What’s in a Callsign? As is Karate Institute of America protocol, everyone has a callsign. Once in a while, one may query how an individual got his/her callsign in the first place. Sometimes, this can be a mystery. Not so with Jon “Stretch” Vail. In the following pictorial catalogue, can you guess why Jon got his callsign? If you can’t get this, you fail the test! From the early days of the KIA and its studio at 308 Lambert Street, Lake Forest, CA.

This is too much fun! Jon, “Stretch” Vail studied at the Karate Institute of America way back in his teen years. As destiny commanded, when he graduated from high school he went to college in Arizona, received a degree in geology, married his lovely girlfriend Janice, got a job, settled down and started a family. Jon has been wonderfully connected to the KIA and, lucky for us, keeps us updated with his life.

Just thought I’d share some pics of my daughter Chandra and her kids over Christmas vacation. How sweet it is to have them visit from Boston!

To all of our KIA Family, the King Family wishes you all a healthy, balanced and centered 2018! Those of you who are long-standing Karate Institute of America members might remember Christa and Chandra when they were very little girls. Now they’re all grown up, pictured here with their awesome husbands and beautiful children. What a thrill for the “Old Man” to have the family together! God Bless you all from all of us to you and yours.

Honing their hand-checking skills are Blue Belt Zemia “Barracuda” Garrett (right) and Purple Belt Judy “Striker” Gompf (left). These two professional ladies are, to be sure, daunting, dangerous damsels. They have power, skill and intent. Athletically, Barracuda has a softball background; Striker a surfer and tennis background. They know how to use their bodies to deliver maximum damage to a target, and if their lives and/or well-beings are threatened they would have no compunction about using maximum force on their assailants to protect themselves.

How beautiful is this . . . on many levels! Hannah, a KIA martial arts Purple Belt, is also a proficient artist in American Sign Language (ASL). She has been studying Signing in high school for two and a half years. In her own YouTube video, she beautifully performs “Praise You In This Storm” by Castings Crowns. Her performance is highly artistic, emotionally moving and dramatically inspirational. Thank you, Hannah, for this wonderful performance of “Signing!