St. Louis Family Martial Arts Academy

I’ve had the opportunity to attend quite a few birthday parades for our students the last several months. While I’ve unfortunately missed a few due to other obligations I try to attend as many as I can. Today I had the privilege of starting the New Year by attending Colette’s birthday parade. I’ve been to a few others recently where Colette and her mom were also in attendance. It has been so heartwarming to see Colette and many of our other students all supporting each other in such a positive way. Colette is a super talented student but she’s also just a terrific young lady with a great attitude and a kind and caring heart. It was an honor to be invited to her parade today. Happy 8th birthday Colette! So if you’re reading this...How about doing 8 pushups for Colette!

‘And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.’ Merry Christmas from The Trower family and all of our wonderful staff at St. Louis Family Martial Arts Academy.

December is also new Black Belt Exam Month. Congratulations to our newest Black Belts. This was an especially talented group of students. Lillian Ritter - What an awesome and talented student. Lilly has such a happy and vibrant personality. She also has some of the best kicks you’ll ever see. Sonia Kulkarni - As a white belt Sonia always had the best stances in class. She’s never lost that. No one ever outworks her. She’s been training entirely on Zoom since March and has j...ust done a remarkable job with her forms. Brady Sedlak - Brady was perhaps the most prepared student out of this outstanding group. I’ve really enjoyed watching him grow into such a strong and confident young man over the last few years. He just did an awesome job the last couple of months preparing himself. Bella Sedlak - Bella has beautiful technique and has always been a very fun student to teach. She always does her best, works hard, and has a great sense of humor. She’s a terrific role model for all of our students. Aagi Gudipati - Aagi has also become a very strong young man. I’ve had a lot of fun teaching Aagi on his road to black belt. He’s a hard working student who likes to be challenged while still having a good time. He pushes himself to be his best and it really showed in his black preparation and exam. Triya Gudipati - If you didn’t Tryia was a 13 year old you’d think she was three or four years older. Not only is she super talented she is also a very mature young woman. She is such a great leader and role model and is one of the most positive minded students I’ve ever had. Please join me In congratulating all six of these outstanding new black belts.

NO ZOOM THIS EVENING We are still experiencing intermittent internet at the Trower household today. It will be tomorrow before Spectrum is able to get a representative here to correct the issue. While I considered going to the school and running zoom from there tonight I’ve decided that’s not the best option yet. Trower Family health update - My wife and I are both out of quarantine but we’ve made the collective decision to self isolate for a few more days just to be extra c...autious for our friends and family. We are doing and feeling much better. My wife seems to have rebounded a little faster than I have (of course she’s much younger than I am). We have been over the worst of the symptoms for a few days. I’m feeling a little fatigued yet but other than that am mostly symptom free. Honestly, while we both had a few rough days the first week or so, we feel very fortunate to have not had more serious illness. I have to admit that I’ve really enjoyed just sitting outside in the sunshine the last couple of days after being cooped up inside. Thank you to everyone for your kind words, your notes of encouragement, your prayers, and your support the last couple of weeks. It has meant a lot to me. I expect to be back in the school for in person classes on Monday with the same schedule we’ve been using the past several months. I will continue sending full Zoom links to everyone next week for our regular Monday through Thursday Zoom classes. We have lots of testing scheduled for next week, especially at the brown and black belt level. I’ll be in touch with all of the black belt candidates over the weekend regarding the testing schedule. Thanks again. I’m excited to be back in the school next week and back to seeing the students in person again. Have a great weekend!

I am unable to log in to Zoom this evening. I apologize. Hopefully we’ll be up and running again tomorrow.

Here’s the video of the Nardoni’s finishing up testing for the week.

We had a power outage in eureka today and do not have an internet connection. I’m going to attempt zoom this evening using data on my iPad. Hopefully it works okay.

