Social Deals - The Real Thing (for Some Businesses)

There's a lot we have to learn at Five Star Martial Arts, and I don't just mean Karate. A big part of my job is to leverage my business experience to pave over some of the bigger potholes and speed bumps before we hit them, but a lot of what we face is new to me as well. I've never been responsible for advertising, for example, so now I have to draw on what I've learned in my MBA program and what I've seen my friends in the Marketing Departments do.

And some of our challenges are just plain new, because they involve technologies and services that simply didn't exist before. Social Marketing is one big one - using Facebook to serve existing customers by providing a constant (daily) stream of news, events, motivation, encouragement, recognition, articles and other information. It also serves potential new customers, giving them a taste of what we're all about, showing how active and dynamic we are, and showing that we're "hip," using this new technologies that a lot of our competitors either don't bother with or don't use with energy and consistency the way we do. Sadly, it's hard to draw conclusive effectiveness data from social marketing on Facebook. Did we actually get any new students or retain any existing ones because we were using Facebook aggressively? I have no way to really tell, but it seems like a good idea anyway.

The other brand-new technology is the "Daily Deal" form of social marketing. I'm referring of course to tools like Groupon and Livingsocial (among many others). I'm not personally responsible for using this tool at my business, but I have input and I try to account for it in my strategic business planning. And a powerful tool it can be, if used for the right purposes. Sort of like The Force, I suppose.

I read an article recently about how Groupon, as a company, is more or less one big Ponzi scheme, paying today's bills with the deal they're going to offer tomorrow, and so on. Moreover, the article argued that companies dealing with Groupon were at severe risk of digging themselves into a hole, relying on the sales of new Groupon offers to pay for the supplies they needed in order to fulfill the previous ones they'd sold. Well, here - you can read the article for yourself: Why Groupon is Poised to Collapse.

I can't entirely disagree with the article, because I just don't have enough facts. But I can sort of disagree, because I've personally seen some incredible results using these tools. I even left a comment about it on that article. Here it is:

Like any other business tool, companies need to be smart about how they use Groupon. It's not going to be for every business. You can only afford to sell at or below your cost for a very short time before you overload yourself and go under. The business I work with - a martial arts and fitness center - has been EXTREMELY HAPPY with Groupon and LivingSocial. They bring us QUALIFIED LEADS in the form of customers who have already paid for the privilege of trying us out before they've even walked in the door to see the place. Read that again - they PAID for the privilege to come see what we're all about. And what we give them back in return effectively costs us nothing (at least in terms of inventory or product) - it's the service of our knowledge and our classes, both of which were going to be there anyway. Granted, when we sold over 200 fitness classes the first time - expecting to sell 20-30 if we were really lucky - it stressed us out a bit and we needed to buy some extra equipment in a hurry, but it was totally worth it and then some. The cash we got from Groupon itself was a pittance, but the new customers we gained - especially those we've been able to convert into long-term clients under contract - are irreplaceable. PLUS, we've managed to get in the game early and beat our competitors to the punch. We consistently see them showing up AFTER us with similar deals that sell much worse than ours - because we've already captured that market.

I'm positive that a lot of companies would lose their shirts using Groupon. That may arguably even be Groupon's fault if they're overselling their own product and not divulging the ristks, but I can say with confidence that it's a tremendous service for the right industry, and we're thrilled we got on board with them when we did.

I'll tell you, success feels good, and these new "social" tools feel like they're successful to me. They're working like crazy for us, anyway. Every business struggles with basic challenges like building brand identity and getting the word out to potential new customers. How can anybody find out how awesome you are if they've never heard of you. Advertising is expensive, but Groupon (as one example) PAYS YOU for the privilege of advertising your services to a broad range of customers. And it pulls them in by the truckload. If you're the right kind of business to take advantage of that without losing more than you can afford in the deal, maybe you can win with social deal marketing, too.

America - Land of the Sports Silos

In business, the term "silo" deals with business units, departments, or product lines that have been segmented apart from each other. It's not usually a good thing - there's little or no communications, knowledge-sharing, or exchange of resources across an organization that's been silo'd.

I'm not talking about business here, though. I think we're a culture of silos here in America - everything is "for ____________, not for ___________," For instance, baseball is for boys, not for girls. Actually, all but a handful of sports seems to fall into that pattern, and the ones that are open to girls... nobody seems to care about except for the players and their families. It's not just a gender issue, though. Since getting re-involved in the martial arts at Five Star Martial Arts, I've noticed that it transcends all aspects of our society. For example:

Karate is for little kids, not adults.
Yoga is for women, not men.
Tai Chi is for old people, not young people.
Zumba is for women, not men.

What's strange about all of these, is that they're demonstrably, historically both untrue and actually backwards. Karate, for instance, was practiced exclusively by adults (primarily men) for most of the last 100 years. In some dojos, and especially in Japan, no one under 16 can even achieve a full black belt rank. Yet in the U.S., Karate is seen as being for little kids, and adults seem to dismiss it as something to keep the kids entertained rather than a true combat art.

