Patrick

Glad that you found some memories in there, Pat. Thanks Titanium. Patrick

Congrats neoravencroft!

Happy birthday to John (Zaine)! Thank you for all of the contributions that you have made to our community. Patrick

Thanks. I thought you made the point really well. Bob, no one is saying that your objections don't have validity. In fact, I think most people on this thread agree completely with you. I only disagree with the notion that this should never, ever be possible. Why would that be appropriate? If it is a meeting of CIs and CIs are welcome, who are you to decide who is and is not qualified to attend? I mean, if you want to hold your own meeting and decide who is in the club and who isn't, that's OK. But if you are just an attendee of the meeting as a CI, why would it be appropriate for you to say who and who should not attend in the position they hold within their own school? What would you think if a fellow attendee did that to you? There are football coaches in the NFL, at big colleges, at tiny colleges, in high school, in Pop Warner and in various volunteer roles. Most coaches aren't Don Shula. But the coach who guides a pack of 10 year olds is still a coach. It doesn't mean he's a world class coach, but he's helping some people, and I don't mind that he calls himself a coach. I don't see anything that would suggest that this kid is doing this for money as the primary motivator. There are plenty of other ways to make money. Thanks, Patrick

Point of clarification: from reading the articles, it seems like he became head instructor at 17. Certified at 16, teaching full time at 17. Maybe I read it wrong, though. I was going to raise the point that Danielle did, which I think is a great one: once in a while, you hear of a teenager running a wildly successful business. Of course, they are the rare exception. But that's the point: there are exceptions. Bob, your list of what CI does actually reads fairly closely to what a business owner does. Change a few words and it's pretty much dead on. I didn't find your yellow belt example to be a good one. That speaks more to me about the marketing aspects of the arts. In your story, the prospective student doesn't respect the school because of the color of the instructors belt. But in reality, the color of the instructors belt is, at best, only a partial indicator of their ability as an instructor. Wearing a black belt is kind of like having a row of trophies in your lobby. It's a marketing thing more so than an actual indication of instruction quality. I don't think that it's completely inconceivable that there can be a teenager who is a decent (I didn't say great, which he could be, but decent) head instructor. I don't think you can say that. Would you even consider most adult head instructors "decent"? A teenage business owner will deal with the exact same criticisms. How can you trust the business? The kid will probably just blow your money! How can you trust the instruction at the school? It's the same sort of thing. It's a criticism of mental maturity, experience and responsibility. And yet, kids who check those boxes do exist. What do we do with them? What I do professionally today, I did when I was 15, and I faced some of these thoughts. What to do with me? Should I be held to your idea of what I should be, rather than the idea of what I want to be? I realize that everyone here is just offering their opinions as an onlooker, not thinking of themselves as the parents of this kid, but it might be something to consider. So you won't be the teenage business owner's customer. That's your choice. You'd happily have him as your paper boy (kind of a dated reference, heh), but you couldn't trust his business, right? Because he's probably not responsible. He's probably like the teenagers you've known in your life. For the same reason, you couldn't trust him to run a small martial arts school in Mississippi. He can't help anyone. You can't trust his instruction. These criticisms, between business owner and martial arts instructor, aren't dissimilar. You have an idea of what a head instructor should be. And because it doesn't come close to meeting that idea, it's problematic. But don't many adults fail to meet that same idea? Many adults are awful martial arts instructors and terrible, irresponsible business owners. All of this doesn't mean he won't be the ideal for someone else. It doesn't mean he can't command respect from adults. It doesn't mean he can't reach kids and teenagers in a way many adults can't. And it doesn't mean he can't be a better teacher or business owner. I believe that a 16 year old can run a business "alone and independently," (quoting Spartacus Maximus here), but that's not what he's doing and that's not what most business owners do, is it? Most people have someone they rely on, whether it be an employee, an accountant, a temp agency, whatever. While emancipated minors do exist, it's pretty clear he's not alone (his parents are even mentioned in the article). As an aside, the website mainly looks impressive in the context of the martial arts, where many schools have poor websites. I could set something up like this in a few hours with maybe $50. There are some assumptions in this thread and the idea that this was a costly website is one of them. This is just a template site that the Gracies offer to schools. For example: http://www.graciejiujitsudestin.com/ http://graciectc.com/ashburn/ What everyone is saying is generally true, for almost everyone. But I do think it's problematic when you never allow for the exception, because exceptions do exist. That's really all I'm saying. If you are that exception - or your kid is that exception - you reach high and you go for it. Patrick

Welcome, Titanium. Glad to have you. Patrick

That's a nice Miami Dolphins color scheme, Danielle.

Thanks for sharing that. Happy to hear it. Patrick

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/ronda-rousey-biopic-autobiography-my-fight-your-fight-1201553460/ Thought this was pretty interesting. It's rare for the subject of a biopic to play them self, but not unheard of.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The August selection is... JR 137. Congratulations! Thank you for all of the great contributions that you have made to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Happy birthday, Danielle! Hope you are having a great birthday. Thank you for all that you do around here. Patrick

You are absolutely right. I used to host a YouTube show where it was basically just my face, and it can be a pretty daunting thing. You did good.

Great to have you here, Charlotte. Patrick

I went ahead and gave this its own thread, so other members who play on Steam might see it more easily. Thanks, Patrick

Good to see you, Luther unleashed. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats Doomed! Good to hear from you. Patrick

Nice.

Thanks for sharing this, Noah! Very cool. How did you get invited? Patrick

So happy to hear that! Thank you again. Patrick

Hello and welcome, Foxxy66. Glad to have you. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The July selection is... Judodad_karateson. Congratulations! Love your username. Thank you for all of the great contributions that you have made to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Using royalty free, right cleared or Creative Commons music is definitely the way to go. Not bad at all. The main thing I would say focus on is just the text, making it readable and leaving enough time to read it. You'll get there. Thanks, Patrick

Congrats Kwon_Artist. Patrick

That's so cool. Congrats on how far you've come. I'm glad that the community has been helpful and that we could be along for, and benefit from, your ride. Patrick

Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. Our web hosting is performing some maintenance on June 27 around 8 PM ET (UTC -5). We'll be offline around that time, but it shouldn't be for too long. I appreciate your understanding and patience. Patrick