This blog is a great introduction into the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G story about Ryan Rogers. Ryan is an incredible athlete of karate but more so, he is a very humble man with great character. If you read the last blog posted you might have heard an undertone of greatness. We weren't fibbing or trying to sound boastful. However, sometimes you have to claim that you are good at something before someone believes you. The stories you will read in this blog will give you the understanding the Green's Karate and it's instructors are truly some of the best in the business!
Often times, when students train, we ask them a question once they have earned a few belts. If you wait to long to ask this question then, you could be creating a monster of sorts. A teenager with a chip on the shoulder is the last type of student you want to raise in the dojo. This chip is often found outside the dojo with teens that do not train in martial arts. The idea is to curb the flawed character trait and to bring enlightenment to the mind and spirit of the student. You want the student to not only to be successful in martial arts but, much more so in life. Children have often said in class "Karate is hard!" Our response is normally, "You think karate is hard, life is much harder!"
We have always prepared the mind of the student and to prepare them to "think" on a different level. We wait for the special moment and ask this important question. "If you were a black belt and someone came up to you knowing you were a black belt and asked if you were good, what would you say?" There are few correct answers and there are many more wrong answers. This will give us an indication of where their attitude is at, their level of humbleness, and their character as a person.
We have never been the martial arts school that produces black belts like a factory. In fact, we are the exact opposite. We do not want to have thousands of black belts with mediocre abilities that think they are great and cannot defend themselves out of a wet paper bag and even worse, have a false sense of confidence and false sense of accomplishment. In order to earn a black belt, you have to perform your test in front of the 1968 World Champion and 9th degree black belt Sensei Katsutaka Tanaka and Sensei Green. This is to make sure the student is up to the world standard. Our reputation is on the line and by seeing the high level of standards we set you can see why we our students have went on to do incredible things and even make it into "the" Olympic karate magazine for ultimate success.
It is very dangerous to go out into the world with a chip on your shoulder thinking you are better than others when you really only demonstrate that you are an overconfident jerk that shows off their martial arts skills to influence others and maybe even to pick up girls like Johnny off of the original karate kid did. There was a reason for the Cobra Kai to exist in the film because it was highlighting the mentality of many martial arts schools back then and even today. One day Sensei Green had a customer come in and ask "Are you guys a Cobra Kai dojo or a Miyagi dojo?" Without hesitation, Sensei Green quipped "Miyagi dojo, hands down!"
So when someone asks if you are good the wrong answers are the following: "Oh, yeah I'm good" (While you breathe into your hand and brush your shirt with the cupping of your hand) or "Yes" is one of the worst answers you can possibly give. Another bad answer is "No, I am not good." By boasting or not acknowledging that you have skills to protect yourself shows your over confidence or lack of confidence.
The appropriate answer to the is question is one of these two answers. First, you could say "I am okay, I am alright" or "I am confident with my abilities." The reason to bring this up is to imply that Ryan Rogers would say exactly what is mentioned here. Ryan is one of the most humblest people you could ever meet! He will give his shirt off his back to you, he is very down to earth, he works hard, he is a super nice guy, and he doesn't give up. These traits are the characteristics of a true champion! Currently he has the eye of the tiger and the heart of a lion. Nothing can stop Ryan from being a world champion!
A person that has this caliber of character, can be anything they want to be in life! In order to be successful in life you have to possess good manners, respect, self-discipline and have good character. Ryan encapsulates those traits to a "T" and this is what makes him a great person!
Several years ago, in 2012, when Ryan was starting to make U.S. Karate history on his first attempt at the U.S. Karate Nationals, we didn't officially know he was making history (we did have a clue though) and did so three times at his first U.S. Karate Nationals. You see, Ryan wasn't diagnosed with autism until late 2013 and at that point, he had made U.S. Karate history five times. When Ryan became diagnosed with high functioning autism, all of his historical moments became recognized posthumously.
Ryan's journey of becoming an international superstar in the karate world is only beginning. He has his sights currently set on the U.S. Open and hopefully and lord willing, to be able to compete with the U.S. Team again in Spain at the Karate World Championships in late October, early November 2018. His focus is doing his best and to win it all!
We will write a four or five part blog series on Ryan as well as make several You Tube videos separate and also coordinated in regarding his successes and breaking through barriers, as he has for those on the spectrum. We salute Ryan on a job well done and look forward to his future successes in this wonderful sport of Olympic karate! The world will see Olympic Karate for their first time in Tokyo in 2020!
Without further ado, here is the article that features our very own Ryan Rogers! Cheers to you Ryan! We are so proud of you and what you have done and what you are doing. You will inspire millions like Sensei Green told you back in 2012. This is now only the beginning of this process!
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