Yoga has been around for hundreds of years, and throughout that entire time, the leading practitioners, teachers, and masters of Yoga have been... say it with me... MEN! That's right, Indian guys were the creators of Yoga and its primary practitioners for centuries.

Tai Chi is, of course, Chinese. And in China, freaking EVERYBODY does it. Young or old, male or female, it makes no difference. In China, 1.35 billion people all recognize the benefits of Tai Chi, but in the U.S. I've literally see classes where nobody under the age of 50 was welcome. Seriously? What the hell!?!

Oh, and Zumba? Zumba's easy. It was created by Alberto "Beto" Perez, and the company's senior managers are all guys.

I was a teen when I started karate - so was my wife. Now I'm middle-aged, and I'm back at it harder than ever. I'm getting a lot of benefit out of Yoga practice, too. I'd love to learn Tai Chi as well, and hope to at some point. What I don't get is how to break down the silos? How do you convince Americans - who love to engage in the game of "it's for ____________ not ___________" - that they're missing out on some amazing fitness because they perceive it as being for some other demographic group? I'll have to work on that one. And I'll rely on all my various fitness options to help put me in the proper frame of mind to figure it out.

My First Seminar

On Saturday, June 11th, I attended my first martial arts seminar. The key word there is "my." I've attended lots of seminars, especially when I've trained at Aikido of Central New York, both now and in the past. I love seminars - so much knowledge and training packed into a few hours. But Saturday was the first seminar that I was personally responsible for. I proposed it to my Senseis at Five Star Martial Arts. And to their credit, they gave me the go-ahead, even though they really didn't know much about Aikido. I then made the arrangements with Yousuf Mehter Sensei at Aikido of CNY, who was extremely gracious to such a young dojo that had never done anything like a guest seminar before. I scheduled everything, created all of the marketing materials, and promoted the seminar for the better part of a month. At the seminar, I greeted all of the attendees, checked everyone in at the front desk, and showed our guests around the dojo. My Senseis even kindly allowed me to make the opening introductory remarks and kick off the day's training. This was my baby - something I'd never done before.

I confess, I was a bit nervous leading up to this. I take a lot of pride in doing a good job, in being successful, and in serving with quality and distinction whenever I take on a task. I wanted this to be a big success, for many reasons. Of course, my own personal credibility was on the line. It would have been very embarrassing to me and to my dojo if nobody showed up for this seminar. As it was, we had to shift the children's class into the main adult seminar because only a handful of kids signed up (and most of them were mine). But more than that, this was the very first guest seminar at my home dojo, and its success or failure could easily have an impact on the future of seminars at our school.

I believe martial arts seminars are important. Learning from different instructors who are recognized as experts in their style is truly valuable. More, I think that exposure to different styles is useful to the martial artist who wants to be well-rounded and to understand all ways that different styles approach movement, strikes, blocks, stances, grappling, and all of the other aspects of hand-to-hand combat, fitness, training methodology, and martial arts theory. I also like the way seminars can bring people together from different dojos to meet, train with each other, and form part of a larger martial arts community.

As such, I sincerely want seminars to be available as a regular, ongoing part of the training for Five Star's Karate students. And the only way that's likely to happen is if they're successful, well-attended, and well-regarded by the students, the Senseis, and the other martial artists in the area. So when I say that Saturday's seminar could easily have had a long-term impact - positive or negative - on the future of seminars at Five Star, it's not difficult to believe.

Fortunately, it was a huge hit. We had about 20 total participants, including some senior students from Aikido of CNY who were extremely helpful to the Aikido novices at Five Star.  Sensei Mehter spent two solid hours teaching us a series of techniques that all built on the basics of the style - notably Ikkyo, Nikyo, and Sankyo. He was a terrific instructor as always, and really great with the six kids and pre-teens who attended. In between techniques, he would call the children up to the front to show what they'd learned, which they all seemed to really enjoy. And so did everyone else. The look of wonder on everyone's face was incredibly gratifying. The awe and amazement they expressed at what we were learning sent my spirit soaring. THIS is exactly how a seminar is supposed to be - enthusiastic martial artists being blown out of the dogis by the fantastic new knowledge they're learning that's different from anything they've trained in before.

I got to make the rounds a lot, working with everyone and lending the benefits of my limited experience to those with even less than I have. I got to experience their joy up close. Now looking back on it a couple of days later, I'm filled with gratitude to everyone who helped bring the seminar together and make it a success - to Mehter Sensei, to Senseis Pastore and Napoli, to the attendees from Aikido of CNY and the Oswego Aikido Club, and to the student participants from Five Star Martial Arts. The bar has been set and set high - our next seminar will have to be outstanding to compare with this one, but at least everybody will know that a Five Star Seminar means the best in quality martial arts instruction. People will talk, word will get out, and the next time Mehter Sensei comes and teaches for us (if he graciously agrees to return in a year or so, perhaps), I fully expect to have twice as many people on the floor, eager to see why everyone raved about this seminar so much. I know I'll be there!

