Beginners Manual

School Creed

Line 1: As a student of USA Karate, I will train my mind, my body and my spirit.

Although our original style was called Shaolin Mu Ying Dow Kempo Karate (also known as Shorin Kempo Karate-Do) with traceable roots back to the Shaolin Temple around 400 a.d., we want our students to remember that they are Americans and represent the United States of America in their behavior, attitude and in sporting competitions. While we appreciate and respect our Chinese, Okinawan and Japanese background which is the birthplace of Karate, when push comes to shove, we try to bring home the gold to the USA. Being certified by the USA Karate Federation allows us to proudly call ourselves USA Karate.

Mind, body and spirit are common themes in many Karate schools but one that remains a priority at the American Black Belt Academy. First of all, by training our mind, the school places a high priority on continuing our education both for children and adults and trying to excel in the academic world. Training the body includes exercise and conditioning techniques as well as other avenues such as nutrition, positive attitudes and, in general, staying away from negative influences. In regard to training the spirit, we are talking about always trying to maintain a healthy positive mental attitude. We in no way address religion in class; morality -- yes, religion -- no. We maintain a truly non-denominational environment and leave the religion to each individual family.

Line 2: I will develop self confidence so that I may become a leader among my friends and in my community.

Self confidence or lack of confidence can have a great impact on the lives of children as well as adults. It has been proven that by developing one's own confidence and surrounding one's self with other confident people, allows each person to set and attain higher goals than before. Our particular teaching style is based on positive reinforcement which enhances self confidence at a phenomenal rate. In addition, traditional karate encourages each student to help those below them (sempai I kohai relationship) which has been proven to enhance leadership skills. Being a leader helps youth to resist negative peer pressure. For adults, we feel each of us has an obligation to try to make an impact on our community and give back to the community and society as a whole.

Line 3: I will develop self discipline in order to bring out the best in myself and my fellow man.

Knowing what is right and wrong is a pretty simple training experience but having the discipline to always try to make that right choice is much harder. It is imperative for a karate-ka (a student of karate) to have the discipline to train regularly, to not misuse his/her skills and to lead by example which includes all the other life skills. Many people fail to lead successful lives because they are unable to achieve their goals. Karate has proven to develop stick-to-itness that children and adults truly need. A karate-ka's word is his honor and commitment. If he or she commits to do something, then it is a done deal. Most of all, a karate-ka's commitment to himself allows him to set higher goals and to also achieve them. The ability to keep one's commitments and attain higher goals in karate training will transfer to other areas of one's life and have a positive impact. In karate, this is known as "Tamashii" or indomitable spirit.

Line 4: I will use my self defense skills only in defense of myself, my family or my country.

Unlike some martial arts schools, we believe that we have an obligation to never use our skills to hurt anyone, yet at the same time to never let anyone ever hurt us either. We use the martial arts to increase our physical and mental health, increase our life expectancy and if necessary, to defend ourselves, our family and our country. If however, we can avoid conflict through awareness, negotiation or evasion, then this must be a legal and moral priority.

School History

Our Association was founded by Terry Bryan during 1973 in Coleman, Texas, originally under the name American Karate Studio. In 1980, the headquarters moved to Dayton, Ohio and was incorporated with the name, American Black Belt Academy. Following this, the national headquarters moved to Colorado Springs in 1983 where it remains today under the name of the American Black Belt Academy with the style being Shorin Kempo ( based on Shorin Ryu and Kojosho Chinese Kempo .

As former head coach for the US Air Force Karate Team, Master Bryan now has students actively teaching around the world. Starting as one small club in Texas, the American Black Belt Academy is now recognized around the world as one of the premier Karate organizations in the world today. The American Black Belt Academy's instructor certification and general curriculum has been approved and sanctioned by the USA Karate Federation, the premier Karate organization in the US.

Any student attaining the rank of Black Belt through the American Black Belt Academy will be recognized by the Federation Mundale Karate, the international governing body for Karate as recognized by the International Olympic Committee and therefore recognizable in over 140 countries around the world. The American Black Belt Academy is one of only a handful of organizations in the country to be able to make this claim.

