From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.

Kiado-Ryu

Passages & Principles

There can be no excellence without effort.

We live in an age with effort waning
With riches expected sans work,
But in all reality and actuality
There can be no excellence without effort.

Greg “Maddog” Bendel executes a pose during his Green belt test in 1987 at the KIA. He attained his first dan Black Belt on 15 December 1990, becoming the fourteenth Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America. Greg continued his studies and earned his second dan Black Belt degree.

Maddog was an instructor at the KIA, as well as being a martial arts open tournament champion. He was a stickler for detail and precision, which no doubt assisted him in his professional career.

These times we live in are getting scarier and scarier by the day.

Are you prepared to defend yourself or your loved ones?

Would you know what to do and how to do it?

Are you simply living in hope that you’ll always be safe?

Are you prepared to be in the “I-wish-I had-taken-a-self-defense-class” category?

One of the mottos taught at the Karate Institute of America is, If you fail to prepare you prepare to fail. If you don’t prepare, you will fail. As we’re seeing day-by-day, attacks on regular people at common shopping places and social gathering sites are no longer a rarity.

This week’s photo features not just any psycho, but the KIA’s own Psycho, which is the call sign for James Griffin, the sixtieth Black Belt of the Kiado-Ryu. James’ sister is Anna “Wildcat” Griffin, the fifty-fifth Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America.

Pictured with Psycho and Mr. King is Mr. Griffin, the patriarch of the wonderful Griffin family, and partner with Mrs. Griffin, its matriarch. The Griffins have been stalwart supporters of the KIA for decades, and we are eternally grateful they have shared their hearts, minds, spirits, character and lives with us. This photo was taken after the latest Black Belt coronation of Messrs. Thomas and Ligtvoet.

Congratulations to Kim “Cultivator” Thomas and Tristan “Raptor” Ligtvoet for their extremely noteworthy accomplishments on 15 December 2015, Tuesday.

Kim Thomas has now earned the distinguished title, “Master Thomas” for achieving the rank of 5th Dan Black Belt. He is the first student in the history of the Karate Institute of America since its founding in 1979 to achieve such an enormous goal. Kim began his KIA journey in August of 2001 at the age of 45, received is 1st Dan Black Belt rating in July of 2007, and has not let up since, finalizing the “Master Dan” phrase of his journey at age 59. Remarkable!

Tuesday, 8 December 2015, was the first day of KIA impending history in two parts. First, Tristan “Raptor” Ligtvoet (top picture, center), soon to be KIA Black Belt #64, completed day one of his Black Belt test. His smile offers a stark contrast to his tattered gi and sweaty head—a common visual after such an ordeal, as the attending Black Belts will concur. They are, from left to right, Mike “Shooter” Benedict (2nd Dan KIA Black Belt #62), James “Psycho” Griffin (1st Dan KIA Black Belt #60), Chris “Growler” Grau (4th Dan KIA Black Belt #36 and web master for Kiado-Ryu.com); and Kim “Cultivator” Thomas (4th Dan KIA Black Belt #63).