[Karate] Yoga and the Severely Inflexible

My body doesn't particularly like to stretch or twist. I suspect part of this may just be how I'm built - I've never been very flexible, even when I was much younger. I know I have a deformity in my wrist bones (specifically the ulna bone in my left forearm, and probably my right) that caused me to need surgery about 20 years ago. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the source of my hip pain and general leg inflexibility is of a similar nature. My mother pointed out to me after my last post that when I was very young, I'd needed corrective shoes to address a misalignment in my hips that was affecting my walk (making me pigeon-toed). So now I'm left to wonder - is my hip pain and my inability to gain significant flexibility in my upper legs caused by that same defect? Or did the process of correcting my walk cause my hips to twist into a position that ultimately causes me other problems? I may have to talk to my doctor about it at some point soon. My hip pain isn't constant, but it's bad enough that, for instance, I have to play my electric guitar standing up, because having it rest on my leg hurts now.

Meanwhile, I'm addressing my flexibility issues as directly as I know how - through Yoga. Suami Michael Smith recently started offering Yoga classes at Five Star Martial Arts and I've attended them all. Mike's approach is pretty cool. He's very comfortable with beginners, taking time with each new student to show them the details of the poses and techniques, and then continuing to offer tips and encouragement as we progress. He also teaches a class that's a great blend of stretching, breathing, and strength-building. For instance, he taught us a plank modification the other day that involved a push-up, and we did an ab-building exercise that left me sore for days. Finally, I like the way Suami Michael blends hints of karate into his Yoga. From stances to movement, his background in the martial arts makes the class very relevant to me.

It wouldn't be accurate to say that I've seen no improvement in my flexibility in the year that I've been studying the martial arts. It's just that it's not enough, and in particular my kicks suffer quite a bit because I can't get them up where they need to be. I'm not significantly closer to doing a split than I was a year ago, which means my side kicks, hook kicks, and roundhouse kicks just don't get up where I want them. But in just a handful of Yoga classes, I've seem some flexibility improvement already. I figured if anything could help, it would be Yoga.

So I'm now addressing my breathing through Aikido and Yoga classes. I'm working on my balance through Iaido and Yoga. And I'm working on my flexibility through Karate and Yoga. Hey, I see a common thread there! I admit, I went into Yoga as a fairly blank slate and as open a mind as I could manage, but I wasn't necessarily sure I was going to stick with it. Now, I'm sold. I'm in for the long haul, I think. And I look forward to using good balance and proper breathing... as I kick people in the head!!!

[Karate] Overdoing It

Sometimes, we definitely can push too hard. That's all too easy to do when you're training often, as I am. Beyond that, on Thursday and Friday, I trained in Aikido, Iaido, Yoga, and Kenpo. I'm in much better shape than a year ago, but that's still pretty intense. Thursday's Aikido class was particularly punishing. I had my elbow wrenched to the side - the same elbow that someone had landed on at the seminar I attended two months ago. The pain's pretty well gone now, in fact after a good Aikido workout it felt better than it had since I'd first hurt it, though afterward it ached for a couple of days. For whatever reason, I chose that same session to try my first hardfall in about 18 years. Successfully, as it turns out, but it put a kink into my lower flank that followed me into the weekend.

It's also not uncommon for workouts to make my hip(s) hurt. I'm not sure if it's the butterfly stretch or the split (well, what I do doesn't much resemble a split, truth be told) or throwing sidekicks, but it puts a nice searing hot thorn into my hip joint for me. It's far from constant and usually little more than an annoyance, but naturally it raised its ugly, um, head after two rough days of falling (on purpose), stretching, twisting, and kicking.

The result was a couple days of soreness and aches - not the kind of muscle aches you expect from a good workout. Not even the hobble-inducing soreness I used to get in my quadriceps when I'd spend too much time in seiza. Thankfully, that seems to be largely a thing of the past. No, this was joint pain - joints and bones and tendons all scolding me for overdoing it. It's over now, and it should become less prevalent with time as I continue to train, but it's certainly a cautionary tale - it's possible to do too much, push too hard, and your body will let you know when that's happened.

Facebook Secrets! (Part 3)

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Facebook Secrets! (Part 2)

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Facebook Secrets!

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[Karate] Five Star Martial Arts 2.0!

For the last month, I've been intensely focused on helping my good friends at Five Star Martial Arts take their business to the next level. It's incredible how much we've gotten done in just a few short weeks, and today is the official launch of Phase Two of their awesome Karate and fitness school.

