We reached out to Lindsay Sutton of Community Karate Center in Saint Charles, MO, to ask her about the founding story of her Karate school.

Tell us about Community Karate Center – What is the story behind opening it?

In 2018, my husband Neil and I, along with our friend Michael, decided to open our own karate dojo. We knew that we could do better than some of the local schools and I loved the idea of having creative freedom to run the business however we wanted; putting the focus on traditional karate values with a strong emphasis on customer service.

Alan “Gumby” Marques is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ralph Gracie, and the owner of Heroes Martial Arts in San Jose. He is also the co-founder of the OTM (OnTheMat) brand. Gumby was also my (Eran) instructor and Jiu-Jitsu mentor for close to 4 years, and the person who awarded me my brown belt back in 2015. I talked to Gumby about his school and how he’s been dealing with the COVID situation.

Reuven Lirov has been practicing and teaching Aikido since 2007 and currently holds a Sandan, or 3rd-degree black belt and Fukushidoin (1st level instructor) through the United States Aikido Federation and Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, Japan.

He is also the author of The Aikido Student Manual: A New Generation’s Guide To Traditional Martial Arts. We sat down with Reuven to talk about his Aikido school, Pinellas County Aikikai.

Kroyler Gracie and his school in Eikhart, IN, Kroyler Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, joined us shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak began in the US. Their support and input during this difficult time has been invaluable. We checked-in with Kroyler to learn more about his school and see how they’ve been handling this situation.

Summit Martial Arts in Calgary, Canada has been with us since the end of 2018. During that time, their feedback and input have been instrumental in developing many of the features at Martial Arts on Rails. We sat down to talk to Leigh-Ann Morris about their history and plans going forward.