On a recent day at Los Altos Karate, head teacher and manager Paul Garduno had his hands full of Tiny Tigers – eight of them, ages 4 to 6. Garduno managed them with the grace of a master.
The students varied in size from tiny to robust, with a tendency toward cute. Though lively and energized, they were well behaved and not at all unruly.
“OK, line up by rank,” Garduno said. There was a flurry of movement as the kids scampered into position. With mommies and nannies watching from benches on the side of the room, most of the kids were smiling and seemed eager to participate.
“Now we face the flag and we bow,” he said. The kids all showed their respect to the large American flag mounted on the wall. “Now you face me and we bow.”
Garduno did not say “bow to the master,” as is heard in other martial arts classes – a subtle but significant difference.
The kids did some warm-up exercises: “Run in place. Run in place, slap down,” they all hit the floor; “push up,” they are up in an instant; “run in place.”
They practiced some moves: “Show me front position. Go into horse stance. Arms tucked in tight. Turn and block; let’s focus. Block, reading, number one block, punch and back.” Garduno is careful to keep the kids out of the way of the punches. On the punch, the kids yell, “Aiy-ah!”
It is clear Garduno is good with kids. His natural kindness and firm charm prevail even over the concerns of childhood. Like crying.
One child started to tear up because he missed his nanny, who had dropped him off and left to run an errand. Hardly missing a beat in the instructions, Garduno soothed the child, warmly insisting that he get back to the assignment.
Garduno did not say there is no crying in karate (or in baseball, parenting and adulthood) – another subtle gesture of respect that marks the gentle discipline pervading the atmosphere at Los Altos Karate. The teachers are strict and serious but also kind and quick to smile.
“We specialize in high-quality instruction,” said Los Altos Karate owner Ron Leffew. “We build long-term relationships with students and their families.”
Los Altos Karate, 151 Second St., gives private and group lessons to men, women and children who are at least 4 years old. About 40 percent of the students are female.
The school was founded in 1995 by Leffew and others. Leffew is now the sole proprietor and is establishing schools in the communities surrounding Los Altos and in Sacramento. Los Altos Karate is part of his bigger company, Shaolin American Kenpo Karate Organization (SAKKO).
Leffew is well known as a leader in the teaching of Kenpo Karate, which is a system of complete self-defense based on logical reasoning and realistic response to any type of attack. This covers all areas of self-defense, including defensive blocking and evasiveness, striking, kicking, grappling, throws, takedowns, joint manipulation, multiple attackers, weapons training and weapons defense.
With 26 years’ experience running martial arts schools, Leffew has developed what he calls the Virtue Karate System. The system isolates 24 key powerful words about being a human being and breaks them down into five areas.
These “physical, emotional, mental disciplines are core elements of a human being,” he said. The goal, for students and staff, is to “make these assets a part of you.”
Under mental traits, Leffew lists: effort, integrity, focus, etiquette, responsibility, communication, attitude, motivation. Each of those has subcategories: verbal integrity, social integrity, financial integrity, organizational integrity, family integrity.
As emotional traits, Leffew lists: respect, confidence, courage, loyalty, self-esteem, self-control, honesty, compassion. Physical traits include speed, power, balance, accuracy, endurance, active control, mobility and timing.
“We teach this as part of our regular curriculum,” he said. “It’s such a powerful thing, the best attributes of a human being.
“We teach martial arts, but also drills and skills to teach and practice these virtue traits so you are able to learn, use and understand them. Lack of any one of these traits could hurt you in later life.”
Debra Ting began taking private karate lessons because her daughter wanted them to do it together. “I’m taking it for me now,” Ting said. “What’s so neat about it, it’s fitness, and self-defense and more. I lost six pounds immediately.
“Karate is spirituality, discipline and challenge. … It’s not just exercise; there’s so much more to it. It’s mind-body-spirit.”
Leffew also uses technology as a training tool.
“My experience led to development of DVD video training-we record the students, they get copies of the DVD and develop a library of their training,” he said.
Los Altos Karate offers a modular training system. A student can choose one or more of the six modules, or “regular,” which includes all six:
• Family, for parents working with their children – low key, gentle.
• Physical conditioning – training, sweat, getting sore.
• Technical – lots of questions. Why and how does this work?
• Character building.
• Contact – for students who like the physical contact of sparring, grappling, throwing and competing.
• Self-defense – able to use today what you learn today; gaining tools to put a quick stop to a problem.
The modules provide something for everyone. And, in addition to the stated benefits, other lessons are learned in the process. The Tiny Tigers, for instance, learn how to behave in school while they are learning the discipline of karate.
Joshua Gumm, a 6-year-old student, is very definite about his motivation. “I want to learn to defend myself,” he said. Those early grades can be murder, after all.
For more information, phone 941-0153 or visit www.losaltoskarate.com.
