Morgan Gates
Published: September 28, 2005
It’s a late school night and you are approaching a dark area of a parking lot after leaving a night class. You sense an uneasy silence and suddenly begin to feel very alone. In your mind you conceptualize a stranger walking up to you and snatching you right off the street. What do you do?
“Knowing how to protect yourself is very important,” student Rafael Lopez says.
Consider taking a self-defense class right here on campus. On Monday and Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., there is ongoing registration for a Japanese style martial arts course called Shotokan in building 19. The course is offered through the Karate Club, which has been on campus for more than 35 years. It is designed to teach people of all ages how to build concentration, gain balance, and learn self defense techniques, says karate instructor Tom Frutticher.
Frutticher says the concentration exercised in karate will enable one to concentrate on anything else done throughout the day, like with doing home work, or driving.
Stuart Smith, another karate instructor, says flexibility and coordination are also emphasized.
“Everyone is uncoordinated at first; there is no short course to Karate,” he said. “Karate is a life long thing.”
Frutticher adds, “It’s something you have to work at regularly for a long time. It takes years and years of hard work.”
The instructors agree that karate is driven by desire and the will to keep going. Smith and Frutticher have practiced karate for about 30 years and both have won many awards and titles. One Karate club member Garry Wesner, 45, has been in karate for 26 years, and another member Nori Osaka,31, has been practicing karate for 11 years.
Even though there is a lot of hard work and dedication involved, there are many benefits in karate. Flexibility, balance, coordination, concentration, and learning the self-defense techniques are just a few. Karate “keeps you healthy,” Smith said.
Wesner likes the workout.
“I enjoy the athleticism. It keeps me in shape,” he said. “I also enjoy the camaraderie.”
Smith says the Karate Club also is a great social atmosphere.
Self satisfaction is the greatest benefit for Osaka.
“It takes self discipline, but with that comes a lot of self-satisfaction,” Osaka said. “I keep on trying, never quit.”
All of these fighters adhere to the philosophy of the Karate Club – “Follow the path, it will come.”
For more information, contact Diana Bear in the Continuing Education department at 484-1797.
