American Karate And Tae Kwon Do Org.
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NEWS from the AKaTo

World Renown Kata Expert to Teach our March Seminars
We have the date for our Annual Seminars and Awards Banquet. Saturday, March 31, 2012 will feature a full day of exciting classes topped off by our popular banquet with awards given to many deserving AKATO students. Set aside the date now because you won’t want to miss Shihan Tony Annesi, who will travel from the headquarters of his Budo-Kai in Boston to share secrets of kata. Don’t miss this opportunity to study with an internationally known master.
Check him out on Youtube.
We are partnering with the AKBBA (Mr. Yates is the board chairman of that organization) to bring you this exciting day of martial learning. AKATO and AKBBA members can deduct five bucks off the regular cost of the seminars. Click on the word “banquet” at right to download a registration form. banquet.2012

NEW NAM SEO KWAN BLACK BELTS
On January 8, 2012, Mr. Yates and a large board of black belt examineers presided over a Nam Seo Kwan Tae Kwon Do exam where four new first dan black belts were promoted. Fernando Rosas, Ken Terrill, Susan Terrill, and Eric McMurry all earned their ranks in a grueling three and a half hour test. Higher dan tests were also conducted that saw John Egan earn his third degree black belt and Tim Pugliese and Ceaser Johnson earned their fourth dan belts. See photos on the gallery page.

Retirement Party for Four Texas Legends
You may know that Mr. Yates will be taking over the Chairmanship of the High-Dan Board of the American Karate Black Belt Association (AKBBA) in January. He will be replacing James Toney (although no one can “replace” Mr. Toney). The AKBBA will hold a retirement reception for Mr. Toney, Mr. Royce Young, Mr. Tim Vought, and Mr. Richard Jenkins, as they are all retiring from the High-Dan board. It will be held at Dallas Martial Arts Academy on Preston Road in far north Dallas (new location) on January 21st. Attending will be Allen Steen, Pat Burleson, and Ed Daniels, three of the original founders of not just the AKBBA but of Texas karate itself. If you wish to help honor these martial arts legends, please contact Mr. Yates for more details.

RENBUDO BLACK BELT PROMOTIONS
Congratulations to Proctor Sensei’s newest Renbudo black belts who survived a tough examination on December 3rd. They are Lindsey Binford, Heath Coles, Darren Garay, and Trent Smalls. See the photo gallery.

OKINAWAN WEAPONS PROMOTIONS
After over two years of training 15 individuals earned their black belt ranking in Kobudo on November 12, 2011. They were Steve Servin, Mark Hollon, Victor Altimarano, Paul Montgomery, Sam Perez, Daniel Hunt, Chris Delgado, Eric McMurry, David Burford, Thomas Roesler, Nathan Palmer, JoAnn Deleon, Dennis Shuman, Paige Hubacek and Mark Lynn. See photos on the gallery page.

The NEXT weapons class will begin in February of 2012. We meet on the second Saturday of each month at the Cooper Fitness Center in North Dallas (off Preston Road, south of I-635). The cost is just $10 per class and you must provide your own weapons (we’ll order them for you). Class is open to any AKATO member who holds at least a brown belt ranking and is 12 years of age. Contact Mr. Yates or Mr. Proctor for more information on signing up for this curriculum.

Iss Hogai JuJitsu end of year test
Duane Ethington held his exam in November. On the board were Grandmaster Ethington, David Arehart, Yogi Ybarra, Joseph Ybarra, Chris Houtchens and Jerry Smith.
New Red belts are Colin Kohutek and Hal Williams. New Brown Belts are Kenny Robbins, Cobey Carr and Robert DeCapua. New Blue Belt, Colin Razinha. New Orange Betls, Dale LeDoux, Kyle LeDoux, Matt DeFord, Jackson DeFord, Drew Razenha, Dylan Razenha. Keaton Moore, Colin Razinha and Kenny Robbins were excellent Uki.

October 29, Tournament Results
See some photos on the gallery page.
Remember you can go to www.shadowphotographics.com to see the pictures taken by the professional photographers.

KATA WINNERS

8 & Under Yellow
Aarash Zakeri
Matthew Davila
Nicholas Mooney
Isaac Guerra

8 & Under Org/Pur
Andy Bitsko
Amelia Poulton
Ethan Christopher
Mark McKelvey

8 & Under Grn/Blu
Michael Marschall
Jackson Brumley
Keeden Jones
yavar begg
wesley ellis

9-11 Yellow
Nicole Hernandez
Angel Lugo
Lucine Devejian
Joshua Petersen

9-11 Org/Pur
Yessi Lipscomb
Alex Lipscomb
Nyah Green
Matthew Bitsko

9-11 Grn/Blu
Javier Avila
Yair Or
Sebastian Bishop
Ricardo Ponte

12-15 Yellow
Christian Hernandez
Rachel Clinger

12-15 Orng/Pur
Anna Whyburn
Nick Edwards
Katherine Weber
Matthew Tumax


12-15 Grn/Blu
N. Nikole Wright
Jeremy Fuller
Caleb Plankey
Andrew Coyne

Adult Yel/Org/Pur
Daniel Kim
Joe VanDonk
Ricky Hulkenberg
Jesse Poff-Hancock

Adult Grn/Blue
Naveed Papari
Chivannak Chao
Casper Winge
Carlos Ortiz

9-11 Brn/Red
Kailer Jones
Kate Bradbury
Claire Hahn
Levi Crow

12-15 Brn/Red
Sam Mohkamkar
Joshua Theobald
Aimee Hollon
Journey Bray

Adult Red/Brown
Joseph Berman
Michael Dean
Kristin Masha

Black Belt
Carlos Gonzalez
Jacob Berman
Thomas Roesler
Fernando Avila
Joli Gargiula

