By: Sensei Linda Gage

In October of 2002, I was given the privilege of a charter under the United  States Chito-Ryu Karate Federation due to the recommendation of my Sensei, Renshi James Matthews.

In the beginning of 2004, a woman came in with her Grandson. She sat quietly in the back of the training deck as her grandson was about to take his first lesson. I walked to the back to introduce myself and at the same time told her to take her shoes off and join us. She responded that she was 59 years old and had fibromyalgia as well as severe osteo arthritis and proceeded to show me her hands, which indeed showed evidence of some painful stiffening. “Never mind that”, I said,” this will be good for you”.           

Fast forward to 2010. This lady is now a Ni-kyu.

Around the same time, another gentleman came by the dojo and introduced himself. He was 62 at the time and stated that he wanted something that he could do for the rest of his life. I said, “Well, you have come to the right place”. He is now 68 and will hopefully be testing this year before the National Test Board for his black belt.

There are many more folks that have come into our dojo here in the sticks of Virginia and I am going to let them tell their tale. I have included all budoka who are over 40, (seeing as 35 is considered “senior” by AAU standards) had never trained before that age, and are currently training.

It is my pleasure to introduce to you:

Mr. Jack Little, Age 68

I started karate when I was 63, shortly after I had “retired”.  I had been waiting for many years for the time and some small pittance  to allow me to train. I am now 68 years and 5 months old and counting. It is difficult to say exactly what karate has done for me, it has done so much. Starting with the physical, karate has strengthened me, increased my balance tenfold, increased my range of motion, my reflexes are much faster, and my awareness of my body movements is elevated.

From these physical improvements has come a new sense of well being. I am more relaxed. My breathing has become more relaxed and controlled. I look people in the eye with confidence. I have no need to fight to prove myself. I know more of who I am.

Sensei Wellbrock summed it up for me one evening after the October seminar when he said “Becoming a black belt has given me the courage to run from a fight with confidence”. That confidence is worth it’s weight in gold!

I am 65 years old.  I have fibromyalgia and inflamatory arthritis.  On top of that, my ability to remember things is far from what it used to be.  I have been training for 5 years.  If it had not been for the encouragement of Sensei, I would have quit 4 years ago. Each time I thought I COULDN'T, she said Oh Yes You Can.  I am now a Ni-Kyu.  I never thought I would make it this far.  I am proud to be a member of this Karate Family.

I first became interested in karate training when my husband told me about the class that he was enrolling in and invited me to join. He described the positive benefits that he hoped to gain and the enthusiasm of Sensei Linda Gage in welcoming an older student. I soon joined him in class, and now in my fifth year of training I’m preparing for my brown belt test.

In thinking about my training, the words of our motto resonate; “with peace, perseverance and hard work, we shall not fail to reach our goal”. When I first started classes, my goals were to stay physically fit, to become physically stronger, and to learn some self defense. What I’ve learned is far more than my simple aspirations. This journey has been emotional and spiritual as well as physical. Classes have been often challenging and hard on many levels. I have thought about quitting several times for a variety of reasons. And yet I persevere.

As an older student, I’ve been looking harder at this amazing journey we call life, and I’m making some decisions about how I want the remainder of my journey to look.  Karate training has reinforced my life by helping to develop tools that I believe we all need. Those that come to mind immediately are courage, humility, perseverance, honesty, self-discipline, forgiveness and spiritual growth.  These precepts are supported not only by the founders and contributors to our style, but daily and weekly in the dojo by my Sensei. I must give much credit to her continued encouragement and support of all of her students, but particularly her older students. She is both hard and soft, challenging me constantly and showering me with her humor and compassion. She is teacher and mentor, friend and role model and she is much of the reason that I persist in this discipline. For it is hard and constantly challenging, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
 

“Perseverance”