One key component of Five Star 2.0 is that they now have an official website! They've wanted one for a long time, but getting the right team in place to create it and developing a cohesive vision that really captured their desire for a centralized web presence can be a little tricky. In the end, my lovely wife developed the site from soup to nuts, based only on a static mock-up in Photoshop, including some graphic design, photo editing, CSS, PHP scripting, server administration, and HTML. I had the job of writing all the copy. Luckily for us, we both had some solid background in our respective tasks, though it was the first time we'd worked together to build a commercial site from the ground up without a team of IT and Marketing departments at our backs. It was pretty cool, and everybody's super-happy with how it turned out!

Another aspect of Five Star 2.0 is the addition of two new fitness programs. Five Star now offers both Hatha Yoga as well as the ONLY Certified Russian Kettlebell classes in the whole Central New York region! Again, this took a while to pull together. We started reaching out to and interviewing Yoga instructors months ago, but it took time to find just the right fit. Meanwhile, I was contacting instructors in other fitness styles, and had the great good fortune to connect with the ONLY HKC-Certified Russian Kettlebell instructor within 40 miles! Russian Kettlebell is a hit all over the world for a fast, intense workout that combines strength-training and cardio in one workout. Plus, my wife loves it so I've gotten to see first-hand how quickly you can see the benefits.

On top of that, there's been a ton of search-engine optimization (more to come), Facebook improvements (we now have all the features of a "Place" page right on our Facebook "Business" page, including a check-in deal!), an active Twitter account that's already over 30 followers in just a couple weeks (not so hot if you're a bigtime Hollywood celebrity, but not bad for a little dojo in North Syracuse!!), and so much more I can't remember it all.

Plus, I set up our domain, including web-hosting and various email addresses, meaning that Five Star's owners and employees can finally have their own custom email addresses. It's not really a big deal, but it's not something anybody had even told them was possible and one more item on a fairly lengthy checklist for the month of April.

On top of all of that, we've got our first LivingSocial deal going live today, too! After the way our Groupon deal went completely ballistic, it'll be interesting to see what happens with this one. It's sure to be a smaller response, but we're anxious to see it. It's also one of the first (possibly THE first) LivingSocial Family deals offered in Syracuse.

Next up - Seminars! I'm making arrangements to bring some fantastic seminars to our dojo this summer and fall and I can't wait to announce them. I'm very much hoping to connect our school to the rest of the CNY martial arts community, make some great friendships, and share some knowledge.

I'm frankly amazed at how much we've accomplished so quickly. Of course, I've hardly seen my wife this month, but it's going to be an awesome thing when we start seeing the response. If you haven't already, definitely pop over to Five Star Martial Arts and let me know what you think. The "News and Events" page goes into more detail about some of what we're rolling out.

Now, off to work on more great stuff!

Why Karate?

Today marks my family's start at our new dojo, Five Star Martial Arts. For me, it will be the fifth different dojo I've trained at, beginning with Tae Kwon Do under Albert Fortunato, then Aikido under Sensei Yousuf Mehter, then at LaVallee's Clay dojo, over the summer at the remarkable Syracuse Jundokan under Sensei David Oddy, and finally at Five Star under Senseis Paul Napoli and Curtis Pastore.

Last Friday, we earned our orange belts at LaVallee's, the culmination of four months of training and vigorous exercise. We enjoy our training in the martial arts, but the change in dojos got me to thinking about why. Why do we train? What's the point? Why spend so much time and effort in this pursuit?

For starters, it's something that my wife and I have some experience with, which isn't true of most other sports or athletic activities. Which doesn't really answer the question, it just pushes the timeframe back by twenty-five years or so. So why did we get involved in the martial arts back in the 80s? I won't try to answer for my wife, but for me it was something that always looked "cool." I'd grown up watching Chinese Kung-fu movies on Saturday afternoons, I'd loved movies like Enter the Dragon and Revenge of the Ninja, and the idea that I could train my overweight, out-of-shape body to be like those martial arts champions was very exciting.

Yet, the reality didn't exactly live up to the vision. I picked up on the basics quickly and easily, but even vigorous exercise several times a week doesn't seem to affect my weight, and my flexibility has always been terrible. I'm just not built like a movie-star martial artist and it's not likely that I ever will be. So, again, why bother? Why stick with it?

The short answer is that I haven't really stuck with it. I trained for around a year when I was 15, then I quit. I trained for another year when I was 21, then I quit. I trained for six months at LaVallee's, two months at Syracuse Jundokan, and now I'm starting at Five Star and I'll be training there for at least a year. I've never stuck with any one style long enough to master more than the most rudimentary basics (and even then, master is surely an exaggeration), yet for some reason I keep coming back.

Of course, I still think it's cool. And, somewhere in the back of my mind, I surely still picture myself as Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris - an image that will be very hard to maintain at the new dojo, since we face toward a wall of mirrors and visible evidence is pretty clear that I am NOT those heroic figures. I'm their frumpy sidekick.

