Congratulations Mr. Ross Chamberlain and Mr. Cody Smith!

Mr. Ross Chamberlain - 1st Degree Black Belt - competed in the World Championships competition on Friday, June 25th for the title of World Champion in Sparring!!! He lost in the quarterfinals, but had an amazing year just to earn a spot in the World Top Ten!!! We are very proud of your accomplishment!

Mr. Cody Smith - 3rd Degree Black Belt - also competed for the title of World Champion in Sparring!!! Mr. Smith got off to a very quick start to the first round and took an early lead, but eventually lost that match to a very tough opponent. Again, we are very proud of the accomplishment of earning a spot in the World Top Ten and having the opportunity to compete for the Championship title!!!

Congratulations Tom LaCaruba!

Tom LaCaruba - Officer for the Cobb County Police and Canton ATA Martial Arts' newest 1st Degree Black Belt! Mr. LaCaruba started his training with us about 2 years ago, has trained hard and steadily during this time period, and earned his Black Belt just a week ago. As young as Canton ATA Martial Arts is, Tom is only the 3rd student to begin training with Mr. Murphy and earn his Black Belt, and he's the first adult student to do so. Congratulations Tom, and let's continue our training for the next level!

Congratulations Graduates!

Saturday, June 12th, Canton ATA Martial Arts hosted a belt graduation for all students who received invitations to attend this promotion ceremony. The following students earned new ranks:

New Orange Belts:
Ryland Adams, Landon Saunders, Kylie Saunders, Trey Jeans, Hannah Estes, Cole Hess, Kevin Evans

New Yellow Belts:
Niko Fazzolari, Kolby Cagle, Michael Connolly, Ethan Nuwagaba, Jack Poulos, Rob Lammens, David Crothers

New Camoflauge Belts:
David Flurry, Tripp Ohar, Davie Collie, Sheryl Collie, Amanda Budd, Carrie Budd, Brennan Brugh, Matthew Flurry, Patrick Ammer, Logan Evans

New Green Belts:
Rickey Mock, Staci Mock, Levi Hughes, Anna Huller

New Purple Belts:
John Green, Joshua Wright, Victoria Logan, Lauren Lammens

New Blue Belts:
Marcus Kim, Sheri Adams, Brooke Mock, Jordan Mock, Avery Baker, Chandler Abbott-Flurry, Robbie Lammens

New Brown Belts:
Hayden Saunders, Matthew Vincent, Terry Atcheson, Allen Poulos

New Brown Belts Decided:
Caleb Gayton, Graham Stewart

New Red Belts:
Alix Green, Sarah Ellis, Matthew Patton, Randall Patton, Joshua Gayton

New Red Belts Decided:
Matt Moore, Sam Moore, Jayme Bricker, Laura Bricker, Zach Bergman, Matthew Adams, Arik Logan-Henderson

Future World Champions?!

We are proud to announce that Canton ATA Martial Arts has 3 students/instructors who have earned the honor of being invited to compete for the World Champion title at the end of this month! Here are they are and the divisions in which they will compete:

Mr. Ross Chamberlain - Men 1st Degree Black Belts - 50-59 Years Old: Sparring

Mr. Cody Smith - Boys 2nd & 3rd Degree Black Belts - 11-13 Years Old: Sparring

Mr. Scott Murphy - Men 4th & 5th Degree Black Belts - 30-39 Years Old: Forms & Sparring

Congratulations on receiving this invitation to compete. There are only 9 other people in your division (IN THE WORLD) who have earned the same honor. So let's continue training hard for a few more weeks! If you see these students in class, make sure you push them hard, don't let them quit when they get tired, and stay positive. It's tough to train at this level for so long, but let's all do our part to make them finish strong!

STATE CHAMPS!!!

The staff at Canton ATA Martial Arts is proud to recognize 4 GA State Champion competitors for the 2009-2010 Tournament Year:

Sarah Ellis (Girls 11-13 Years Old): Forms, Weapons, Sparring

Randall Patton (Boys 14-16 Years Old): Weapons, Sparring

Ross Chamberlain (Men 50-59 Years Old): Sparring

Mr. Scott Murphy (Men 30-39 Years Old): Forms, Sparring

These students worked extremely hard all year and have earned a great accomplishment as a result of all their hard work. Congratulations, not just on your achievement, but also on your ability to set a goal, train hard and often to see your goal through, and remain humble in victory! We are proud to be your instructors.

GBI Missing Kids Day

Canton ATA Martial Arts was invited to participate in the GBI's Missing Kids Day over the weekend. Mr. Murphy went with Mr. Cody Smith and set up a booth at the event. Rather than doing demonstrations for everyone to watch, we set up several stations for the kids to participate in self-defense techniques. Everyone had a blast, and we are proud to have been a part of such a positive event for Atlanta's youth! Here's a few pics from the event:

Open House 2010 was GREAT!

We had a blast last Saturday at our 2nd Annual Open House! We had FREE workouts for the community, FREE food (always a favorite!), and a Bounce House for everyone while waiting for the next workout to begin! There were many members of our community who attended, and we greatly appreciate all of you giving up a few hours on such a great Saturday to spend with us.

We had a workout beginning on the hour, every hour throughout the day. Each workout had a different theme: New Techniques for New Members, Kidz N Power (Personal Safety), ATAFit (Personal Fitness), and Qualities of a Leader!

Special thanks to all of our members who showed up and helped out during the day! And a very special thanks to Mr. Raymond Smith for making sure we were all fed during the day!!