Monday, April 16, is a no-school day in Deforest, and we’re running a karate camp during the day. Monday night, we’ll have normal Little Kicker classes at 5:00, but an open gym from 5:30 – 7:00 rather than regular classes.

Open gym is time for students age 8 and up to come in and work individually or with a partner on their card curriculum. As always, we’ll have Black Belts here to help, but there won’t be a structured class.

A+ After School students are also welcome to come in that night if you’re not in the karate camp.

See you in class!

Jeni Risgaard, Front Desk Coordinator

We will be having an open gym this Saturday morning from 9 to 10:30am instead of regular karate class. For those of you who haven’t been here for open gym before, it’s a time to come in and work on your card curriculum individually or with a partner. There will be no structured class, but there will be Black Belts available to help with skills. Total Fitness Training will be at 8am as normal.

If you’re considering belt testing in April, this is a great opportunity to fine tune your skills to prepare for earning stripes.

For Little Kickers, parents are welcome to kick off their shoes and hold targets or guide your students through their card material.

No School Day – Monday, Feb 5. Deforest/Windsor schools are off that day, and we’re running an all day karate camp. For the evening program, we will have regular Little Kicker class at 5:00 then Open Gym for students age 8 and up from 5:30 to 7:00 instead of regular classes. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Open Gym, this is a time for students to come in and work individually on their curriculum. There won’t be a structured lesson, but there will be Black Belt instructors available for help or questions. It’s a great time to fine tune some of the details or get some additional practice on the skills you need most. There will be no adult class that evening at 7, but adult students are welcome to come in and work on self defense techniques from 6:15 to 7:00.

Karate Camp – Monday, Feb 5. We do have some openings in our karate camp on Monday if you’re still looking for a fun activity for your child. The cost is $40 per student, and it runs from 7:30 until 4:30. If you’re interested, you can register and pay on Monday, but please email me back to let me know who will be attending.

Testing – Saturday, Feb. 17, is a test day for students promoting to Gold Stripe through Brown Stripe belts, so there will be no regular karate classes. There will be Yoga and Total Fitness classes as normal at 7 and 8 am.

Super Sunday – Sunday, Feb. 18. We will have a Super Sunday Black Belt training for Brown and Black Belts on Sunday evening, from 5:30 to 7:00.

As you all know, the flu is really bad this year. We’ve had a few cases of students with confirmed influenza diagnosis. We never take it lightly if we need to call a parent for a sick child, but given the severity of the flu this year, we’re going to be extra cautious. We feel it’s in everyone’s best interest to prevent the potential of spreading.

Additionally, we’ve become aware that our schools have confirmed quite a few cases of head lice, perhaps more than normal. Please check your kids thoroughly. While we have not had any known cases here at the studio, we want to do our best to prevent the spread of that as well.

For everyone’s protection, if your kids are showing any signs of illness or lice, please keep them home until their symptoms are completely gone. While we never want to see students miss class, coming to class healthy and ready to go is the best way to attend.

Stay healthy!

– Jeni Risgaard, Front Desk Coordinator

As some of you may know, we have unfortunately had another karate family who recently lost a family member. Mom, Leanne and junior students Bryson and Brooke McGann lost their father and we’d like to come together to help them out.

They have neighbors who have organized meals, so we’re trying to fill in some other gaps with gift cards for things like groceries and fuel. If you’d like to contribute a gift card or make a cash donation to help the family, we have a box at the front desk.

Thank you, as always. We appreciate the generous spirit of our awesome families!

– Jeni Risgaard, Front Desk Coordinator