Kilgore Rotarians learn about martial arts and self defense

Jerry Camp, left, president of the Kilgore Rotary Club, presents a book to John Martini, right, also a club member, after he presented a program Wednesday on self defense. Martini owns a martial arts studio in Kilgore and has classes for all ages and all types of self defense. John Martini, a local martial arts instructor and a member of the Kilgore Rotary Club, was the guest speaker for the Wednesday meeting to end 2009.

Martini has a martial arts studio here in Kilgore and has classes for all ages of people are all varieties of martial arts.

Martini has been involved in martial arts for about 40 years. Most of his training was in Okinawa or from Okinawan masters, so he teaches martial arts that deal with pressure points and tactics such as this. He does not come from a school that deals with power punching, but, during training, a student can learn how to throw proper punches and use techniques to defend themselves.

He performed a very short kata, which has eight self defense mechanisms in it, and from that showed Kilgore Rotarians how they can defend themselves against people who attack them.

He displayed the different parts of the kata against an attacker using audience participants. He showed how with very simple moves, you can stop an attacker and put them in a position for you to be on the offensive.

Martini said his students range from very young children to more mature adults, and the reason for that is his training does not involve power but instead relies on pressure points and evasive strategies that allow you to stop an attacker and gain the upper hand from your moves.

Martini explained the origin of his martial art and said that the sport version of karate evolved from his martial art in Japan after people from Okinawa met with Japanese and began to exchange training.

He said the belts are only useful, in his opinion, if you want to strangle your opponent. By learning katas and continuing to train with instructors and masters, a person can rapidly grow in knowledge.

Martini told Rotarians that everyone is different and certain people can learn faster than others, but he said, on average, a person should be able to learn the kata he performed for Rotarians in about one month.

His studio is in downtown Kilgore just over the railroad tracks on Commerce Street, and he is always looking for new students.

In other Rotary news, the club welcomed back Greg Murphy, a former club member who has returned to Rotary. Murphy is a main worker in the flag program and has continued to work in that area even though he was out of the club for a while. Now that he has returned he will take a bigger active role in the flags.

Rotarians are looking forward to the new year and will hopefully have additional members in the club by the end of January. The club is also looking forward to the Scholar Athlete Banquet in the spring as well as the annual golf tournament at the end of April.

This next Wednesday, Dr. Charles Whiteside will bring a program about the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Whiteside will be the chairman of the chamber this coming year.

The Kilgore Rotary Club meets each Wednesday at noon in the ballroom of the Meadowbrook Country Club. Guests are always welcome.