Like several other “senior” karate-ka, my first introduction to the Charlottesville Yoseikan was as a parent accompanying a child. After sitting in the back of class for several weeks watching my teen daughter, Sensei Gage extended an invitation for me to join. I was hesitant due to my lack of natural athletic talent and an aversion to working out in public. Over time, I found that I enjoyed the physical and mental challenge combined with the camaraderie and support of Sensei and the other karate-ka. I took the Showa to heart, and focused on the concept of perseverance. During many days of training, I became frustrated to the point of tears. In reading about the martial arts, I came across a quote that remains in my mind: “Cry in the dojo, laugh on the battlefield.” In pondering this truth, I have come to accept that although I am not as quick to memorize the steps of the katas or retain the numbers assigned to each henshu ho, by doing my best in each class—by pushing myself beyond my self-imposed limits—I am becoming a better karate student, employee, friend, wife, mom, and person. Sensei Gage has the uncanny ability to know just when I can and should push further, and when I need that one word of encouragement that helps me continue on my journey.
 

I got involved with karate a year after hearing and sharing my husband’s enthusiasm about his own  practice .   Who was this Sensei that my husband had so much to say about?  I felt like I had to try and find   what this was all about.    I was in pretty good physical shape.   I am now in better and stronger place than when I started.    The dojo offers me an opportunity to discover new possibilities to grow.  Thank you for creating this dojo right in Greenwood.

I do karate about 10 years (8 years of shotokan and 2 years of chito-ryu). What I like best of all is that karate is a great challenge.There is no final point of achievement - there is always a room for improvement both physical and mental. You can do the same kata more and more and every time you can do it better or deeper understand its meaning. Requirement is very simple - train hard, do every move like it is your last move. And this is exactly what we have at the Charlottesville Yoseikan - every class is a challenge, every class brings something new, every class makes you a little bit better. In order to train hard it is necessary to have respective environment. Our Sensei Gage managed to create not just a karate dojo but The Karate Dojo with absolutely unique atmosphere of friendship and spirit. I am really very grateful.

My first introduction to martial arts was in elementary school when I came across Bruce Tegner's Self Defense book.  Unfortunately, living in a very rural area, the training possibilities were non-existant.  Though possessing no natural skill or stamina and in my late thirties, I studied Tae Kwon Do and, in my forties, Wing Chun.  I think Karate-ka have a recessive gene which lights up when we train and we are hooked.  Now, at 50, I stand at the end of class, at attention, covered in sweat, my heart and lungs operating at full speed, and wondering why I'm not studying Tai Chi instead.   But I smile because I LOVE it.  So, with that being said, let's see what this body can do over the next decade.

My son John and I began our training at the same time. Initially, I started mainly to keep him company, and get (as I naively thought) "a little exercise". Needless to say, I got a whole lot more than I imagined or was prepared for. For almost a week after that first class, every muscle in my body ached, and I literally had to roll out of bed and onto the floor to get up in the morning! I get a lot less sore nowadays, but the awe and wonder I feel toward karate-do has only grown. It reminds me very much of hiking up into high mountains. After a series of hard climbs, you can look down at the view below, and marvel how far your efforts have brought you. But when turning your face upwards, you realize how much grander, loftier and farther away the peaks are than they appeared below, and how beautiful the path ahead is that beckons. The longer I train, the more there is to learn, and the more beautiful the art becomes.

I came to The Charlottesville Yoseikan and met Gage Sensei in Jan 2004. I had just turned 40 and had been an avid runner for over 10 years. I had spoken to my wife Mary about finding something more engaging than the rote exercise I was into. Familiar with my quest Mary actually made calls to the local martial arts schools and eventually spoke to my future sensei. I still remember coming home one evening and Mary telling me she how found the one, a new dojo in Greenwood, practicing traditional karate run through County the Parks & Rec. program. I quickly called Gage Sensei and it became apparent that this was not like the other dojos in town we had been talking to. I went to observe a class, ended up in my bare feet stepping & fetching and I am still in wonder that I found this amazing group. Six years later and I have just tested for my black belt. I am humbled to be the Charlottesville Yoseikan's first home grown black belt and everyday that I go to train I am reminded of that first day of training, and how  lucky we are to  be able to live and share O’Sensei Chitose's gift. 

