Today we’d like to introduce you to Sun Dragon.
Hi Sun, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Sun Dragon Seido Karate and Self Defense started way back in 1989 when Sensei Suzanne Pinette decided to give herself a birthday gift—a karate and self-defense school for women and children. Sensei Suzanne had come up through the ranks in a typical karate school of the time that was run by men, with only a handful of women, who were tolerated at best, and often treated poorly or abusively. She wanted to create better opportunities for women in the martial arts, and she wanted to teach women how to defend themselves, so she started Sun Dragon.
That ethos of opening doors to nontraditional karate students still animates us today. We’ve always been LGBTQ+ friendly and try to welcome everyone into our dojo, regardless of their ethnic origin, nationality, faith, no-faith, athletic ability, neurodiversity, or financial situation. We think everyone deserves the chance to study karate and defend themselves. It’s a continuing adventure, learning along the way how best to incorporate different students into a traditional karate school, many of whom have histories that make the typical hierarchical and militant structure of karate classes uncomfortable. But we find strength in our diversity and love to see how our dojo evolves and grows as we get new students who bring different experiences and perspectives to their training.
And karate isn’t the only thing we do. It’s right up there in the name, we also teach self defense. We teach it in a way that’s applicable to every day, not just the rare instance when a stranger jumps out of the bushes and attacks. Self defense is a continuum that starts with learning how to say “no” and how to set boundaries in our lives. Statistically, most abuse and assault come at the hands of people we know and the kind of self defense we teach, Empowerment Self Defense, begins by learning how to stand up for ourselves and define our boundaries with friends and family. Being able to say ‘no’ to an unwanted hug from your auntie may feel like a small thing, but when you learn that you deserve bodily autonomy in these seemingly insignificant moments, you cement the idea in your mind that defending yourself is your right. When saying ‘no’ becomes a live option in your life, saying ‘yes’ to things becomes even more joyous, because you know it comes from the heart.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Growing a non-profit is a journey filled with obstacles and challenges, so there are plenty we could talk about. I think the one that’s most descriptive of our values and what we’re trying to do at Sun Dragon was our approach to the pandemic. And I think it’s something that we can all relate to.
On Friday, March 13th, 2020, AISD closed schools due to the pandemic, and we made the same decision for the dojo. What seemed like it was going to be a hiccup for a couple of weeks turned into the worldwide crisis we all remember. By Monday, March 16th, we were already putting together plans to teach karate classes through Zoom and we were almost immediately up and running. I’m sure you can imagine the difficulty of trying to teach a physical art, like karate, via Zoom. We learned a lot in those first weeks, and I think we all became better instructors in the process.
More important than figuring out how to work Zoom, mute students who had dogs barking in the background, and create break-out rooms, was what we learned our students and their families needed at that time. More than needing to learn karate, they needed community, connection with other people, a tiny little slice of normality, and a consistent way to get out of their heads and away from their worry on a regular basis. And that’s what we created, an online community of friends and family, with LEGO gatherings, Dance parties, memorials, as many parts of community life as we could create. More than some of the technical and physical goals, that were our typical focus as a karate school, we turned all our efforts to helping our people get through the pandemic with as much joy and hope as possible. And that continues to be our goal—to learn how to serve people and learn to adapt our karate and our approach to self defense to reach the needs of people.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a non-profit, our work history as a group is as diverse as our student body. Granted, when Sensei Suzanne started Sun Dragon, her role was very much like that of an entrepreneur opening a typical business start-up. She was one person with a vision of what was needed in her community, and an idea of how to meet that need. Now, we have an incredible mix of people who are vital to our existence. Our leadership includes parents, physical therapists, federal employees, state employees, people of all genders. Our instructors and assistants are people who have worked (or continue to work) for the state, a major tech company, an attorney, a yoga instructor, a jack of all gig trades, and include both high school and college students. It’s an amazing group of people with the kind of breadth of experience that allows us to relate to many different students from all walks of life.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes us happy at Sun Dragon? So many things! There is so much joy in the sheer physicality of what we do, whether it’s punching, kicking, sparring, or learning self defense. Hitting a bag is fun! But we get happiness and satisfaction from watching all our students grow and develop into better people, as well as better martial artists. I think one of the biggest things that we enjoy is watching the process of people learning to accept mistakes in their lives, understanding how to accept and understand those mistakes, then learning how to overcome those mistakes and turn them into successes. In so many parts of our lives, mistakes and failures are unacceptable, which means that people learn to avoid taking risks because they might make a mistake. At Sun Dragon, mistakes, and growing through mistakes, are part of the program. By learning to work through them, we learn how to live better lives and show grace, compassion, and understanding when other people make mistakes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sundragon.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sundragonma/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunDragonKarate
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sundragon8164
- Other: https://www.seido.com/
Image Credits
The picture of the four women kicking was taken by Carlos Rocha. All other photos are part of our archives.
The picture of the four black belts are our leadership group, including (left to right) Head Instructor Graham Smith, Violence Prevention Coordinator Coty Velasquez, Executive Director Laura Hayden, and Senior Instructor KJ Scheib.
