Author: TSMA Page 165 of 200

LAS CRUCES —John-Dylan Cully won’t let muscular dystrophy stop him from striving for his black belt in taekwondo Saturday.

The 11-year-old Las Crucen has Ullrich Congenital muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition causing severe muscle weakness over time.

John-Dylan does the martial arts moves on his knees, as he cannot walk, and often modifies arm movements because he has limited range of motion in his elbow joints. Sometimes he verbally describes the actions if he can’t perform them himself.

“He never asks to be treated differently due to his handicap,” Gold Medal Taekwondo master Marcy Shoberg said. “He figures out himself how to modify things as he needs to.

“He is hardworking and has a “never-give-up attitude,” Shoberg said.

On Saturday, John-Dylan will demonstrate sparring, board breaking, a series of movements called the eight traditional forms and a self-defense skit with a partner, much like a movie fight scene, to earn his first-degree black belt.

“It just gives me something to do rather than sitting here playing video games,” the East Picacho Elementary School fifth-grader said.

Breaking boards is his favorite part of competitions because it doesn’t require memorization like other events, he said.

John-Dylan competed in the All-Star Specially Challenged Martial Arts Championship in Houston in 2011 and has competed in multiple tournaments that aren’t aimed at special-needs competitors.

He began taekwondo after kindergarten on his physical therapist’s recommendation.

“It’s gotten harder for him to do as time goes on, but the people at taekwondo have been really helpful at having him modify it,” mom Jamie Cully said.

Taekwondo strengthens John-Dylan physically, Cully said, but it also promotes self-esteem and positivity.

“(It’s) focusing on what he can do and trying to do things even if they seem impossible,” she said. “A kid who never learned to walk is going to earn his black belt.

Mark Clark has spent almost his whole life studying martial arts, but he never anticipated it would help him recover from a crippling accident.

Now the American Karate Academy owner and instructor wants to help his students learn the focus and discipline that helped him heal.

Twelve years ago, Clark and his son were walking to his car outside Francis Scott Key Mall when an SUV backed into them.

He was able to protect his son using a dive roll, he said, and he credits his years of martial arts for the skills he needed to save their lives.

“I think my training made me quick enough to react, to draw my son, cover him, and then instead of holding down and taking the force of the vehicle, which would have killed us both, I went with the force,” he said.

His son was not seriously injured, but the crash left Clark unable to walk for six years.

Recovery was difficult physically and emotionally. Martial arts helped with both challenges, he said.

Doctors told him that he would never walk again, but by incorporating elements of Eastern medicine into his Western physical therapy regimen, he slowly became more mobile.

Clark began doing stretches pioneered by judo master Moshe Feldenkrais in which he was helped into a fetal position and slowly stretched back out again.

The exercises helped him manage the pain, he said, but it was a long time before he was in a condition to teach karate again.

Clark had taught martial arts in Frederick  since 1993. Before that, he was an Army boxing instructor at Fort Hood.

Being unable to teach made him feel like he had lost direction in life, he said, so he relied on the discipline and techniques he had been studying since the age of 4 to get back to teaching.

“I think having the martial arts gave me a center. It was something I knew that I could go back to,” Clark said.

“I took little steps. I said, well, first I’m going to learn to stand up again, and then I’m going to learn to take a step. I made those goals just like when I was a karate student.”

Clark returned to teaching slowly. He gave lessons from a chair or told his instructors what to demonstrate for the class.

Before he was injured, Clark had four American Karate Academy locations. He decided to close all but the Frederick site and focus his attention there.

He can now teach regularly, but the accident left him with a painful condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome.

“It’s a pretty severe, mean monster,” he said.

Clark’s students understand that he may need to pause or adjust the lesson when he has reached his limit, he said. In fact, many come to him to manage their own pain, and he has had students referred to him by their doctors.

Clark teaches four to five classes to a total of about 180 students. He teaches children as young as 4 years old, as well as families and adults.

Life skills share the curriculum with self-defense.

Clark teaches his students safety techniques, such as having a plan for emergencies, as well as the dive roll that saved him and his son. He encourages his students to be independent and focused and to set goals, he said.

“I let everyone know they’re going to get knocked down. It’s a matter of how well they get up that makes the difference,” he said

Michael Rhoades, founder and President of Jin Jung Kwan Hapkido-USA, Inc., in Wentzville, was named Wentzville Citizen of the Year for 2012. Rhoades was recognized at the Jan. 16 Wentzville Board of Aldermen meeting and was presented with a plaque by Mayor Nick Guccione and Board President Rick Stokes.

Rhoades has studied and taught martial arts for twenty-five years. Rhoades’ martial arts school recently moved across West Pearce Boulevard to a new, larger location.

The text of the Citizen of the Year proclamation reads:

Whereas Michael Rhoades has been in business in the City of Wentzville for over 15 years, and

Whereas Michael Rhoades has had a positive influence of the City of Wentzville, adults and chldren, and

Whereas Michael Rhoades relocated his business in the Downtown area to help beautify and improve the area, and

Whereas Michael Rhoades has continuing dedication to his studens and the City.

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Wentzville, Missouri, I do hereby deem it an honor and pleasure to Michael Rhoades, Wentzville Citizen of the Year 2012.

Loretta Ual, of Jackson, brought her daughter to the Special Needs Martial Arts Program at Fudoshinka Dojo on Saturday for something new and fun to do.

Ual just moved to Jackson, and the class is making it possible for her daughter to meet other children her age, Ual said.

The program was started by Debra Taylor, who also teaches the class.

“I’m a pediatric physical therapist, and my children benefited from the physical and the mental training that they get from martial arts,” she said. “It’s very exciting because I know these kids are going to benefit from it, and it’s a way to work on physical exercise and conditioning in a way that’s really fun, and it also helps with a lot of other things.”

Taylor explained that the program is loosely affiliated with the Special Needs Athletic Association. She is able to go into it’s database to find children with special needs who are in different athletic programs to see if they’d be interested in learning martial arts.

“This is giving them the opportunity to do things that other kids get to do,” she said.

Because Saturday’s lesson was the first of the program, Taylor taught the kids martial arts basics.

The class began with some stretches, then went into blocking techniques.

“The first thing we have to learn is to keep ourselves safe before we learn to do something that might hurt somebody else,” Taylor said.

The children first learned to block their faces while watching a quick demonstration, and then they practiced on each other using soft blocks.

When everyone was able to block properly, Taylor taught them how to block the lower half of their bodies.

Lastly, the kids learned how to correctly make a fist and hit their opponent.

“You want a good, tight fist. The last part about making a fist is roll your thumb over your fingers,” Taylor said. “What you don’t want to do is put your thumb inside … because you will break your thumb if you hit something hard.”

After the class finished throwing punches, the children sat down and Taylor taught them breathing techniques to end the hour of training.

“Breathe in strength. Breathe out fear. Breathe in confidence. Breathe out fear,” she said to the class.

She gave praise to her new students and said an emotional first goodbye.

“You guys did an awesome job today. I’m about to get tearful,” she said.

Then she ended the class with a bow.