Parents often ask "if my kid joins karate, what will they learn? What will they gain? Where will they end up?" Now a 3rd-degree black belt, Mr Tristan Matthew started training in elementary school and moved through the ranks as a student, junior instructor, tournament champion, demo team competitor, and leader of the Little Ripples program. Listen to his insights on growing up surrounded by martial arts and martial artists, and the impact that teaching and learning has had on his life.

5th-degree black belt Master Alex Jarvis has spent more than three decades training and teaching martial arts styles that include Shotokan and Karakido karate, American Freestyle Tae Kwon Do, and the Filipino art of Pekiti Tirsia Kali. He’s become a phenomenally talented martial artist and instructor in the process, and it all started with a glow-in-the-dark pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle underpants. Get the full story from Master Jarvis on the 32nd edition of the Ripple Effect podcast!

Awarded his 10th-degree black belt in 2014, Grandmaster John Worley began his martial arts career in Fort Worth, Texas in the late 1960s, alongside his brother Pat Worley, one of the top karate competitors in the nation. Grandmaster Worley earned his 1st-degree black belt under legendary instructors J. Pat Burleson and Allen Steen, both students of Jhoon Rhee, the “Father of American Tae Kwon Do.” He followed his brother to Washington, D.C. in 1970 to run a Jhoon Rhee Institute school in Annandale, Virginia, training directly under Grandmaster Rhee as an instructor and going on to found National Karate in Minnesota.

Meet the Ogles, 3rd-degree black belts and the brains and bones behind Ripple Effect Martial Arts’ newest school in Broomfield, Colorado. Mr and Mrs Ogle have trained independently and alongside their kids as martial artists for over a decade, and they share stories of where they began, the challenges of coaching students, and the inspiration to train new black belts.