KUMITE

7 & Under White/Yellow/Org
Wade Thompson
Aarash Zakeri

7 & Under Purple
Jackson Radford
Ethan Tovar
Eli Simpson

7 & Under Grn/Blue
Erik Spafford
Keeden Jones

8-9 Org/Pur
Jeremy Tumax
Amelia Poulton
Markc Miller
Andy Bitsko

8 & 9 Grn/Blue
Sameer Bhura
Shyon Sheik
Michael Marschall
Jackson Brumley

8-10 Brn
Jarod McMurry
Ricardo Ponte
Kailer Jones

10-11 Orange/Purple
Alex Lipscomb
Jordyn Oliver
Nyah Green
Matthew Bitsko

10-11 Grn/Blu
Yair Or
Cody Fuller
Ray (Christian) Bishop
Mealat Assefa
Jose Martinez
Sebastian Bishop
Anna Baker

11 Brown
Hunter Harber
Chad Stewart
Kate Bradbury
Levi Crow

12 & 13 Orange/Purple
Zoe Hernandez
Meagan Osborn

14-15 BOYS Orange/Purple
Nick Edwards
Matthew Tumax
Caleb Plankey

14-15 GIRLS Orange/Purple
Christelle Adedoyin
Anna Whyburn
N. Nikole Wright

12-13 Blue
Jeremy Fuller
Erin Brumley
Juana Castillo
Andrew Coyne

12-13 Brn/Red
Graham Harber
Maura Shehan
Aimee Hollon
Luke Altnetner

14-15 boys Brn/Red
Nikolas Francis
James Battino

14-15 girls Brn/Red
Audrey Altnetner
Hannah Theobald

WOMEN’S DEMO MATCH
Julie Lipscomb
Kristen Masha

MEN Grn/Blue
Carlos Ortiz
Mark Harris
Kevin Watson
Fadi Khoury

MEN Brown
Joseph Berman
Michael Dean
Mark Hollon
Daniel Johnson

BLACK BELT WOMEN
Joli Gargiula
Daly Montgomery

BLACK BELT MEN
Victor Altamirano
Terry Heronime
Thomas Roesler
Fernando Avila


October Nam Seo Kwan Brown Belt Exam
On the 22nd several Nam Seo Kwan Tae Kwon Do students advanced to brown belt ranks. Kristin Masha and Jason Baker earned first gup brown belts. Aimee Hollon and Drew Jenkins passed to second. And making their third brown ranks were Abraham DeLeon, Bryan Velarde, Alexis Romano, and Jacob Caldera. Congratulations to all. See the photo on the Gallery Page.

Nam Seo Kwan Exam
We’ve set the date for the Nam Seo Kwan black belt exam for Sunday, January 9th.

Gospel Martial Arts Union Conference
Mr. Yates and Mr. Proctor will be traveling to Indianapolis on November 4 and 5 to teach at the National Conference of the GMAU. They will be joined by many other well known instructors. Go to www.gmau.org for more details.

Iss Hogai Belt Exam
Saturday Sept 17, headed by Duane Ethington and other examineers, Bobby Blakey, David Arehart, Yogi Ybarra, Joseph Ybarra, Jerry D, Smith and Milton Garcia
Mike Garcia and Greg Treece  made Black belt
Jesse Reyna made Red Belt
Keaton Moore made Brown
Kenny Robbins made Green
Brice Buckley and Michael Buckley both made Orange
Ukis were Kyle LeDoix and Trever Robbins

Kobudo Black Belt Exams
The AKATO Kobudo class will wrap up its two and a half year curriculum with a black belt examination on November 12 at the Cooper Fitness Center in Dallas. As you know, all brown and black belts are eligible to participate in this unique weapons program. If you are interested in starting in the next session (probably January or February) then you’ll benefit from observing this class of students pass their final exam to first degree black belt.

Renbudo Exam
Mike Proctor will host a Renbudo Karate-Do exam for black belt on December 3rd at Cooper.

Nam Seo Kwan Exam
We’ve set the date for the Nam Seo Kwan black belt exam for Sunday, January 9th.

Yates to Become new Chairman of the Governing Board of the AKBBA
Our AKATO Founder and President, Keith D. Yates, has added another responsibility to his already full plate. He will become the new Chairman of the Board of Governers of the American Karate Black Belt Association (Chin Sook Hage Kwan). This is the original Karate association formed by Allen R. Steen in 1962 as one of the very first American Martial Arts organizations. It has a long and proud history of promoting the very biggest names in Karate in the United States. Mr. Yates was asked to take on the position vacated by Mr. James B. Toney upon his impeding retirement. Of course, Yates already is the President of the AKATO, the Chairman of the Gospel Martial Arts Union, the Vice-Chairman of the Karate Masters Hall of Fame, and on the Advisory Board of Chuck Norris’s KickStart Kids Foundation (whew). But he could not resist the call to serve and help perpetuate the traditions of Texas Karate and the legacy of his original instructor, Allen Steen.

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