Meet Denny Strecker

I have always wanted to make a contribution to our future, and to have a powerful, positive affect on the people in my life. I started Martial Arts after I graduated from high school and quickly decided that I would run my own school someday. I found a job teaching karate classes in a local community center two nights a week and grew that into a second location where I could teach the other two week nights. This turned into being offered my first karate school in 1994. I was part of a large organization that had ten schools just like I was running and countless elementary programs. I grew the school to over 200 students within the three years that I was there, but there was something missing.

The organization was solely focused on fighting and did not care about Character Development. The final straw came when I watched the Board of Directors fail a student at belt testing in front of dozens of that child’s family and friends, because the instructor did not teach him the correct form to present for the testing. Their attitude was the student must know their requirements – period!!

It was at that point that I knew I had to leave. All of the families I was training chose to stay with the organization so I was forced to start over from zero – It was the BEST decision that I have ever made!!

A very wise man said to me, “I would rather have zero students and do things the right way than have hundreds of students and do things the wrong way.” and that is exactly what I was feeling. Only teaching the “Martial” part and not any of the “Art” is a big mistake. I wanted to help children and all that I seemed to be doing was hurting their self-image, self-confidence and self-esteem. Now that I was on my own, I could do things the right way.

I had been studying martial arts for over ten years at this point and I knew I had the physical skill. I had earned 3 different Black Belts and I had competed in tournaments on the state, National and International levels. I was ranked 3rd in the World in Weapons and 5th in the World in Forms. Now this makes me highly qualified to kick some butt – but doesn’t in any way qualify me to teach discipline and confidence to a six year old. I’ll get to why I AM qualified to do that in a minute.

I knew there had to be a way to teach great martial arts while also teaching critical Life Skills that would benefit students for the rest of their lives. There had to be a way to create a school that focused on success, where shy kids, overweight kids, undisciplined and disobedient kids, could all come together in a positive atmosphere and learn to overcome their personal weaknesses through martial arts AND learn effective, high level, self defense skills at that the same time.

So I got to work! I all ready had the martial arts part down. I knew that Martial Arts can teach children to have a positive outlook, good manners, fantastic listening skills, laser-sharp focus and attention, good memory, unshakeable self-discipline, and unstoppable confidence. I just had to figure out how to lock down the things that would be most effective in bringing out these empowering qualities in my students.

So I went on a quest – one that has led me through literally dozens of parenting, child psychology and educations books and resources. One that has taken me across the United States – North, South, East and West to see such experts as Melody Shuman, Dawn Barnes, Keith Hafner, Tom Callos, Dave Kovar, Ernie Reyes, Nick Cokinos and Dr. Judy Flury – all Martial Arts masters who specialize in teaching Character through Martial Arts.

I have studied these principles daily for years and spent over $30,000 dollars in courses, seminars, lessons, conferences, and coaching to help me teach YOUR child to be happy, healthy and confident. PLUS, I endured over 10 years of grueling, old school training to be able to teach much more effectively than my instructors and the organization I worked for. (After all if we’re using martial arts as our delivery system for character, that delivery system needs to be the best it can be, right?)

Fearless Self Confidence – I have developd a specific path to improving self-confidence and developing the “I Can” attitude. Parents can actually see my process in action and are always excited at how quickly it works.

Powerful Self Control – My program teaches students how to make better choices and how to defend themselves mentally and emotionally so they don’t get into fights. My karate students learn how to defend themselves and that is a big difference. Teaching a student how to hurt someone is not the goal of martial arts, but most instructors don’t understand that and end up teaching a physical technique that can severely harm another person and they don’t teach the concept behind it about self control.

Leadership Training – My program teaches how to become a leader. This training is unique in the aspect that I don’t sit students down and tell them how to do it…I SHOW THEM HOW! Students are given opportunities to work on a variety of projects and learn through experience what it takes to be a leader and how to solve problems – both of these skills I believe are critical to a child’s success as an adult.

I am happy to say that my program is growing by leaps and bounds as more and more parents are learning how I can help their children develop into great citizens and have the Life Skills that society expects but that no one else teaches.