“you have to be a black belt in your heart before you become a black belt around your waist” – Story of Sharon Rueckert ; ChampionsWay Client

I just got back to Phoenix from the World Competitions, and while I was on the plane I sat next to a lady who struck up a conversation with me. She asked me why I was in Little Rock ARK, (Worlds). I provided her the standard “Sensei” answer of “competition, support, life lessons ect…” and it seemed a satisfactory answer for her as she faded off to sleep. Sleep didn’t come that easy to me however. I quietly sat in my seat thinking about the question she asked and began to review the past 10 years in my mind. Why did I start Martial Arts? Why did I open a school? What was my purpose?

I began as a typical mother searching for activities to get my kids involved in. I had recently graduated from College and moved out to Arizona. I saw a coupon in a mailer for one month free. I went in, signed up all three kids and settled down. I prepared to witness them become the next “karate kid”. This was in January. By May I decided to take advantage of the free Mothers month and got my own set of “jammies”. WOW! The excitement of breaking a board, hitting a pad and getting to spar… I was hooked.

Soon after meeting my current husband a tragedy struck in our extended family and we were at a cross road. His father had been a victim of road rage and had been shot. He was no longer able to run his very small (15 family) martial arts school. The question that remained before us was: do we close his father’s school and walk...

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Tags: ATA, Academy, Arts, Belt, Black, ChampionsWay, Martial, North, Phoenix, Rueckert, More…Sharon