Top Leaders in Traditional Karate Meet in Colorado Springs, Colo. to Chart Future Course for the Sport

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.

Above photo - USA-NKF interim president Eric Parthens speaks about the role of the NGB and the importance of the task to achieve competitive sustained excellence in an effort to support our athletes like National Champion Bill Finegan.

– Leaders of the USA National Karate-Do Federation are optimistic about the future of the sport following a strategic planning retreat with 22 of the top leaders of the sport of karate, February 1-3 at the United States Olympic Complex in Colorado Springs, Colo. The goal of the retreat was to bring together representatives from the USA National Karate-Do Federation, AAU Karate and the USA Karate Federation to work together to chart the future of the sport in the United States. The USA National Karate-Do Federation is recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of Karate in the United States. The USA National Karate-Do Federation is headquartered in Colorado Springs.

"The strategic planning retreat was a huge step forward for the sport of karate in the United States," said Luke St. Onge, Chief Executive Officer of the USA National Karate-Do Federation. "It is important for the future of the sport that leaders and experts in the sport are on the same page and striving for a shared and common goal. The strategic planning retreat that concluded Sunday, gave the opportunity to gather, discuss and develop very meaningful and worthwhile goals and relationships. We are very optimistic about the future, given the collaboration we accomplished over the course of the retreat."

The 22 attendees worked together through the retreat environment to develop very specific recommendations for the USA National Karate-Do Federation to carry forward to unify and develop the sport in the U.S. with the goal of becoming a medal contender on the world stage. Areas covered during the retreat ranged from Athlete Development, Unified Athlete Selection Process, Fundraising, Grassroots Development, Membership Development, Television, Marketing and Media.

For more information, please contact the Luke St. Onge, the Chief Executive Officer of the USA National Karate-Do Federation at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by calling 719-477-6925. This press release is also available on the USOC’s media specific website at www.usocpressbox.org.

Karate Retreat - Bill Bly

On Super Bowl weekend dedicated karate practitioners braved the elements to meet for a first time karate retreat. The US Olympic training center in Colorado Springs CO was the site for a historic meeting of karate experts and leaders.

Approximately 20 invitees along with the interim USA-NKF board were in attendance for a weekend retreat to help foster the future of the sport of karate in the US.

Jay Warwick the head of the National Governing Bodies, Chris Vadalla, and Eric Parthens greeted attendees at this event. The bulk of the work was to be done on Saturday with a follow up on Sunday morning. Kae Rader did and excellent job as facilitator running the program. Eric Parthens the interim president set the stage with several video presentations with the “Amazing Awaits” theme. The task is to achieve competitive sustained excellence.

Above - Luke St. Onge and Jay Warwick

The process began with participants pairing up to interview persons they did not know and find out why karate was important to them and what attracted them to karate. I was fortunate to have AAU Chairman Jo Mirza as a partner. We then formed small groups and shared are interview information. This information was put on large flip charts that were posted on the walls.

Above - Doug Stein, Tokey Hill, John Dipasqule, and Jo Mirza

The next session dealt with sustained competitive excellence and the mission to promote and grow the sport. We then compared notes from a SWOT analysis a combination of feedback given prior to the meeting by attendees highlighting internal and external factors strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately these topics and flip charts covered the walls. We then were given three stars to paste next to the topics we felt were most important. The top five topics were chosen and the participants chose what topic they would like to work on and new groups were formed. These group members offered ideas and solutions for the chosen topics that would improve the situation or topic.

Above - Coach Igaki, Gene Tibon, Tokey Hill, Eric Parthens, Roger Jarrett, George Anderson, and Cheryl Murphy

For me this was a great learning experience having a chance to flush things out with others. The facilitator kept us moving and on track for the most part. Everyone had plenty of good opportunities to voice their ideas. Not every idea was well received. Genuine effort was made to compromise and plenty of good ideas were generated for organizational structure, marketing, media, education, and team trials. As a result of this meeting several small task force have been made and we are beginning to move forward.