|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
FEATURES (This article, reprinted with permission, featuring Kanto Opma, class of 1999, appeared in This Week In Bexley on July 10, 2003) 7/22/03 Bexley High School graduate to open martial arts studio on E. Main Street By INA HORWITZ-WHITMORE
In August, Opma plans to open Extreme Martial Arts and Fitness at the site of the former Gregg Frame Studio, 2509 E. Main St. That frame shop has moved across the street. Opma, 21, has liked martial arts since he was a young child. "My mom brought me into it," he said. "It was a sport I always like above all as I was growing up. It gives you discipline." Opma has his third-degree black belt. There are 10 different black-belt degrees in his style, the highest of which is often bestowed as an honor on a martial-arts expert when that person is on his death bed, Opma said. The studio will teach tae-kwon-do and cardio-kickboxing. Opma and three other instructors will train people of all ages, with a focus on children’s classes. "The reason I wanted to open up this school was to center around the development of the person and the relationship type skills you would not get in a fitness facility," Opma said. "Children will learn characteristics that make them into good adults and gives them abilities to develop life skills." Other benefits for children include learning respect for others, such as for their elders and teachers, and self-confidence, he said. Opma said that his school once operated in Hilliard. Children who enroll in the various programs are generally between ages 7 and 17. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
