Originally it was to find a location for my girls to attend a martial arts. And we looked around the area and I wanted something that would give them not only the skills and aptitude in terms of the martial arts, but also kind of this idea of discipline and respect and the wholesome learning process that I think martial arts had for a long. Maybe it has kind of lost itself a little bit in terms of fighting. I’m a big UFC fan. So you kind of get lost in the art of the fight rather than the art of the martial art itself. And so I wanted to find a place for the girls. We ended up coming to Vision Martial Arts because of Master Wegmann. She just had a phenomenal history and when we met with her, she just really, really connected with the girls and they fell in love and they wanted to start immediately.

So we started Taekwondo, We jumped into the leadership program. So they were able to get all the things that I never thought that they would be able to get, which is weapons training, the leadership training, sparring even at such a young age. And then after a couple of months, I mean, honestly the jealousy kind of set in a little bit, I’m here every day, they’re going through all this stuff. It seemed like a lot of fun and I’m sitting in the chairs and I said, “I got to join it. I want to be a part of it.” And so being a part of Vision, but also being a part of sharing that opportunity with my daughter’s and experiencing that together was in the end, my main motivation. So it had very little to do with the martial arts aspect of it. I knew all of that was there from the experience that my girls had. It was just that added benefit of being able to do that with them and experience that.

It’s very Fitness discipline is definitely there and improving over time. I’ve noticed how much I’ve improved physically over time. My favorite part of it to tell you the truth is it’s very similar to the girls. It’s just the leadership aspect of it. The learning of discipline, respect and honesty. The way I communicate with the girls is very different prior to joining Vision than it is now, I have a better understanding of kind of being a role model for them, but also having this level of communication with them that’s not really more disciplinarian, it’s really more of a close connection. Very similar to what I see now, Senior Master Wegmann actually has with her students. And I think our relationship as father daughters has just grown dramatically because of it. That’s been my greatest benefit and hoping to continue that as time progresses, granted, the girls are getting a little older. But their discipline has been strong and I’m hoping to continue that connection with them as time progresses.

Struggling through adversity and being able to believe in yourself even when times are tough. The girls started off early on and as we grew older and then even myself, just having this idea of where I thought I was just physically and mentally in my life and then for Vision to constantly challenge that and tell us that we can go for it, or we could push a little harder, we can do that extra pushup. We can kick a little higher. We can be more respectful in terms of how we approach problems in situations and be more disciplined in that approach and be successful in it. So we obtained more skills, not only from the physical aspect, but from the mental and emotional aspect, which has allowed us to be able to overcome adversity more and tackle situations in life a lot easier.

If you want to find an opportunity to challenge yourself physically, to push yourself beyond what you felt your limits were, to learn more about the martial arts, rather than the forms itself or the discipline itself but actually the feelings behind what martial arts has been derived for so many years and to have a chance to enjoy all of that, even though you’re working really hard, that’s having the best of both worlds, I would strongly suggest going to a couple of classes at Vision Martial Arts. I pretty much can guarantee once you go to those classes you’ll be hooked.