What a great way to end a week and a half of student testing last night! Kelsey Nardoni and Bailey performing Chungi Hyung is shown below. I tested quite a few students over the last ten days. I tried to keep,track of everyone who tested but if I missed anyone’s name below I apologize, and I also apologize for any misspellings. The following students all earned new ranks - Peyton Kortum, Jonathon Lampe, Ben Barsanti, Byrne Hibgood, Reese Hobgood, Addison Bartels, Anika and ...Amogh Raikhanghar, Emily Maher, Hannah and Jonathon Kwong, Nicholas Hall, Jonah Orr, Aiden Burkhardt, Noah Schweitzer, Collin Richardson, Ben Rohde, Katie Davis, Traci Olson, B.J. Self, Sarah Self, Luke and Simon Self, Simon Luecking, Danny Sterling, Ashlyn Thompson, Kim Benting, Aiden Hunt, Olivia Dresser, Joseph and Andrew Dresser, Luke and Drew Durham, Vivienne Lewis, Lance Darabscek, Kelsey Nardoni, Max Heidmann, Amelia Specker, Mike Clasen. Again, if I missed a name I apologize but it was a great week and a half of testing. I’m so impressed by how well our students continue to adapt to the challenges they all have faced over the last nine months. All of our parents should be proud of how they’ve kept some level of normalcy in their children’s lives as well.

More black belt testing tonight. Nick Ice has been a student for ten years now. He earned his 3rd degree black belt this evening. A special thank you to Nick’s dad Steve, and Mark and Blake Stanley for supporting Nick and working alongside him tonight. Here’s a short video clip from tonight’s exam.

We are open for all scheduled classes this week Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. There will also be Zoom classes Monday through Wednesday. We will be closed for the Christmas Holiday from Christmas Eve through New Years Day. We will reopen with our current schedule on Monday, January 4th.

Tonight’s zoom links have been sent. We’ll be doing kicks and a five tenets of Tae Kwon Do review - COURTESY - INTEGRITY - SELF CONTROL - PERSEVERANCE - INDOMITABLE SPIRIT.

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be working on testing a few of our black belts for more advanced degrees of rank. These are multi-day exams and take a lot of extra preparation by these students. Last night three of our outstanding black belts earned new ranks. Owen Mathers began training with us at the age of four, following in his brothers footsteps. He’s a super talented young man and just a joy to be around. His dedication to training in his forms and technique the las...t few months has been among the best in the school. Siddarth Suratia is one of our teenage black belts and also one of our amazing volunteers who regularly helps out in our Pujols Family Foundation classes. He’s not only a talented martial artist. He’s also a terrific role model and leader. Dr. Kathy Baglan (not pictured) took her exam via Zoom over the last week. She’s a very dedicated martial artist and a great parent. She’s also one of our Chick Fight Club mentors and role models. I have so much respect for who she is and the type of personal character and integrity she shows every day. Congratulations to these awesome black belts. See more

We finished out our week the last three days with some good Halloween costume fun drills. While we did work a little bit too I think it was good for the students to just have some fun. We did some obstacle courses, Some martial arts brain work with forms, and we talked about Halloween safety in each class as well. Thanks to all of the students and parents for a fun week of entertainment. Here are some pictures from tonight’s classes.

Zoom links for tonight have been sent. The Beginner/Imtermediate class for tonight is at 5:00 (Little Ninjas May join this class). The advanced class is at 7:00 tonight. Unfortunately I received a positive test result back indicating that I do have COVID 19. For the most part I am feeling fine, just a little out of sorts. I will of course remain in quarantine until next Wednesday at the earliest. As of now, depending on how I’m feeling and as things progress, I plan on co...ntinuing a full zoom schedule Monday through Thursday next week and we won’t return to in person classes again until the following week. I’ll see you all on Zoom until then. I appreciate those who have reached out to me offering help. Our family is doing fine, at this point no one else in our family is sick. I certainly appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery. Thank you so much for your support!

Zoom links for tonight’s classes have been sent. Tonight’s Beginner/Intermediate class is at 6:00 and the advanced class is at 7:00. I am still awaiting test results so there are again no in person classes this evening. I’m feeling great today and am expecting a negative test result but believe we should all follow the appropriate steps under the guidelines we’ve all been given. I prefer to err on the side of caution and safety. I’ll see you on Zoom tonight!