Your Karate

Big thank you to Sensei Maria Varga, leader of Kyokushin Army Band Dojo in Transylvania, Romania, for purchasing a signed copy of Your Karate: How to Make Karate Work for You.

I am always inspired by your dedication to your dojo, your students, and your relentless commitment to Kyokushin Karate. I hope this book brings you real value and fresh perspectives on your martial arts journey.

Arigato Gozaimash*ta.

OSU!

📖 Your Karate: How to Make Karate Work for You is available now on Amazon! Tap the link in my bio to grab your copy today.

Why i don't call our kids classes "Little Ninjas" like a lot of schools do?

It's not a knock on anyone else's choice, plenty of great schools use the name and it works fine for them. For me, it's more about wanting to be intentional with the words we use around our students.
Ninja sounds cool, catchy, easy to put on a sign. But historically, the shinobi (ninja) of feudal Japan weren't warriors in the samurai sense. They were hired for espionage, sabotage, and sometimes assassination, and their methods, deception, disguise, poison, working outside the rules of open combat, were exactly what made them useful. Where the samurai code valued honor and open confrontation, the whole value of a shinobi was doing what a samurai wouldn't.

That's just not the identity I want to build around our kids, even in something as small as a class name.

Words shape how kids see themselves, long before they understand why. That's part of what 24-Hour Warrior is about: what you call something, what you train, how you carry yourself, none of that stays on the mat. It follows you into the rest of your life.

So I'd rather call our students karateka. Sometimes little karateka, sometimes just karate kids. Simple, direct, and it actually means something: someone walking the path of karate, training with discipline and respect, not hiding in shadows.

It might cost a little on the marketing side. Catchy names sell. But I'd rather our students and their parents understand what we actually stand for, even if it's a smaller draw.

Thank you, Senpai Juan Bross from New Jersey, for buying a signed copy of my book. It's a great privilege and feeling to know that my book can be of help to you. I hope you enjoy it.
Shihan Steve.
Juan Bross

Your Karate made it to Romania with Senpai Alex Burnaru.
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Your Karate book written by Shihan Steve Fogarasi made it to Romania, at the Black Sea and up the Carpathian Mountains.
These lands have shaped us both, with their rugged beauty and rich history about overcoming adversity throughout millennia.

I am once again recommending this book for anyone that wants simple, easy-to-digest philosophy that can be utilized to uncover resilience, strength, and daily focus towards a better body, mind, and spirit!

This is not a book only for martial artists, but a guide on building a unique identity of a stronger self.

N.B.: the letter to the little boy/younger self at the end is a valuable and emotional gem.

Something I think about sometimes: I opened my first dojo at eighteen, as a blue belt.

I didn't have much of a choice, at least not in my head. There was no dojo in my hometown, and the closest one was 40 km away — a real distance to commute in Romania back then. Opening a dojo myself was just the practical answer. It never occurred to me that I was only a blue belt with zero teaching experience. I just did it and figured it out as I went.

Teaching doesn't need fancy equipment or a nice facility. It never did. Sosai Oyama himself started teaching in a park, then moved to a dance studio, long before Kyokushin grew big. You can start anywhere, with almost nothing.

I used to write my classes out on paper beforehand and follow them step by step. After a few years, I didn't need the paper anymore. It was just in me.

Looking back, I think people overthink things now. Everyone wants the safe move, the sure thing, the right qualifications before they start. Some never start at all. I didn't have that luxury, and I learned more in those early years, figuring it out with nothing but a piece of paper and no idea what I was doing, but I would not have it in any other way.
Sometimes the best things happen when we just take action.

- Shihan Steve

R.J. is nine years old, and he's already got something a lot of adults are still chasing: real dedication. He brought his copy of Your Karate in to be signed, and watching a kid that young take his training this seriously tells me everything about where he's headed.

The book wasn't written with kids in mind, but the truth is, when a young student is as focused and committed, age stops being the deciding factor. He'll get something out of it. With the support around him, I have no doubt he'll go as far as he wants to in this. Keep going, R.J.

You Can Only Show the Path

I've been teaching long enough to know this: there's only so much a teacher can do.

Some students take what you give them and run with it. Others hear the same advice, nod, and then go right back to doing what they were doing before. Some reject it outright. Some half-do it, which is almost worse — enough to say they tried, not enough to actually change anything.

For a long time I thought that was on me. That I needed to explain it better, show it differently, find the right angle. Sometimes that's true. But mostly it isn't.

The student has to want it. Not just say they want it — actually want it, enough to do the uncomfortable thing when nobody's watching. That part I can't give them.

What I can do is lead by example. Keep training. Keep showing up. Keep doing the thing I'm asking them to do. And point at the path clearly enough that anyone looking for it can find it.

Some will follow. Some will walk a parallel road — close enough to see the difference, far enough that the lessons don't quite reach. Some of those eventually quit. That used to bother me more than it does now.

My approach these days is simpler. Those who have eyes will see. Those who are ready will follow. The ones who aren't — no amount of pushing will change that, and trying too hard usually just pushes them further away.

Shine the light. Walk the path yourself. The rest is up to them.

Twelve years. That's how long Senpai Max and his brother Taras have been on the mat with me. I've watched them grow from little kids into the young men standing in this photo.
Having them bring my book, Your Karate in to be signed is one of those moments I'll carry for a long time. Thank you both.

Taught an online class today for the Sunday Budo Sessions group. Great bunch of people to work with. We spent an hour on mawashi geri variations and the time flew by — that's usually a good sign the session was working.
Online training gets a bad reputation sometimes, and I get why. But when it's done right, with the right group, it can be just as productive as being in the room together. Today was one of those days.
Thanks for having me.