So, there we were... owners of a "successful" business for over 20 years.  And yet - we changed everything.  What happened?  It's really a three-part story.

Part One: Leaving Our Roots

In order to understand, we have to take you back to circa 2013.  We had just re-entered the arena of competitions, after a more than 18 year break.  We should've just stayed away... but then we never would've realized our true purpose (and potential).

After many requests from students who wanted to compete (and their parents who felt that it would take them to the "next level"), we relented and trained a team for the 2013 State Tae Kwon Do Championships.  Our results were disappointing - but not for the reasons you might think.  Our students were told that they hit "too hard," and were losing matches because clear, body-shocking blows were not being scored by the judges.  Judges were only interested in head shots, and didn't like the power we were delivering.  We were asked to have our students "lighten up," a clear violation of everything we had taught our kids to that point - to practice like they perform - with power and strength.  Meanwhile, the other kids were  barely touching us, and winning over and over.

Undeterred, we brought teams back again and again over the next 4 years, to even worse results.  It quickly became clear to us that in order to compete, we had to choose - train kids to win trophies, or train kids to win fights (if they needed to).   We couldn't - in good conscience -  train kids to pull their punches and more, knowing how muscle memory works.  And we knew we had to educate parents who were being duped (our words) by other traditonal schools who were still teaching this way.  "Get close, but don't actually touch," or "Touch, but only lightly."  Any other sport would laugh at this thinking (can you imagine a baseball player - "Swing the bat, but just lightly touch the ball.  Don't worry, when the time comes, you'll hit it with the right amount of force") yet, school after school continues to sell this LIE, and call it body "control."

Part Two: Ready for Change

Without that disillusionment, we never would've been ready to discover what ultimately became our new love - Kali.  We discovered Kali, a Filipino fighting art, at a martial arts business conference.  Discovering this art was a real turning point for us.  For Paul, it was the discovery of something practical, and REAL.  Something that didn't waste time on useless memorization, like our forms did.  And something that was easily learnable, and with practice, a student could get comfortable proficient - in much less time than our current standard of a few years.  For Kara, it was the discovery of techniques that for the 1st time EVER, felt like they would actually WORK, and give her - a less-than-five-foot-tall-female, an actual ADVANTAGE over an opponent, no matter their size.

Coming back from that training, we started delving  deeper and deeper into the techniques and philosophies of the art, which was very similar for Paul to what he had studied as a young man before putting all his eggs in the tae kwon do basket.   The problem was this - the art was looked at by many as a "combat" art, and therefore, would not be "family friendly."  We had to look at how to take a "combat" style, and make it appropriate for kids, and more importantly - make it easy to understand, and give it a path to the full style when appropriate.  Luckily the answer came from an unexpected source.

In 2012, Kara underwrote the curriculum for her Kinder Karate programs.  She started out to create an environment where younger children (aged 3-6) could thrive in the martial arts.  By 2016, she had multiple programs, and had become known as the "go to" for parents with very young kids.  Her results were amazing, and up that point, we had never considered applying them to our older kids' classes.  After all, they were "fine."

However, in wanting to make the changes that we did, it made sense to take her developmental expertise, and apply it to this new age group of students.  If it made sense to separate the younger kids, wouldn't it make sense to give the other, older kids THEIR own environment, too?

So that's what we did.  We created a program for the next age group 7-8, and called it Ninjability.  We wanted to take the natural way that kids move - running, jumping, climbing - and apply that to martial arts classes that are traditionally very stand-still and BORING.  Once that was established, it was a natural progression to create the next level, Ninja Warriors, for 9 and 10 year olds.

Each age group has their own environment, perfect for their needs and development.  Paul is happier than ever, teaching classes that are fun for HIM as well as the KIDS.

Flash forward...

In 2017, Kara wrote "The Kinder Karate Method," which reached international bestseller status.  It describes her philosophies behind her classes, and how parents can benefit, not only from the classes, but from implementing these strategies at home.    

In 2019, she wrote her 2nd book, "Kinderize Your Business," showing other kids' business owners the way to have a thriving business the RIGHT way, when focusing on 3 to 6 year olds.

Also in 2019, Kara received her Master's Degree in Positive Psychology, writing her thesis on "Building Confident Kids Using Mindfulness."  We are proud to say that after much research, she is one of the ONLY people in the country who are taking techniques once thought only applicable to adults, and showing actual RESULTS with kids younger than previous researchers ever thought possible!

Our leadership programs are now being noticed and their progress watched by some of the top personal development experts in the industry.  They are amazed at the results we are getting with very young children using strategies that were once reserved only for adults.  Check it out HERE. We are now partners with Mind Up, Goldie Hawn's foundation that is dedicated to bringing social-emotional learning (SEL) to all elementary classrooms everywhere.

The next level awaits, as we figure out how to distribute our confidence programs nationwide, and WORLDWIDE.  We are excited to help as many children as possible, and hope you are just as excited to come on this journey with us!

Paul and Kara Czerniak