American Black Belt Academy

During the time ABBA has been “inactive” due to the covid-19 trouble, Ms. Tingting Gu and Mr. Cui Yong finished the probationary period for Black Belt. Wednesday, 2020-11- 18, myself, Ms. Wanda Reves, 5th Dan, and Mr. Travis Morgan, 4th Dan, acknowledged that Ms. Gu and Mr. Yong had successfully completed the test and probation period and awarded to them, American Black Belt Academy Black Belt Certificates for Black Belt 1st Dan. Congratulations to both !

All ABBA belt rank certificates are special to us, especially Black Belt certificates. The certificates received by Ms. Tingting Gu and Mr. Cui Yong are truly special, as they are the last rank certificates that will be issued by Larry Ritchie’s American Black Belt Academy. Ever.

Due to the health risk to our students and staff, and the financial hardships caused by this ongoing virus, on Thursday, November 19, 2020, we closed ABBA. We have removed all ABBA property from the space we occupied for the past 36 years, and returned the keys to the landlord.

A big thank you to all ABBA students, staff, instructors, parents and a lot of folks in the neighborhood that made this such an unbelievable experience. It was one heck of a ride ! I will miss each of you.

Larry Ritchie, 10th Dan

Polk county issued an evacuation order, so I threw my tooth brush and the dogs in the van and headed for Houston. We arrived ABBA at 0210 hours. I am sooooo tired.

As you all have probably heard by now, Houston and Harris County are now under a “Stay Home Work Safe” order. This means that we are not able to conduct classes at ABBA until COVID-19 is on the decline and this order is lifted. The safety of our students is our utmost concern. However, this means that we have no income from those students to enable us to pay our lease and power bills. Unless we are able to do that, our students won’t have a school to return to.

Those of you who are “ABBA Alumni”, as well as our current students, know the quality of the martial arts instruction that our students receive and it would be a shame for COVID-19 to kill ABBA. Therefore, we are asking for assistance from any, and all of you who can contribute, making it possible for us to pay those bills. Any amount would be helpful. You can direct funds by check to:

American Black Belt Academy, 4978 Hwy 6 North, Suite A
Houston, Texas 77084

Or:
PayPal at [email protected]

Zelle at [email protected]

Thank you in advance for helping maintain this quality dojo, and please re-post and share this as much as possible.

I just found out that Sunday, February 23, 2020, we lost another true warrior from the Golden Years of American martial arts, or, as it is often called, the “Blood and Guts Era”. Gm Jim Harrison was, in fact, one of the cornerstones on which that era was built. As far as I know, he was highly respected by everyone that met him, and in many cases, feared. No one that I ever met wanted to get in the ring with him - - with or without gloves.

I first met GM Harrison in 1966 and I can assure you that he will be greatly missed by many. There will never be another like him.

Jim 'RONIN' Harrison LOLO — Jim R. Harrison, 83, of Lolo, passed away of natural causes on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020, at St. Patrick's Hospital.

For more information, please fill out the form at http://www.abbahouston.com/lessonform.php and select Submit.

We would like to see as many of you Old Timers as possible at our 2019 Christmas Party. Please "Like" and "Share" this and help spread the word.

If you will post, as a comment, what you will be bringing to the Christmas Party I will add it to the list in our lobby.

PLEASE RSVP by leaving a comment below.