I've always been fascinated by the orient, and especially their development of a unique set of combat techniques and weapons that are so unlike what you find in the West. You'd think that there are only so many ways to throw a punch or a kick, and yet in thousands of years of civilization the Western civilization developed nothing that looks like Eastern martial arts. And while it's fair to say that Damascus Steel bears similarity to the folded steel that went into making the famed swords of the Samurai knights of Japan, the way those swords were used, like most other Asian weapons, was unique to the orient. The history and tradition inherent in the study of the martial arts fascinates me, and brings with it a connection to people who, over the last thousand years, devoted their lives to perfecting these techniques - these strikes, blocks, and movements - in such a way that they combine the beauty and gracefulness of dance with the athletics of gymnastics and the effectiveness of the deadliest combat arts. This connection with the mists of time is a big part of my interest.

Also, I'm reasonably good at the martial arts, at least given the amount of training that I've had. Again, I'm not amazing - nobody's ever going to look at me and be impressed by my athleticism, but I'm not a complete klutz, either. That makes karate different for me than pretty much every other sport, because when it comes to basketball and football, I'm utterly hopeless, even dangerous.

Plus, when I practice the martial arts, I feel like I'm getting exercise and improved overall fitness - something that's totally lacking elsewhere in my life. I don't like to exercise. I don't like the feeling of being worn out, nor do I enjoy the soreness the next day (or several days) as my muscles rebuild. I'm imperfectly happy sitting in my easy chair - imperfectly, that is, because I'd like to be in good shape, I just don't enjoy anything about the process that's required to achieve that. I don't like to stretch, to lift weights, or to hit the heavy bag. You could even say that I hate it. But when I practice the martial arts, all of that exercise is blended into the process of learning the techniques and executing them. My enthusiasm for all of the other aspects of the workout help me to overlook the parts that I truly don't like, and I end up getting some exercise. In turn, this should, in theory, lead to improved overall fitness - better flexibility, more endurance, enhanced vigor, strength and speed. As I get older, the more I can get of those things, the better off I'll be.

The martial arts also bring with them mental and spiritual aspects that many people, myself included, find worthwhile. Mentally, they help improve focus and concentration, as well as traits like self-discipline and tenacity. Spiritually, many practitioners of the martial arts find that intensive training and study improve their control of their body's energy and there are whole disciplines within the martial arts that focus on promoting the healthful flow of energy and the connection of mind with spirit. Granted, many American dojos don't emphasize these aspects, but it's there to be explored by those who are interested.


So that's my take on the martial arts - you get to vent your stress and frustrations through fun, vigorous exercise, you get to build a healthy body, it improves your mind and your connection with your spirit, and it connects you with the traditions and history of the East. My plan at this point is to finally stick with the martial arts for the long haul, bringing my kids along with me and encouraging them to explore all the things that I find so enjoyable. What are your thoughts on the martial arts? Feel free to comment!

Dojo Decision!

As discussed here, the De Lucia family has spent the last month or two trying to select a new dojo to train at once their current contract at LaVallee's USA Black Belt Champions expires in August. It's been a tedious and grueling process, eliminating local martial arts schools on a wide array of criteria. But the results are in, and today we're going to interview the family's patriarch Mike De Lucia about the selection of Five Star Martial Arts for his family's fitness training. [Note: yes, I'm interviewing myself. I thought it would liven things up a little. Or maybe it just amuses me. Whatever.]


Virtual Vellum: So you selected a new dojo. How did you come to your decision?

Mike De Lucia: It wasn't easy! In fact, we knew we were going to be disappointed with whatever we chose - the two schools offer very different experiences and approaches to the martial arts, both of which offer a lot that we like. As you saw in Saturday's article, I was able to break down many (though by no means all) of the key decision factors about the selection process. My next step was to weight those factors - to give higher priority to the "must-have" items. What my family and I found when we began that process was that it quickly made the decision for us.

VV: How so?

MD: Well, the first "must-have" we identified was scheduling. When we started talking about it, we immediately realized that there was nothing more to discuss. Whatever other benefits a dojo may offer quickly become meaningless if you're not able to get there regularly to train. This hasn't been a problem for us over the summer months, but it definitely would be in September. The kids' school has moved its start time over half an hour earlier, which will cut into their sleep. And my kids really, really need their sleep. We can see a very clear degradation in their mental focus, their demeanor, their positive attitude and their ability to concentrate when they're sleep-deprived. Their bed-time is 8:00 PM, and keeping them out past that time on a regular basis is doing them a disservice no matter how terrific the training might be. Combine that with my Monday-night commitment and Five Star was the clear choice. They're planning to have a class at around 6:00 PM every night of the week that will have our kids home and ready for bed on time.

VV: So you're sure that Five Star is a serious dojo that can offer quality training?

MD: I believe it is, yes. I spent hours interviewing Sensei Napoli at FiveStar about his background, his philosophy and his program, and their plan looks solid. They don't want to just process students through a business plan that churns out a black belt in a certain number of classes (or weeks or months or whatever). They expressed a sincere dedication to teaching the best martial arts program they can and I thought it came across as very genuine. They also seem to be enthusiastic learners themselves, and they'll be adding to their skills even as they train their own students.

