Silver-Sneaker Kenpo Class at PNC YMCA in Pittsburgh

On Tuesday, November 8^th, 2011, the PKA Karate Academy in Pittsburgh took it’s Senior Silver-Sneaker Kenpo program on the road and provided a free class hosted by the PNC YMCA in downtown Pittsburgh.  The attendance was great, the class was fantastic and the results were overwhelming!

Some of the many outstanding comments that we received were that it was, “the BEST program that they have every brought into the facility…” and they really would like to bring us back.

The PKA Karate Academy staff was really excited about the facility and the participation of the seniors.  They wanted to do hands-on training.  It was AWESOME!  There was also a LOT of question and answer time.  This group is very fired up for training and had great questions and attitudes!

Kudos to all!  And a very special thanks goes out to Ms. Khom and Mr. Brandon for their expertise and skill in helping to run this class.

More to come???  We’ll see!

PKA Karate Academy expands and opens NEW LOCATION in Burgettstown!

PKA Karate Academy in Pittsburgh opens it's 2nd Location.  (More coming???)

On Tuesday, September 20th, 2011, Kenpo in Pittsburgh took a HUGE step forward by expanding to it's second location which is 1445 Main Street, Burgettstown, 15021.  This was a plan in progress and with the growth of the McNeilly Road branch, the tremendous excitement and success of our EPAK Programs, it was time!

There will initially be three nightly classes, which will meet Tuesdays and Fridays with additional instruction on Sundays as well, periodically.  Private lessons, as well as group classes will be available.

The primary difference with the two locations will be the initial consolidation of some age brackets.  There will be a Little Dragons group which is 4-8 year olds and also a Juniors Group which will cover 9-13 year olds.  The adults will begin at the age of 14.  Of course these are simply bars and as always, PKA will ALWAYS utilize it's state-of-the-art pre-eval program, which not only helps with the younger children, but also points out strengths and limitations that individuals all have since after-all, no two students are alike and Kenpo is not a team "sport", it's a tailored Art.

This is just ONE of the many reasons why PKA is just different than the others, and why we continue to get new students from other schools transferring or coming in to check us out.

The Open-House in August was a great success and opening night went well.  Students were already coming in and ready to sign up on the first night of classes.  There is a huge annual parade coming up in October which will be fantastic and lot and lots of neat new things to follow.

The PKA Karate Academy Family is proud and excited to be expanding and as always appreciates the kind words and well-wishes.  No undertaking like this can be done alone.  It's a team effort.

Check out our gallery for some great before and after pictures of the main workout area.  There are two levels of workout space.

Congratulations to Mr. O and Pittsburgh Matayoshi Kobudo Leadership

On the weekend of June 3-5, 2010, the Pittsburgh Leadership of the Matayoshi Kobudo Doushi Rensei-Kai attended their annual summer camp held at the Fairview Lake Camp and Conference Center in New Jersey. It was attended by over 60 students from Connecticut, Boston, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, St. Louis and of course, Pittsburgh.

The weekend was full of non-stop training and excitement from the crack of dawn until late into the evening each day. Many arts besides Kobudo were experienced from Chen Style Taijiquan, Shindo Muso-Ryu Jodo and Qigong. The weather was great and the training sessions were bountiful.

A very special congratulations goes out to the Pittsburgh Kobudo leadership, Sensei Sue, and Sensei Rick both tested and passed for their Yondan and Mr. O. also passed his Shodan exam. There were ten Shodans tested, three Nidan and three Yondan. The test was held on Saturday afternoon after a full day of training and learning.

Ms. Khom was also in attendance from PKA Karate Academy in Pittsburgh and brought home a lot of information and material to pass onto our students, as well as work on herself. She worked very hard with the St. Louis team on the Ieku vs. Bo Bunkai drill for hours in helping them to perfect it since she picked up with Bo side so quickly.

The weekend was a great success and the Pittsburgh leadership is looking forward to moving full-steam ahead in many different directions with the knowledge gained.

June 2011 Testing Results

St. Clair Hospital Police Training

Our sister company, Shield Police / Security Training, Inc., held an on-site annual training and certification class for the St. Clair Hospital Police Force on Thursday, May 26, 2011.

The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics states that one of the most dangerous places to work in an urban environment is an emergency room setting, especially one that has access to a mental health and/or detox unit of any sort. St. Clair Hospital has over the past couple years expanded its facility and is really experiencing some tremendous growth and with the recent closings of other hospitals and local facilities, St. Clair has been also picking up this additional slack in serving many local communities. They are a wonderful facility.

St. Clair Hospital is one of our many hospitals in Pittsburgh that is on the leading edge in regards to keeping their police force continually reviewed and trained and on top of matters when it comes to use of force policy, as well as, training from verbalization through mid-level pressure sensitive areas for patient safety and control, all the way through OC pepper spray and expandable baton annual certification and re-certification.

This hospital is extremely professional and the police force has been a client for over two decades. The training day went very well!