Happy Birthday IMAS!

Greetings!

Believe it or not, it's been exactly one year since we became the IMAS, and it has been quite a year. Out of the gate and through the first six months, our school saw tremendous growth in enrollment.  We enthusiastically engaged with the surrounding community and, with the help of Hannah St. George, launched an aggressive social media campaign. 

In those first months, we also revived traditions and built new ones, making IMAS something unique and special.  This includes one tradition that is dear to the headmasters, the title of ­uchi-deshi, our “senior instructor” title.  In 2019, Tim Philbin and Mark Somerville became the first IMAS uchi-deshi. We are deeply grateful for their contributions to the school.

Our rapid growth and the dedication of our students also allowed us to immediately achieve what we once considered a distant goal: purchasing the dojo at 138 Lake St. This purchase means that the hombu will continue to be our home for many years to come. Buying this dojo, where we have practiced karate for 36 years, was truly a surreal experience for us. Many people poured their own resources and countless hours into this effort, and deserve much thanks from us. We owe a particular debt of gratitude to Sunish Oturkar and Andrew Trexler for their dedication and expertise on this project. 

Obviously, everyone's world was turned upside in with COVID-19.  We had to suspend classes for a couple of months, and have only slowly been rebuilding as the state and local rules change.  We didn't spend that downtime relaxing though: every square inch of the dojo has been renovated. Pictures simply do not do the new dojo justice. We know that many of our students are still not yet comfortable with indoor activities, but we are extremely excited to have you safely step into the best looking dojo around whenever you feel ready.  

2020 has shown us that we have the grit to weather the storm, and then some. We have consistently gained new white belts, and promoted many ready students up the ranks. We have great plans for the future too. Dozens of black belts are working together right now to update the curriculum, digitize thousands of pictures from our history, revamp the weapons program, expand Tomoe Gozen, relaunch Enshudo, and even prep the tournament rules.  

As O-Sensei always taught us, a martial artist "takes what is given." We are lucky to have such a tremendous community, such exciting plans for the future, and the collective will to see them to reality.

Happy birthday, IMAS. Here's to many many more.

Yours,

Hanshi Marsh, Kyoshi Burpee, and Kyoshi Susalka