The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics are now history. As we all know, the Gold medal is awarded for 1st place, the Silver medal for 2nd place and the Bronze medal for 3rd place in each of the contested events across all disciplines.
Together, these three medals create a trifecta of manifested excellence and a seemingly ubiquitous celebratory declaration from those athletes who earned a medal. Over and over again, from one competitor to another, from one discipline to another, from one gender to another, the most common phrase heard time and time again in post event interviews was, I worked so hard for this!
The Tokyo Olympics of 2021 (branded as the 2020 Summer Olympics) have been exciting to watch—so many different sports, so many countries represented, so much talent, heart, soul, effort, emotion, victory, jubilation and, sadly, defeat and disappointment. Such is the reality of competition.
With its 33 sports, 339 medal events and 50 disciplines, the Games of the XXXII Olympiad bring together competitors from all over the world, athletes whose primary desire is to win a Gold medal—the symbol of unequivocal, irrefutable, indisputable dominance in a specific discipline.
History Prenote During the 1980s and early 1990s, the Karate Institute of America was extremely involved in tournament competition on a local, state, regional and national level. Its competitors were highly successful in all areas of martial arts competition, winning hundreds of championships, which included four national championships. Yet, karate competition never made it into the big time. Why? The reason for such failure, as history has proven, is explained by Kiado-Ryu Grand Master Richard Andrew King in the following article: What’s Wrong With Tournament Karate, submitted to, accepted, and published by Black Belt Magazine in July of 1990.
CONGRATULATIONS, SMASHER!
27 May 2021 was another hallmark day for the Ligtvoet family as younger brother Aidan, aka “Smasher,” received his Blue Belt. It was no easy journey for Aidan, and it took time, but true to life principles of dedication and perseverance this terrific, respectful, loving and intelligent young man attained the next higher level of Kiado-Ryu achievement.
Pictured with Smasher are his mother Atousa; father Ed, and his big brother Tristan, who is currently a third dan KIA Black Belt and close to receiving his 4th Dan in December of 2021!
Genghis Khan is one of the greatest and most brutal leaders in world history. His conquests rival anyone in the pantheon of empire builders and conquerors. His Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th Centuries was breathtakingly vast.
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history and the second largest empire by landmass, second only to the British Empire.
Wikipedia Great leaders are never without maxims.
Kenneth “Ramjet” Anderson is the 11th Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America. He was awarded his 1st Dan ranking on 9 June 1990. It’s hard to believe that was 31 years ago! Seems like yesterday.
And, yes, Ramjet was that Black Belt who requested, on his Black Belt test, to do a second hour of the “still stance” requirement—a feat that has never been duplicated, and most likely never will be.
From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.
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.
Much effort, much prosperity.
Euripides Success is dependent on effort.
Sophocles The mode by which the inevitable comes to pass is effort.
Oliver Wendell Holmes I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
For Self-Defense and Survival Life is full of strife, struggle and conflict. Name one clear-headed adult on the planet who would disagree with this reality. Strife et al. is the basic nature of this world. Of course there are varying kinds and levels of struggle and, to be sure, everyone will experience them at some time or other.
The germane question is, “How do we deal with the strife, struggle and conflict?
The date: 24 March 2021, Wednesday. Nine year old Nolan “Viper” Brubaker achieved his Orange Belt—the first major rank in the Kiado-Ryu martial arts system. So first, here’s a hearty CONGRATULATIONS, VIPER! You’re an awesome young man with a great heart.
But this particular KIA test, his test, experienced something that we’ve never seen in the forty-two year history of the Karate Institute of America. During Nolan’s Orange Belt ceremony, a mysterious light beam was captured in a photo by his mom’s digital camera.
Kiado-Ryu philosophy teaches that Martial Arts is Life. All true Black Belts understand this principle. Sun Tzu’s statement that The skillful commander takes up a position in which he cannot be defeated and misses no opportunity to master his opponent does not simply apply to mortal combat. It also applies to everyday challenges of normal human existence.
For example, take the COVID pandemic. In reality it is an opponent. As a human being, our job is to defeat it and certainly not allow it to touch us, and if it does touch us, not to let it defeat us, i.
