Let me start out first and say Congratulations to all the competitors and guests at the recent Long Island Kempo Alliance Karate Invitational Tournament. It was a great success with over 175 competitors and 350 guests. It ran smoothly and on time,and was sucessfulin all ways.The next tournament will be in mid 2008 at The Holiday Inn in Ronkonkoma. This time of year in my school we have Black Belt testing. It happens only once a year and is a very special event. Many parents ask me when their child starts training,How long will it take my child to get his Black Belt? My answer is always the same. Typical students attain a Black Belt in 4-8 years. And it certainly depends on the commitment of the student and parents. Physical training to train your body to its highest level takes years of hard work and workout regimen.Training in your disipline,learning developed martial arts techniques such as taekwon do, karate or kung fu. I believe the most important and difficult is training your mind and spirit to the Black Belt Level. In my schools we stress good moral values and citizenship. (The code of the Bushido) or Samurai Values. We want our Black Belts to be Leaders in our Community and perhaps World leaders in the future. They have trained for years and achieved a Black Belt. We say at this time we say You are now a Leader in the Dojo and everywhere you go. Let me say there is no typical Black Belt test. Every style and test administrator runs a Black Belt Test in their own way. Each martial arts style stresses the techniques and strengths of the system trained in. I can state that it will take all your training and physical strength to pass this evaluation. after the test you feel you "earned" your Black Belt. Training does not stop at a Black Belt. There are 10 levels , with the highest being a Grandmaster. Richard Fescina has just attained that level. He was promoted recently by Aidrian Empeardado, Worldwide head of Kajukenpo.Congratulationd Grandmaster Fescina. As always I leave you this thought...A teacher can open the doors but it is up to the student to walk through them... Call our toll free phone # for a FREE Trial Class in Deer Park or West Islip 1(866)95-KARATE