12/13/06 -

Last night I presented "Protecting Vulnerable Populations" at our quarterly instructor training. I came to the realization over the past six months that with all of our focus on teaching self defense and all of our training of instructors in safety for students, we had only skirted one of the most important, yet overlooked aspects of training our instructors. The class went really well and I proud to have taken the initiative on this subject. I hope that all martial art schools have extensive training to protect children and all other vulnerable populations from abuse.

I was so tired this morning for my Wednesday lesson with my wife, Tamara. She is preparing for her next midterm towards third dan black belt this Saturday, so I wanted to make sure she got in a practice, but I could have easily skipped it today. We had rented the the Flight 93 movie about 9/11, and stayed up past midnight wanting to watch the end. As martial art teachers, we were as many others instructors have written about since, the attempt of the passengers to re-take the plane.