Attacking in all directions

Last week, I attended a conference on bullying prevention here in Boston. The event was aimed at providing anti-bullying resources and information to school administrators, community groups, and parent-based organizations. The conference was well attended — I set up a table for Emerald Necklace Martial Arts, and I also went to represent Boston Self-Defense, a growing online network of self-defense and safety information that I created after being inspired by my mentor, Coach Tom Callos.

I met and connected with a number of interesting people at the event — and I took a lot of photos video, too! Here's a quick video of Steve Daly, founder of the radKIDS children's safety and empowerment program. I initially met Steve back around 2001 when I became certified as a radKIDS instructor.


Find more videos like this on Boston Self-Defense


In the last few weeks, I've also spent time teaching karate and bullying prevention seminars at a few Boston-area schools. I'm learning a lot from the KIDS.

Beyond all of this, we've been training really hard at the dojo (will post video of our recent grueling conditioning training soon!):

I and six of my students depart this weekend for Canada for a weeklong martial arts seminar that will end with Black Belt testing on Friday, June 25. Five of my students are testing for shodan, first degree black belt. I will be testing for yondan, fourth degree.

Of course, I expect nothing short of complete success!