Black Belt 1

Scott enrolled in karate classes with us at American Karate in 1996 at the age of 4. He has worked his way through our Junior Leader Program, Instructor's Assistant Program and is now a valuable member of our team of Instructors as an Assistant Instructor.

Primary art: Tang Soo Do

Specialty: Forms and Jumping Maneuvers

AKA: Small Black Dog

Scott has never had a gap in his training and is the longest tenured student at the school. With the highest levels of commitment, dedication, knowledge and technique, Scott sets an excellent example at our school. He's always eager to help another student with a technique and is a leader in our classes.

A senior at Woodlawn High, Scott plans to pursue Architecture at LSU after graduation but doesn't intend to give up his training. "I plan to take karate as long as I can, but it will be hard to keep going to class regularly once I get into college." If anyone can handle both, Scott can!

Offensive Jumping Turn Kick. When you perform this kick correctly and cleanly, it looks really cool. It’s like one of those moves you would see in a martial arts movie that sends the bad guy back 20 feet. This is quite an advanced kick, but it is really fun to do when you can execute it correctly. Within the past year I have been able to jump better, and it has made this kick come much easier to me.

Jackie Chan. One reason he is my favorite is because he does all of his stunts. Another reason is that he is sort of comical in his movies. His movies aren’t completely serious and hardcore. They are sometimes comical which is a good break from a real intense movie like most other karate movie stars.

“The One” with Jet Li. The first time I saw it, my friend rented it and I was hooked. That movie has some really good fight scenes because Jet Li is fighting himself in that movie. The plot of this movie is kind of confusing, but if you understand it, it makes the movie that much better than just the awesome fight scenes.

I love kicking the heavy bags. It's a great wat to measure and see your performance. It's the closest thing we have to being able to stike an opponent with full force. If we did that during sparring with each other, we would have to have a membership to the Emergency Room!

I have to say that I didn’t start karate by really wanting to learn it if that makes any sense. When I was about 4 years old, I wanted to get into a sport. I didn’t want it to be an ordinary sport like soccer or football, though. My mom suggested to me karate, and I thought, “Karate might be cool. I’ll do it.” Now the rest is history.

Karate has been one of the best experiences in my life. I have learned so many things and become friends with people I would have never met in my life.

Some things I’ve learned are: respect, self-control, and, most importantly, patience.

In my first year of karate, I met and became friends with my friend, Alex, who I have known for 10-11 years and is now one of my best friends and without karate, I probably would’ve never developed a friendship like that with him.