I am very happy to give an enthusiastic 5 star review of Fonseca Martial Arts!
When I was 13 I enrolled in the JKA shotokan karate classes at this dojo, I left Chicago to go to college and just got totally sidetracked by other activities when I returned.
Fast-forward 23 years and I see that at my daughter's new school (Hamilton Elementary) FMA is offering afterschool classes. We signed her up, and I look more closely at the flyer and realize that FMA runs shotokan karate training out of several dojos, including this historic one (dates to the 60s!) on Belmont just west of Clark.
So remembering how much I enjoyed karate during high school, I signed up, and 3 months later I'm wondering what on earth took me so long. I now go a few times during the week, and my wife, daughter and I all take the family karate class Saturday morning as well.
Like a reviewer below, the real benefit I get (and I hope to share with my daughter & wife) is not about turning into Bruce Lee as it is how you bring a new sharpness and clarity of focus into every aspect of your life. The FMA website has a lot of great info, and the original Sensei, Shogiro Sujiyama, has some great background as well, at: http://www.jkachicago.co…
However it is worth noting that FMA offers classes in many martial art styles: Muay Thai kick boxing, Aikido, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and probably more I'm forgetting.
Some nuts and bolts about shotokan and FMA:
It's a traditional style, and although very physically challenging, if you come to the dojo mentally ready to train and to give your all, the teachers will bring out abilities and accomplishments you never knew you were capable of and you will find yourself getting in better physical and mental shape.
And the quality of the teachers can't be overstated here. Each Sensei brings slightly different exercises to each class, and no two classes have been exactly the same since I've been back, which helps keep it fresh and we students on our toes. They take every student's progress very seriously, and provide one-on-one assistance when it is called for, while also helping to impart confidence to students by setting up drills and exercises in small groups.
Oh, and did I mention John Fonseca and his wife Elisa Au Fonseca are both Olympic karate champions? Seriously!
Now that I've had a few months to think about it, I am starting to connect dots and to see how my earlier training has manifested itself throughout my life in all kinds of positive ways. I vividly recall how an old teacher would always stop students with the admonishment "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." Sounds simple, but so many people focus on doing things quickly to complete them rather than doing things carefully and enjoying the process.
Karate training was immensely valuable when I started studying music seriously. Having the discipline to sit down with a metronome and to learn phrases, rhythms, etc. properly slowly and in time eventually led to being able to play complicated arrangements at very fast tempos for a professional jazz band. I am very glad to be both sharpening my own skills, stamina and discipline while being able to introduce these things to my daughter at a young (and hopefully impressionable) age
When I was 13 I enrolled in the JKA shotokan karate classes at this dojo, I left Chicago to go to college and just got totally sidetracked by other activities when I returned.
Fast-forward 23 years and I see that at my daughter's new school (Hamilton Elementary) FMA is offering afterschool classes. We signed her up, and I look more closely at the flyer and realize that FMA runs shotokan karate training out of several dojos, including this historic one (dates to the 60s!) on Belmont just west of Clark.
So remembering how much I enjoyed karate during high school, I signed up, and 3 months later I'm wondering what on earth took me so long. I now go a few times during the week, and my wife, daughter and I all take the family karate class Saturday morning as well.
Like a reviewer below, the real benefit I get (and I hope to share with my daughter & wife) is not about turning into Bruce Lee as it is how you bring a new sharpness and clarity of focus into every aspect of your life. The FMA website has a lot of great info, and the original Sensei, Shogiro Sujiyama, has some great background as well, at: http://www.jkachicago.co…
However it is worth noting that FMA offers classes in many martial art styles: Muay Thai kick boxing, Aikido, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and probably more I'm forgetting.
Some nuts and bolts about shotokan and FMA:
It's a traditional style, and although very physically challenging, if you come to the dojo mentally ready to train and to give your all, the teachers will bring out abilities and accomplishments you never knew you were capable of and you will find yourself getting in better physical and mental shape.
And the quality of the teachers can't be overstated here. Each Sensei brings slightly different exercises to each class, and no two classes have been exactly the same since I've been back, which helps keep it fresh and we students on our toes. They take every student's progress very seriously, and provide one-on-one assistance when it is called for, while also helping to impart confidence to students by setting up drills and exercises in small groups.
Oh, and did I mention John Fonseca and his wife Elisa Au Fonseca are both Olympic karate champions? Seriously!
Now that I've had a few months to think about it, I am starting to connect dots and to see how my earlier training has manifested itself throughout my life in all kinds of positive ways. I vividly recall how an old teacher would always stop students with the admonishment "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." Sounds simple, but so many people focus on doing things quickly to complete them rather than doing things carefully and enjoying the process.
Karate training was immensely valuable when I started studying music seriously. Having the discipline to sit down with a metronome and to learn phrases, rhythms, etc. properly slowly and in time eventually led to being able to play complicated arrangements at very fast tempos for a professional jazz band. I am very glad to be both sharpening my own skills, stamina and discipline while being able to introduce these things to my daughter at a young (and hopefully impressionable) age
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