Candidates for Black Belt Training

Second.

You have shown us good attendance, which has represented to us excellent growth in personal discipline the personal discipline necessary to follow through and stick with your goals.

As you have heard, the road to Black Belt is measured with small, incremental improvements that, when achieved consistently, gain enormous momentum and lead to phenomenal mental and physical breakthroughs.

Our Master Club Training , and our Leadership Training are programs in which you begin to learn additional techniques that you will be called on to perform as you progress to BLACK BELT FIRST DEGREE, 2 nd DEGREE, 3 rd DEGREE and beyond! Now is the time your instructor recommends that you choose your path to Black Belt-from our MASTER CLUB PROGRAMor our life changing LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM.

As Master Oliver points out, "from the pursuit of MASTERY comes the confidence to lead.

The confidence that comes from leading others in this beautiful, life-changing art of American Karate is immediate, long lasting and rewarding. Good martial arts instructors--professional full time, part time and assistants alike--will tell you how absolutely thrilling it is to share what you have learned with others and watch them grow; at the same time, they will tell you that so much of what they learn actually happens while they are teaching!"

Third.

You and Your Family has been determined to have the aptitude and over-all capability to one day be a Black Belt.

Now that you've been approved you and your family must make the commitment to earning advanced Black Belt knowledge, competence, confidence and rank.

During your personal evaluation conference with our Instructors and Program Director's we will let you know whether you have been approved for our Master Club - or, for the elite level of training known as the Leadership Program.

Our MASTER CLUB Program will provide you with all the physical and mental fundamentals of a First Degree Black Belt, then Second Degree Black Belt. In Master-Club you will be in our accelerated training program to Black Belt and Beyond. Master Club is designed to help you achieve at the highest levels physically and to develop the mental discipline, focus, and control necessary to achieve your Black Belt and to carry that Mastery to other areas of your life.

Our ultimate program available to you at this level is Stephen Oliver's LEADERSHIP Program. Chief Master Stephen Oliver describes the Leadership Program as the program that he wishes were available 34 years ago when he began training. The Leadership Program is designed to not only develop the physical and mental skills of a Black Belt - but, to transcend the martial arts mastery and develop "Personal Power" and "Mastery" that will carry over to every area of life.

The Leadership Program teaches students of all ages the skills of teaching, public speaking, and personal interaction skills.

For kids this is the "Valedictorian" and, "Student Body President" route to Black Belt and Beyond.

For adults - this program leads to public and private confidence. It develops speaking and communications skills while creating unstoppable confidence in front of small and large groups of people.

We are now, in a very structured way, teaching people to teach and lead, as they learn -which is the most powerful way in the world to assimilate the mental and physical elements of our teaching. And in this course, our students learn great techniques that were formerly reserved for those going from first to second, second to third and third to fourth degree Black Belts.

Having been approved to train to Black Belt is the first - and, a very important step - in preparing to move into Master Club or Leadership.

Your instructor will determine next if you are approved for Leadership or if you are just approved (at this stage) for Master Club. Your choice is then to determine how much you want to learn while you're achieving your Black Belt goal! Are you content in Master Club Program, or if approved would you like to pursue the leadership skills as well in our Leadership Training Program.

By recommending you for Black Belt Training, your instructors have determined that you have the attributes necessary to earn your Black Belt.

To be approved to Leadership they must be convinced but that you and your family have the integrity and character required to teach and lead others. They are willing to commit to providing you with the leadership, guidance and the skills to get you there!

Congratulations!

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IN PURSUIT OF MASTERY & LEADERSHIP
IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Overview by Grand Master Stephen Oliver, Black Belt 8th Degree

My favorite quote applies dramatically to YOUR success in martial arts -- this was written by WN MURRAY The Scottish Himalayan Expedition in 1951:

Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elemental truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man would have dreamt would have come his way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

  "Whatever you can do, or dream you can. . . begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it"

The first step to getting your Black Belt is to make a definite decision - a definite commitment that you will be a Black Belt some day. Until you make a definite commitment there will be no possibility or potential to receive your Black Belt.

And, prior to making the decision to train to your Black Belt I'd like you to consider another of my favorite quotes by Zig Ziglar:

"What we get by achieving our goals is not nearly
as important as what we become."

What wisdom!

The journey to your Black Belt will guarantee great personal growth and development. How powerful! It is a concept all martial artists must take to heart in their pursuit of MASTERY. This pursuit screams for excellence.

At Stephen Oliver's Mile High Karate, we are continually striving for excellence.not to rest on any temporary laurels or to become complacent with any short term successes. We meet with our Instructors every week-5-6 hours weekly of mental and physical training specifically designed to provide our instructors more and more understanding and methods for motivating and inspiring our students and the parents of our younger students, while adding to their considerable physical prowess.

We live by the principle that a good instructor is one who can motivate a student to be as good as the student believes he or she can be. We believe, however, that a great instructor is one who can inspire a student to be as good as the instructor believes the student can be. In this endeavor, we are constantly seeking the matched commitment of the parents and significant others, who themselves may have to overcome certain obstacles to help their children and partners reach those goals they have set as a family.

This is where LEADERSHIP training is so important. A potential leader becomes a real leader through mentoring. Our instructors guide our future leaders through all the steps to become a leader-from the basics of developing physical competence to overcoming the fear of getting up in front of others to instruct them to dissecting and analyzing students' weaknesses, followed by the methods of motivating and inspiring the many different kinds of people one is likely to encounter-in class and in life!

We are a Black Belt School. Being a Black Belt School means we are committed to Black Belt Excellence for our students. In the martial arts, as in every endeavor, excellence at its highest levels is also known as Mastery.

Mastery, by definition, means gaining consummate skill and knowledge in a subject. It is a step above expert, yet paradoxically, it is a goal that no one can ever reach-the title of true master , meaning everything is mastered is truthfully not achievable; but the pursuit of this elusive mastery is the core of what we hope to instill in our students.

So while we talk a lot about the Black Belt Goal as a tangible, attainable representation of what we call Mastery, it is truly just one of the key building blocks of the program. In fact, our martial arts educational program exceeds the acquisition of this dark colored belt we are all so proud of. The goal we seek to instill is, in fact, the never ending quest for mastery. CAN I - (Constant and Never Ending Improvement).

Contemplate what Oprah Winfrey has said about Goals. Oprah says,

"If you want to accomplish the goals of your life,
you have to begin with the Spirit."

The spirit . That is the live voice inside each of us that guides us, that gives us strength and courage to make the right decisions and to do the right things-the compass.

The compass that each of us will use throughout our journey in this new Millennium. The compass that all of our parents want their children to have, the compass for right or wrong, for courage and grace and confidence and humility, knowing they will be pulled in so many different directions by so many different forces.

Our Black Belts in Training truly have an exciting, challenging adventure ahead of them in this New Millennium. They need to be equipped with courage and stamina and fortitude and honor to face the pressures sure to confront them just in the next decade, not to mention the greater pressures that will accrue to a whole new technologically overpowered generation in the years that follow.

In the midst of more information in a world of potentially decreasing truth, everyone will need courage and awareness. To develop those necessary attributes, our Goals as individuals and as Instructors and Instructors in Training are an important central part of the recipe.

Tony Robbins explains that Goals are a "means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives." He says, "Goals are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it's who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment." Once again, it's who you become!

WHAT WE BECOME!