Karate for kids from age four. Jiu-jitsu and kickboxing for teens and adults. Belt tests four times a year, no contracts, and a first week that costs nothing.
A dojo is not a gym. Nobody counts your reps or cheers at you. You learn to stand still, then to move well, then to be the calmest person in the room. The belt is just the receipt.
Every class starts and ends with a bow, and every program teaches the same things at a different size: attention, effort, and respect for the person across from you. Pick by age. We will place by temperament.
Thirty minutes, because that is how long a five-year-old has. Movement games with a stance hidden inside, and a bow at the start and the finish that they take very seriously by week three.
Shotokan basics, kata learned in order, and enough controlled sparring to find out that getting tagged is not an emergency. Stripes on the belt track the months between tests, so the work stays visible.
Gi on Mondays and Wednesdays, no-gi on Tuesdays and Thursdays, open mat once you have earned it. You will get tapped by a smaller person in your first month. That is the lesson, and it is a good one.
Footwork, pads, bags, and combinations drilled until they are clean. The conditioning arrives as a side effect. Sparring is opt-in, light, and watched by someone who says stop early.
Current as of the first of the month. Changes and holiday closures are posted here before anywhere else. Arrive ten minutes early for your first class.
| Day | Time | Class | For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 4:00 pm | Little Dragons | Ages 4 to 6 |
| 4:45 pm | Kids Karate | Ages 7 to 12 | |
| 6:00 pm | Kickboxing | Ages 16 and up | |
| 7:00 pm | Adult BJJ, gi | Ages 13 and up | |
| Tue | 4:00 pm | Kids Karate | Ages 7 to 12 |
| 5:00 pm | Teen BJJ | Ages 13 to 17 | |
| 6:30 pm | Kickboxing | Ages 16 and up | |
| 7:30 pm | Adult BJJ, no-gi | Ages 18 and up | |
| Wed | 4:00 pm | Little Dragons | Ages 4 to 6 |
| 4:45 pm | Kids Karate | Ages 7 to 12 | |
| 6:00 pm | Women's open mat | BJJ, all levels | |
| 7:00 pm | Adult BJJ, gi | Ages 13 and up | |
| Thu | 4:00 pm | Kids Karate | Ages 7 to 12 |
| 5:00 pm | Teen BJJ | Ages 13 to 17 | |
| 6:30 pm | Kickboxing | Ages 16 and up | |
| 7:30 pm | Adult BJJ, no-gi | Ages 18 and up | |
| Fri | 4:00 pm | Little Dragons | Ages 4 to 6 |
| 5:00 pm | Kids sparring | Yellow belt and up | |
| 6:00 pm | Open mat | All adults | |
| Sat | 9:00 am | Little Dragons | Ages 4 to 6 |
| 9:45 am | Kids Karate | Ages 7 to 12 | |
| 10:45 am | Family class | Parents and kids, any belt | |
| 11:45 am | Adult BJJ, gi | Ages 13 and up | |
| Sun | Closed | The mat gets mopped and the instructors get a day. | |
Karate runs white to black in eight belts. Jiu-jitsu runs white to black in five, with up to four stripes on each. Between belts, stripes mark the work, so a kid can see the month they had.
You are invited to test when your instructor says you are ready, not when the calendar does. Nobody is held back to fill a room, and nobody is promoted to keep a parent happy. A test is a class with a witness: you show the material for your rank in front of the room, and either it is there or it is not yet. Not yet is a normal result. Most students who hear it pass the next quarter.
Test fee $40, new belt included. Testing starts at 9:00 am, and families are welcome on the bench.
We do not teach kids to win fights. We teach them to stand up straight, use their voice, and walk away first. Most bullying stops at the posture. If it does not, they know what to do next, and they know they will not be in trouble with us for doing it.
A 45-minute class has about four minutes of standing still in it, and those four minutes are the hardest thing we teach. Expect your kid to be bad at it for a while. Expect it to show up at homework time before it shows up on the mat.
Bow in. Ten minutes of warm-up that looks a lot like a game. Twenty minutes drilling one thing until it is boring. A partner exercise. A game they will beg for. Bow out. Parents watch from the bench, and we ask you not to coach from it.
Two instructors, one standard. Both teach kids and adults, both still train every week, and both will say not yet to your face and mean it kindly.
Started at seven in his uncle's garage, opened Kata at forty-one, and still warms up every morning with the first kata he ever learned. Teaches Little Dragons himself because, in his words, that is where the real black belts are made.
A former amateur boxer who found jiu-jitsu at thirty-four and has been late to dinner ever since. Runs the Wednesday women's open mat and every kickboxing class, and has never once let a beginner spar in their first month.
One price per person, every program at your level included. The family discount stacks, the month-to-month is real, and the first week is free before any of this applies.
Enough for Little Dragons, and for adults who want one serious hour they will actually keep.
The pace at which belts actually happen. Two set days, or float across the schedule.
Everything on the schedule for your age, open mat included. For the ones who ask if they can come back tomorrow.
Second family member 20% off. Third and beyond, 30% off. It applies to whichever plan each person picks, and parents count as family.
Month to month, always. Pause for a season or cancel with a text. There is no form and no fee. We would rather you come back than feel stuck.
Every class that fits your age, for seven days, with no card on file and nobody chasing you if you decide it is not for you. Most people know by Wednesday.
218 Ferris Avenue
Lakemont
Open in Maps
Ground floor of the old mill building, entrance on Ferris. Park in the lot behind. Shoes come off at the door, and the bench inside is for parents.
Class times are on the schedule above. The desk answers texts between classes.
Call or text (555) 555-0147
or write to hello@kata.example
Test dates, closures, and schedule changes go out by text the week before.