VV: You obviously spent a lot of time actually training at Syracuse Jundokan, so it would seem like you know what to expect there. How sure are you about what you're getting into at Five Star? They're pretty new at this, right?

MD: Certainly this is a big adventure and it will clearly be a learning experience for the proprietors of Five Star Martial Arts. It's true, we've only spent about an hour training with our new Senseis so far, but isn't that typical? How often does somebody join a dojo where they really know exactly what to expect there week after week, belt level after belt level. I'm comfortable with the questions I asked and familiar enough with the general sort of training we'll be getting to be satisfied that we'll get a good workout. I expect that we'll improve our overall fitness, our flexibility, our endurance, our balance and our focus at Five Star.

VV: So what are you most excited about, now that your choice has been made?

MD: We're just looking forward to starting with this new program. We get to start on day one at this dojo, which means we'll get to watch it grow and change as we learn there. I'm looking forward to training as a "full member," which we never were at LaVallee's. I'm excited about long-term growth and improvement with these instructors as my family builds strength, endurance, flexibility and overall good health. I'm glad that we'll be joining our family to the Five Star family and striving together to make ourselves better. Sensei Paul Napoli and Sensei Curtis Pastore seem like great guys and my whole family is anxious to begin training with them.

VV: What about all the great things you liked about training with Sensei Oddy? Is that behind you?

MD: I hope not! Right now, with the kids so young and the whole family trying to train together, the timing just doesn't work. But a few years down the road, when we've mastered the basics at Five Star and the kids are a bit older, I'm hopeful that we'll be in a better position to add Sensei Oddy's knowledge back into our training.

VV: Well, congratulations on your decision and best of luck with all of your martial arts training!

MD: Thanks!

A Tale of Two Dojos

Choosing the place where we'll train long-term

[Note: this would normally be Monday's blog post, but I finished it early so here it is.]

My family and I have been happy at LaVallee's karate for the last 6-8 months. We've trained hard, learned a lot, sweated a LOT (especially me) and we're preparing to take our second belt test. I feel like overall it was a good experience. I suppose that at some point I might go into the details of what I do and don't like about the experience there, but overall we were happy and we would have stayed if we could afford it. Sadly, even with every discount and price break they felt comfortable throwing our way, the change from their six-months "intro" program to their full Black Belt Champions program involved doubling the cost to train there (or more) and also required that we sign a 3-year contract. The cost was simply not affordable for us and there's no way I'd ever sign a 3-year contract for services like this, so we're moving on.

Our kids would miss karate if we stopped, but they'd get over it pretty quickly. None of them are the gung-ho type who feels that karate is their personal calling in life. I'm not worried that they won't feel complete until they've mastered every kata, learned every technique, and earned their black belts and beyond. That's just not their style - they're fairly easy-going. Likewise, as much as my wife and I respect and enjoy the martial arts, we'd both gone for a decade and a half without training, so it's not as if our lives will fall apart without it. At the same time, the martial arts was the only sport I ever really enjoyed participating in, and of course my wife spent a LOT of years earning her 2nd-degree black belt way back when. It's certainly been a part of our lives, and we're planning to stick with it (and, if necessary, drag the kids along with us).

We investigated many other local dojos. My wife and I both made phone calls, used social networking, and did our research in the phonebook and on the web. We ruled out a couple of places because their websites or reputations just didn't speak well for them. We ruled out quite a few more because they were in the same price-range as LaValle's for a family our size. In the end, though, we've found two schools we're very happy and impressed with, and this week we plan to get together as a family and choose the one we feel will suit us best. Luckily, neither of them has anything close to a 3-year contract, so it's not as if we'd be locked in forever. I expect, though, that whichever we choose, we'll likely stick with for a very long time.

The two finalists in our Syracuse Northern Suburbs Dojo Roundup are... (drum roll!)

Syracuse Jundokan and Five Star Martial Arts!

 Sensei David Oddy at Syracuse Jundokan and Senseis Paul Napoli and Curtis Pastore at Five Star are all super-excited about the martial arts and passionate about training. I'm actually hoping they'll all get to meet at some point, as I think they'd get along tremendously. In the meantime, it's going to be very hard to pick just one of these very different schools.

Syracuse Jundokan's Sensei Oddy and Sensei Sergei Kushner both have "day jobs," and are encouraged by their home dojo in Okinawa to not "eat from karate" - keeping it as an avocation, rather than a vocation. As a result, the dojo's classes are very small (and will potentially remain that way for a while) and their facilities consist of a multi-purpose room at Champion's Fitness plus the after-hours use of the dojo at Aikido of Central New York (where Sensei Kushner trains his students for national AAU and NKF competitions). The facilities aren't tailored to their specific needs, but they're more than adequate to get the job done.

