ABOUT JOE CORLEY AMERICAN KARATE,

TAE KWON DO AND KICKBOXING

by Paul K. Arlington for Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA) and

National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA)

The Physical Elements:

What if you could combine the raw power of traditional Japanese Shotokan Karate with the pragmatic self defense philosophy of Kenpo (kempo) karate and add the principles of power from boxing, kickboxing and tang soo do and tae kwon do and package these elements into one martial art?

And what if you could add to that the American Philosophy to develop a powerful, quick adult or effective Karate Kid?

That would be an initial way to describe Joe Corley’s American Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing program in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area. Nestled in the Marietta East Cobb Roswell intersection of East Cobb County, Master Corley is personally teaching the martial arts to which he has devoted so much of his life. His classes provide powerful self defense for men, women and children, but it his personal touch and approach which are truly unique.

“We try to make it as simple as possible to understand in each class”, Master Corley explained. “We break down the Black Belt principles of excellence to their basics so that our students can practice and learn at home the same way they train on our studio. We know the whole idea of “styles” can be very confusing—from kyokushinkai to isshinryu to shorinryu and shitoryu (chitoryu), other forms of Okinawan Karate, the Japanese Karate Association (JKA), gojuryu, kungfu, shaolin, and all the others—have been taught by great masters. Our mission in Americanizing the instruction has been to insure we included realistic principles of physics in a practical setting for training. We are in a new century, and we feel it is important to bring with us the powerful philosophies of the past as we use the practical principles of the present to give kids the right tools for school, for protection against a bully or bullies and safety against child abduction (stranger danger). In the studio the kids wear safety gear and karate has been shown to be very safe in this environment (actually the 26^th safest in a group of 35 activities!).

The Mental Elements.

Finding Your Voice and Inspiring Others to Find Theirs

Joe Corley was named Man of the Decade by Official Karate magazine and was inducted into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame as Man of the Year. He gives regular presentations to groups of martial arts instructors on the philosophy of American Karate, and he is widely respected as one of the world’s most insightful martial arts masters.

“Child psychologists teach us to reward effort”, Master Corley said, “and Steven Covey’s work in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and the 8^th Habit have provided us the guidelines to help shape our young karate kids and our aspiring world champions alike.

“We operate from the point of view that everyone can and will ‘get it’ and ‘be good at it’. We know each person learns a little differently, and we teach to their ways of learning,” he explained.

This is a great departure from traditional instruction, where everyone is expected to meet certain stringent guidelines along each belt path and failure to learn early basics all-too-often sabotage success.

“Our kids of today have such a greater capacity to grasp so many more things”, Master Corley said, “and we provide them a broad base of stimuli on which to grow their interest, their commitment and their ultimate success. From early exposure to the safe, rubber karate weapons to the fully padded sparring drills to the complex karate-forms-made-simpler, we seek to build confidence and self esteem early. Rewarding effort is great fun for us as instructors, knowing the results in the end will be greater than in the old fashioned instruction.”

No Matter the age of the student, Master Corley has incorporated the principle of the 8^th Habit throughout his personal teaching: Finding Your Voice and Inspiring Others to Find Theirs. To Master Corley, it’s all about LEADERSHIP.

“I visualize our kids in a group of kids who are plotting a way to get into some sort of trouble”, he explains. “I see our hypothetical karate kid/leader saying, calmly and forcefully, ‘You are all my friends, and I like you and respect you, and I trust that when you think about this more, you will decide not to do it. I have already made that decision and I hope you will as well.’

“This strength of conviction, the courage to ‘do what’s right’, these are the most important things we can teach our kids.”