Brief History of Shorin Kempo Karate-Do

Around 400 a.d. a philosopher named Bodhiharma, came to China from India to spread his beliefs on the reality of life and death. Coming upon the famous Shaolin Temple in the Honan providence, he proceeded to teach the monks at the temple his form of self reflection which called for long periods of sitting still and meditating to themselves. With many of these monks falling asleep during this task, he began to develop an exercise program to develop a healthy body along with a healthy mind. These movements were thought to have been modeled from movements of the warrior class from India. As these combined with the local Chinese Kung Fu styles of combat, the famous Shaolin boxing style developed. Originally having its base from the 5 animal styles of the tiger, crane, leopard, snake and dragon, the Shaolin style spread and grew in composition around the country. This style eventually splintered when the temple was attacked and burned down with the survivors escaping to points around the country. Spreading to other countries, one major influence was that of Okinawa.

Although it probably came to the island earlier, the major influence of Shaolin Kempo to Okinawa was during the 1600’s. At that time three major fighting styles were developed according to the location of the main villages; Shun, Tomari and Naha. Each developed its own particular style of martial art on Okinawa. When the Japanese conquered the island, the Okinawans and Chinese became allies and began to share their martial arts techniques with each other so they could defend themselves against the Japanese samurai warriors on the island. In Japanese, Shaolin Kempo was called "Kara," meaning China. The Okinawan art was known then as "Te." The blending of these two systems created probably the most effective form of empty hand combat in the world. This new art was called Kara-Te. Many of the local instructors only referred to their style by where they lived; Shun-Te, Tomari-Te or Naha-Te. Others began to call their style Okinawan Kempo or Shorin Ryu (Shaolin style in Japanese.) In the 1920's, Okinawan Karate went to Japan where it was adapted to the Japanese culture in which some radical changes were made. Several different styles developed in Japan and the 4 main styles recognized internationally are Shotokan, Wado Ryu, Goju Ryu and Shito Ryu. Modern sport Karate was created in Japan and then came to America.

America is now divided into different styles including Taekwondo (Korean), Kung Fu (Chinese), Karate Japanese/Okinawan) and the many modern eclectic styles. Here at the American Black Belt Academy we try to stay rich on the traditional style while staying on top of the modern inventions as well.

Karate Terminology for Beginners

Although we are Americans and most of us speak English, the international language for Karate is Japanese. This allows for understanding and consistency at all Karate events throughout the world. Since it is now an official international sport, each instructor, coach and athlete needs to have a basic understanding of some of the terminology which will help in your training and your advancement and proficiency in the future.

Belt System       

A Karate belt will win no battles for you, but at the American Black Belt Academy it serves a couple of important purposes. First, this gives the student a chance to set short and long term goals in his practice of Karate and reward himself and others during his work along the path towards proficiency. Originally, legend tells us, that the belt was used to hold the pants up and white cotton was used because it was the cheapest material available. Also believing that the belt obtained some mystical powers through the weaving process, students were discouraged from washing the Obi (Karate belt). By looking for the darkest, grungiest belt, one could judge the proficiency of the Karate-ka. Even today we go from white to black with this principle in mind. (On a higher note, as the black belt wears, it begins to turn white again completing the circle of training.) In reality, the colored  belt system was developed in the University programs in Japan and actually borrowed from the swimming teams.

Secondly, from the instructors' point of view, the belt system allows us to structure our lesson plan which has produced the optimum training. program for the Karate student. At the American Black Belt Academy we have divided each belt into 4 parts which are indicated by the 4 stripes earned on the student's belt. This is a pretest system used to increase the success rate at the formal belt testing and stays in line with our positive reinforcement system.

Internationally, the average student remains a white belt for the first year, then a green belt for the second year. This is followed by a brown belt for the third year before making the black belt usually during the fourth year after consistent training for 3 years. In sporting competition the student is ranked as beginner (under 1 year of training), novice (under 2 years of training), intermediate (under 3 years of training) and advance (over 3 years of training). In order to allow for more short term goals, which is imperative in the American society especially for kids, we have added more belts but still try to maintain the 3 years to black belt. We also have junior ranks for those students under the age of 16, which also requires less testable material. Once a person makes black belt we adhere to the international grading requirements which include knowledge and proficiency but also age and time in grade requirements. Internationally there are 10 levels of black belt beginning with 1st degree and working your way upwards. There are probably under 10 legitimate 10th degree black belts in the world today. In fact, finding a legitimate and internationally recognized 7th or 8th degree is very rare. Only in America will you find an over rated number of high degree black belts who, however, have no legitimate nor international recognition.

At the American Black Belt Academy, our beginner students will first wear a white belt followed by yellow, orange and high orange belts. Intermediate beginners wear green, blue, purple, brown and high brown belts.At this point the student moves into the probationary black belt level.

Rules and Regulations