[On a personal note, if it were just up to me, I'd probably sign up again at Aikido of CNY as I really loved it there. But none of the rest of my family has any interest in that style. Such is life - fortunately I enjoy other styles of martial arts nearly as much. But I digress.]

At Five Star Martial Arts, Sensei Napoli and Sensei Pastore are making the martial arts their career. They've thrown their familys' livelihoods into opening their own storefront dojo with all the fixins. Their custom-designed logo hangs in a place of honor on the back wall. Their creed and values grace the front plate-windows and adorn the wall above the mirrors. There are video screens hanging on the wall and a whole closet filled with brand-new hand targets, body shields, focus mits, and anything else you can think of (excepting hojo undō, but I'll get to those later). They have brand-new tatami-mats and the whole facility is theirs to do with as they please and to schedule as many classes a day as they feel they can handle.

Syracuse Jundokan teaches traditional, authentic Okinawan Goju-Ryu karate. So authentic, in fact, that Sensei Oddy travels to Okinawa every year to train at the home dojo of his Okinawan masters - who trace their lineage directly to Miyagi Chojun Sensei, the father and founder (the O-Sensei) of Goju-Ryu Karate. The classes are extremely detailed and focused - sometimes spending most of the class breaking down and working on a single technique. Sensei Oddy is amazing - seeing him perform a kata like Seanchin, watching his precision and how he controls his breathing, is awe-inspiring. His depth and breadth of knowledge in his art are evident in every class he teaches. When I'm learning from Sensei Oddy, I can almost believe I'm in Japan.

Five Star Martial Arts practices Kenpo Karate - the Americanized version taught by Kyoshi Steve LaValle. Kyoshi is a student of seemingly every kind of martial art there is, and has folded most of them into his "Black Belt Champions" schools. I don't get the feel that Five Star is quite as diverse, as "blended" as LaValle's, but at their core they're still Kyoshi's students. In addition, they've been training for a few months under their new Sensei, Nick Dougherty, in New Jersey. I believe Sensei Nick is mostly their business mentor up to this point, but in time they'll be able to add his expertise to what they learned at LaVallee's.


My family has already been training part-time at Syracuse Jundokan for the last two months and I'm amazed at the things I've learned there in such a short time. I mean, it's not surprising that we'd have learned a couple of new katas - Gekesai Dai Ichi and two versions of Seanchin. But I also learned completely new theories around techniques like the horse stance, the cat stance, and even basic techniques like the upward block and the downward block, neither of which is, technically, what their name would imply (in fact, the downward block isn't meant to be a block at all, but a strike!). THAT sort of depth just blows me away and, as far as I can see, it's absolutely unique in the Syracuse area. It's not watered-down, but hard-core martial arts straight from the Far East. In addition, Sensei Oddy's Okinawan Goju-Ryu includes a type of exercise called Bunkai.

Bunkai is a wonderful way to train. Typically when you learn a kata, your instructor will tell you to "Imagine you're being attacked from the left with a front kick," and that helps you to visualize why you're doing the technique the way you are. Sensei does that (and in minute detail, explaining why virtually every muscle you move has a very specific purpose in the kata), but then he adds in a partner performing bunkai against your kata. As you block, the partner strikes. As they strike, you block. As Sensei Oddy says, "The kata informs the bunkai, the bunkai tests the kata." I've never seen anything like it and it really helps add a whole new dimension to kata. They're no longer just forms to be mastered, but actual, practicable combat techniques that you can train in a low-contact, non-competitive sort of sparring with your partner.

Five Star Martial Arts doesn't have nearly as much of the traditionalism that I personally enjoy - they bow to the American flag rather than greeting the Kamidana (a Shinto shrine and/or a representation of the Dojo's founder) in Japanese. The majority of the terminology, from counting to student responses to the names of techniques and stances, is in English. Only the terms for the instructors (Sensei) and the seated positions (seiza) reflect the style's Asian origins. What they do have, however, is a vigorous cardiovascular and calisthenic workout built into each training class. Granted, the classes are shorter to begin with than at Syracuse Jundokan and then the workout further cuts into the time spent learning and practicing techniques, however my wife especially likes the workout and I would have to honestly admit that if I don't get my exercise at Karate, I won't get it anywhere. I've spent most of the last 15 years turning my body into a sluggish, flabby sack of meat that gets out of breath if I jog up the stairs too fast. It took me three months of hard training at LaValle's before I could make it all the way through a class there without having to stop and gasp for breath for five minutes. So it's definitely true that traditionalism and vigorous exercise are both key aspects of what my family needs in its martial arts training, and they're available at different schools.

