Dear Parents & students,

LABELING YOUR BELTS AND GEAR - helping your lost get found

Every month we find abandoned belts and headgear and gloves in our dojo. Much of it sits in our lost and found bins for weeks and never gets retrieved. One good tip is to use a sharpie or other permanent marker to label everything your child brings to the dojo. If we see it identified we will call or email right away.

DON'T BE A TURKEY - Thanksgiving Holiday Reminder

There will be no classes from Wednesday, Nov 27th through Saturday, Nov 30th. We hope your family has a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your home is filled with joy and gratitude. Feel free to make up any missed classes before or after the holiday ideally within 7 days of the missed date. You can, however, do make up classes up to 30 days from the date of the missed class.    For a complete list of Life Ki-do holidays, click here!

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER TESTING - December 12th- December 18th
Because of the upcoming holidays, we will not be testing the last week of November or the last week in December as we normally would. Instead we will be combining the November and December tests in the middle of December, starting 12/12. The last day of the 7 day testing period is also the last day we are open before Christmas so if your child is eligible to test and you are unable to attend on one of the testing days, we recommend waiting for the January test.

HELP FEED THE LESS FORTUNATE - Food drive starting November 1st!

As we do every year, we will again be putting out a drop box for food donations for the Capital Area Food Bank. Items that work best include: unopened canned, jarred or boxed items NOT past their expiration date. High demand items are jarred peanut butter, canned veggies and beans, healthy boxed cereals and jarred pasta sauce. Our drop off box will be out in the dojo starting Friday, November 1st and you can donate as often as you like (we will deliver to the food bank as often as the box fills) through Wednesday, December 18th.   For more information or to help them directly, please go to  http://www.austinfoodbank.org/how-to-help/ 

HOLIDAY FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE - Starting Thursday, November 21st
We are happy to offer our Holiday Flexible Schedule again this year from Thursday, November 21st through Wednesday, December 19. This schedule will allow you to do make-ups and/or switch classes at your convenience during the busy holiday season without having to call us in advance, as we ask the rest of the year outside of the summer months. You are welcome to switch classes when it suits you as long as it is an age/level appropriate class. You can find the schedule online at https://lifekido.com/class-schedule/ or feel free to pick up a hard copy at the dojo.

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN WESLEY - Black Belt test! - Friday November 15th
Black belt tests are not an everyday occurrence here at Life Ki-do, but we have one coming up. Wesley Cooper is currently preparing to receive his Black Belt. He may be a strapping young man of 17 now, well versed in the Life Ki-do martial arts and breaking hearts in high school, but when he came to us in 1999 he was a shy 4 year old. We are greatly honored that he has been training with us for a remarkable 14 years!

On November 15th, Wesley will accomplish a task that literally only a handful of students have ever accomplished at our Academy over the past 20 years; earning his Black Belt. The reason so few students accomplish this great feat is that in addition to needing to be highly skilled, it takes incredible consistency, focus, determination and effort for approximately 10+ years of training. While space is limited, if you want to see what a Life Ki-do Black Belt can do, please plan to attend the Teen/Adult class on Friday, November 15th from 5:15-6:45pm. Wesley will be joined by several other students testing for advanced belts.

SPARRING STUDENTS - MANDATORY MOUTH-GUARDS
As we've already been announcing in class, students with yellow white stripe belts and above in Samurai and Teen/Adult programs must wear a mouth-guard while sparring. (Yes, even if wearing a face shield). This is to protect the teeth and help prevent biting the tongue. We have mouth-guards available here, so just check with Jeff at the front desk if you need one. These are designed to be dropped in boiling water for 7 seconds and then (safely) removed and immediately placed in your child's mouth around the upper teeth, to ensure a custom form. However, they can be used immediately if you get to class and realize you don't have one and wish to buy one from us. Please see the mouth-guard packaging for further details on custom fitting.

MISS OUR SAMURAI TOURNAMENT? - Fear not, more tournaments are coming!
Our most recent Samurai tournament filled up its 32 spots quickly, leaving many students practicing their 3 B's excessively if they missed their chance to sign up. Fear not though, as this "fall" tournament is just the first of 3 Samurai tournaments during the current school year. We will have a winter tournament and a spring tournament, in addition to Power Ninja tournaments all coming up in early 2014. Once dates are finalized you will see a plethora of communications letting you know it's time to sign up.

FALLING BACK THIS SATURDAY? - Daylight Savings Time Kicking in Sunday, 11/3

Remember to set your clocks back 1 hour before you go to bed this Saturday for Daylight Savings Time.  Always remember to put your helmet on when falling back!

AN ARTIST IN OUR MIDST? - Check out our great new canvas in the dojo!
The newest member of the Life Ki-do family is assistant instructor Deven Penn who fills in for Jake on Wednesdays (while Jake teaches with Sensei Jonathan at Khabale).  Deven recently took our blank canvas on the wall of the dojo and painted our signature circle image of a person with their arms extended.  It looks great and breathes some great life into our space.  If you haven't seen it yet, check it out!