says is "a very simple life".


He took up serious running when he was 89 and says it was his good kismet (destiny) that led him to meeting ex-professional runner Harmander Singh, his trainer and friend. The pair were introduced through a neighbour after Fauja began asking how he might enter the London marathon.


"I train him for free," says Harmander. "It's an honour for me." Together, they have clocked up more than a dozen full and half-marathons.


Harmander says health tests taken last year showed that Singh "has the bones of a 35-year-old". And yet, Singh claims never to drink milk. "I'm scared of building up phlegm," he explains.


Asked about the rest of his diet, he chuckles. "I could go on and on, but it's not a new or magic thing, is it? Punjabi people know eating and drinking is important, but I just eat the minimum of what I need: some daal and roti, gobi and chai – I'd probably be dead if I was full all the time."


Singh runs between 10 and 15km every day – "you have to keep your engine going" – and at 94, became a poster boy for Adidas, alongside David Beckham and Jonny Wilkinson.


"I'm not really interested in all the rupees, I give it to charity," he says of his sponsorship deal. "Money can be saved and spent and lost and made. At my age it's nice just to do this. Come on, who wants to talk to this old man? Everyone now! And it's because of the running that all these people keep showing me so much love. Look how blessed I am. What's not to be happy about?"


This blog post is a part of The Ultimate Black Belt Test (ultimateblackbelttest.com), an undertaking of The 100 (the100.us), and a part of Samurai Karate Studio (samuraikaratestudio.net).

Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio 
Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425
samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Self Defense Workshop

Last night, Samurai Karate Studio hosted it's 5th FREE self defense workshop for women, in honor of domestic violence month. We had a great turn out and the ladies were very enthusiastic and excited to learn how to defend themselves.

Here's a quick peek into the workshop:

Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425
samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com