Though I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge Sensei Oddy's impressive (and growing) collection of traditional Okinawan exercise equipment. Called hojo undō in Japanese, these "supplementary exercise" tools are both impressive and (in my opinion as a clutz and a father of clutzes) horrifying (though I mean that in the nicest way possible. They really are very cool, I'm just certain that one or more members of my family will injure themselves trying to use them). His equipment includes concrete disks on wooden sticks called chi shi, which you heave around trying not to bonk yourself in the head in order to develop your hands, wrists and forearms (among other key muscle groups). Nigiri game are weighted pottery jars with a thick ridge around the opening where you grip them with your fingers. You then practice kata and other techniques while carrying them around. The tachi-makiwara (which he hopes to have re-installed soon) is a padded board used for practicing strikes. And his most recent (and, I believe, proudest) acquisition is the giant kongoken. It's a forearm-thick metal rod that's been bent so it has two long, parallel sides and is somewhat rounded at both ends (sort of like a 100-lb paperclip without the extra piece in the middle). This terrifying tool is used in many different ways to practice things like the hip-movement that powers the strikes in Goju-Ryu. Again, I am both awed and frightened by Sensei Oddy's collection of Japanese exercise equipment, and he makes it freely available to his students. Which is to say that if we put our minds to it, my wife and I (at minimum) could certainly get a good workout at Syracuse Jundokan. It's just going to require willpower and discipline on our parts, whereas at Five Star Martial Arts it's built in to the program.

Given how busy our five-member family is, especially during the school year, scheduling is an issue for us. It's also one place where Five Star's operation shines, since the two instructors (and owners) have the freedom to schedule multiple classes every day of the week, Monday through Saturday. Syracuse Jundokan's classes are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and they run late enough that we don't get home until a good half-hour or more past the kids' bed-time. That's inconvenient in the summer, but during the school year I think it would be a major problem - especially since their school's arrival time has been moved up 35 minutes earlier beginning in September. The schedule at Five Star would have us home in time to read a book and get the kids tucked in by 8 PM so they're getting plenty of rest for school. Besides that, I'm really never available on Mondays as long as I'm meeting with my Writer's Roundtable, and I expect that to continue through at least the end of 2010, and probably well beyond that. As a result, we'd be limited to training at Syracuse Jundokan on Wednesday and Friday only unless the schedule changes (which I believe Sensei Oddy might be inclined to do at some point). If one of the kids ends up with a school activity on one of those nights, there wouldn't be much flexibility to shift our training to a different day. At Five Star, we can pick and choose the days and times that work best, and could easily train three or even as many as five times a week if we want.

Lastly, each dojo offers at least one unique training opportunity that the other does not. At Syracuse Jundokan, both Sensei Oddy and Sensei Kushnir have extensive experience with national competitions through the AAU and the National Karate Federation, which is considered the national governing body for U.S. Karate by the U.S. Olympic Committee. In other words, if you're training and competing under the auspices of the NKF, then you've got the opportunity to join the U.S. National Team and possibly even the U.S. Olympic Team. In fact, right now their student Bryan Randazzo is preparing to represent the U.S. at the Pan-American Games in Montreal in August as part of our National Team. That's pretty amazing and it's unheard of, as far as I can tell, from any other dojo in the greater Syracuse area. Training at Syracuse Jundokan puts you in the position to participate in AAU and NKF tournaments under the expert coaching of two veteran instructors.

I should acknowledge, though, that that isn't something my family's interested in right now. I'd be floored if any of them ever have the tenacity, the temerity, and the sense of self-sacrifice to put in the effort and commitment necessary to compete at that level. I can almost picture my youngest son showing an interest, but he's many years too young at this point. So while Syracuse Jundokan offers this impressive and unprecedented training opportunity, it's not directly relevant to my family's training goals.

At the same time, Five Star Martial Arts offers the same training in kobudo or, as they simply call it in English, weapons, as at LaVallee's. Not the full range of Okinawan weaponry - they don't appear to know the sai or the tonfa, but they train in the kama, the bo staff, the nunchuku, and they add in the katana because it's cool as hell. Now I certainly know that these tools are superficial to the martial arts training - they don't necessarily add to your empty-hand technique (though the katana certainly does if you're studying Aikido, which we are not) nor are you likely to have them with you should you ever need them, but let's be frank: I like traditional Japanese weaponry, I think it's neat, and given a choice I'd prefer to train with them than not. There's no deeper reason than that.

And there you have it - it's not quite a scorecard, because the advantages of each school aren't necessarily comparable or equally weighted enough to fit into gross categories. And if you're reading the above article and you conclude that "clearly he prefers dojo X or dojo Y," you've misread it (unless you're referring to my old Aikido dojo, in which case you're correct, but it's not an option). It's anything but clear, and in fact it's going to be one of the hardest choices my family has made in quite some time. Both dojos offer us tremendous learning opportunities and I'm absolutely certain that we'd be extremely happy at whichever we choose. Likewise, we're going to be disappointed not to be able to train at whichever dojo isn't selected. When we left Five Star on Friday after our second "intro session," the kids insisted we ought to train at both. Sigh. Yeah, guys, I'd like that, too. If only time and money were unlimited, I believe we just might.

Check back later this week. After we've made our decision and spoken to both dojos, I'll post it here. Wish me luck.

Update: the decision is now up! Click here.