“We won!”

There's a lot to unpack there.

Hanshi Marsh, Kyoshi Burpee, and I decided to take the reins of the Independent Martial Arts School four years ago (nearly to the day!) because we believe in the ideals the Independent Karate School taught. We believed in them enough to take that risk, and give of ourselves in various ways to take the torch from Sensei Pete to continue "lighting the candles" of future students.

We have worked hard to make the school succeed.  But it wasn't just us.  Our instructors are dedicated, loyal, and skilled.  They care about what the school stands for, and every one of them does a wonderful job demonstrating those ideals.  We also have a surprisingly large network of folks who no longer actively study at the school, but still help out with our mission in whatever way they can.  This community that volunteers their time and expertise--current instructors or not--are the backbone of the school.  They are a key reason we have succeeded as we have so far.

And, of course, our students are what make the school a school!  It's not just the headmasters who recognize the dedication and effort our students put in.  We have had outside experts view our classes, andtell us how impressive the classes- the students- are.  We couldn't be more proud.

So, it is with great pleasure and pride we declare we won Best of the 603 for Martial Arts Studio, with "we" being the IMAS- all of us.  We all won.

Thank you.