Three years ago I finally began something I’d always wanted to try; but was  afraid. After 43 years of never being a part of any organized  physical activity,  I began Karate. It has been a wonderfully exhilarating ride! There are times  when life interrupts my training, yet when I return  my fellow karate-ka greet me  with hugs, smiles and “where have you beens?” Charlottesville Yoseikan has  become part of my extended family.  I am wonderfully blessed to have this  opportunity to give and receive encouragement, to watch the growth of others and  have acknowledged  my own progress, and to sweat like a pig and not wonder who’s  watching.      

I never expected to study karate, much less to enjoy it.  I hate to sweat, I have no athletic ability, and I am so uncoordinated that my kindergarten teacher recommended that I repeat the grade due to my inability to skip!  Joining karate class was simply a better use of two hours than sitting around waiting for my children to finish their instruction.  However, within weeks of starting I found myself counting the days until I could return to the dojo for my next class.

Surrounded by 7-year-olds, I struggled to remember the sequence of Ju Ni Waza while my teacher reviewed it patiently, insisting to me that it took him months to learn it himself (I don’t believe that, Sensei Rike.  Never did.  But I appreciate the encouragement).  The other adult students in my class showed remarkable tolerance for my lack of skills, while Sensei Gage modeled, motivated, and intimidated from the front of the dojo.  Sensei Gage has become someone I fear a little but love a lot, and I will do anything she asks of me.  For her, I would have figured out how to skip.

I leave karate class every week encouraged by the progress I’ve made in six months, but with my head full of the many things I have yet to learn.  I still can’t skip, but I have more important things to master:  I’ll be testing for my yellow belt next week.

“My Karate Training”

A wise man once said “Sweat cleanses from the inside.  It comes from places a shower will never reach.” At the young age of 43, I can attest to this each and every time I train at the Charlottesville Yoseikan. After a horrifying car accident, I thought I would never really do much at all ever again. When I first arrived, I couldn’t even do a 270-degree turn or move with any type of speed, power or grace. Sensei Linda Gage showed me a way I could become healthy and how I could better enjoy my life. I may still have little grace, power or speed, but I can now do a 270-degree turn. The aches and pains that come with age and constant training only serve to remind me that I’m alive, when I perhaps shouldn’t be.  It is a gift to be able to train.
 

Three football teams dominated our family schedule in the Fall of 09.  Matthew, our 4th boy, needed a fun and special activity, and Karate in Greenwood fit our schedule and location perfectly.  I thought it would be fun to have this together.  Karate, the history, the challenge, the discipline, has drawn Matthew and I in!  We are so proud of our hard work and yellow belts.  His brothers are impressed with us too, and know that football skills are no match for a black belt!  We joined a unique and special group, and have Sensei and her students to thank.

Began studying Uechi ryu in boston 1970. Joined USMC 1973 to 1997, studied Uechi ryu, Kadena dojo Okinawa for 2+yrs attaining 1st degree Brown belt in 1983. All Okinawa brown belt champion 1983 (three man team). Studied Marine Corps close combat 1985-87 in Hawaii. 1989-92 continued with Uechi ryu and other martial arts at the Joint Special Operations Command., Ft Bragg NC. Retired to Fayetteville NC 1997 and studied Uechi ryu until 1998 when I started Nursing School at Fayetteville Technical comm coll. Grad 2000 Assoc degree Nursing. Accredited close combat instructor, US Army Special Operations "teach the teacher" handgun instructor, master physical fitness instructor (military). Training effects are of course maintaining flexibility, cardio and mental health with for myself the spiritual aspect of a combined zen/shinto philosophy. The martial arts gives one a solid footing to be able to rapidly respond to the ever changing challenges life throws at one, without losing balance (mentally speaking).