EVERETT — It’s Friday night at North Sound Karate, and that means kumite, or sparring.
“It’s like a game of tag — a violent game of tag,” said Casey Mills, owner and sensei of the dojo.
Battle cries go out as kids as young as 6 work on kicks and sidestepping their opponents to go in for a jab. “Kiai!” “Kiai!”
Marina Hrycenko, 9, has a smile on her face, her long ponytail bobbing.
“I like kumite the best because it’s fun,” the Everett girl says.
Mills would like to see more students don white robes and belts at his school, which moved in February to a more visible location along busy Broadway. Its prior home, in extra space at an auto repair shop along Rucker Avenue, was often overlooked, he said. A higher volume of phone calls since the move is a good sign, he said.
Karate isn’t like baseball, football or soccer.
“When you walk into a karate school, it’s a different culture,” Mills said. “You walk in, people are in pajamas and speaking a funny language … it can be intimidating.”
But once families see a class in action, they often quickly change their minds, he said.
Traditional martial arts schools like North Sound Karate have weathered the recession well and now are banking on increased interest as household pocketbooks begin to open up.
North Sound Karate opened 11 years ago in Skagit County before moving to Everett in January 2008. Enrollment surged from the mid-20s to a high of 70 students before the economy dealt a fresh blow. The dojo has about 50 students, who range in age from 4 to 72.
That’s good for an area more familiar with team sports, but it’s “a bare minimum” from a business standpoint, Mills said.
“Once you hit 75, that’s a fairly comfortable number. But realistically for a full-time school it should really be over 100 in a city the size of Everett,” he said.
In the meantime, the dojo isn’t acting small.
The school brings a team to at least a dozen competitions a year, including national and international events. The team last summer brought home 21 medals from the USA National Karate Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Three of Mills’ students now are on the U.S. junior national team, including one who went to El Salvador last fall for the Pan-American Championships.
Weathering economy
North Sound Karate is just one of a variety of martial arts schools in Snohomish County that, for the most part, have come through the recession thanks to a loyal base, low overhead and even, for some, the continuing popularity of ultimate fighting.
Several businesses polled by The Herald reported stable enrollment. A few are growing.
That doesn’t mean money isn’t tight, said Sungsoo Kim of Taigon Tae Kwon Do in Lake Stevens. Instead of traditional advertising methods, such as in newspapers, schools such as hers are relying more on referrals, school events and demonstrations.
Enrollment at Taigon has been flat at roughly 150 students, Kim estimated. Many of those are youth.
“Even the bad economy, a parent — if this is good for their child, they’re going to (stay) here,” Kim said. “So not much coming in, but not much going out.”
Some schools have even opened amid the recession.
Northwest Budokan teaches a form of karate to more than 400 students in the area, primarily at YMCAs in Mukilteo, Mill Creek and Monroe. A couple months ago, owner Jay Gravelle opened an independent dojo in Lynnwood as well as one housed at Cedar Park Christian School in Bothell.
“We have been growing and expanding classes even during the recession, and, even though I was worried at first, it doesn’t seem to have changed our enrollment,” Gravelle said.
Life Experience Martial Arts on Evergreen Way in Everett opened in 2008 with a few students and now has between 40 and 50.
The business has packaged programs geared at both youth and adults, with an emphasis on self-defense. The school uses a “pseudo-traditional” form of martial arts known as kajukenbo, a mix of karate, judo, jiujitsu, kenpo and kung fu (or Chinese boxing).
The continuing popularity of mixed martial arts, or ultimate fighting, has helped clubs such as Life Experience, even though it’s not what they practice, owner John Dickey said.
“The market has shifted toward adults. It’s helped us out if for no other reason than a lot of adults are looking for places to train as well,” Dickey said.
Passion, if not profit
Local success mirrors national trends.
From 2000 to 2008, martial arts remained one of the top three growth areas in individual sports, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Martial arts equipment sales rose 8.3 percent to $323 million in 2009, according to the industry group.
But those financial indicators don’t mean much to everyone in the field.
Andrew Solheim opened his Gracie Barra Everett location, which focuses on Brazilian jiujitsu, just six months ago. A full-time painter with the Everett School District, Solheim reflects another side of the local martial arts picture: not so much profit as passion.
After training for a decade in Seattle, Solheim wanted to bring jiujitsu to his hometown. He now has a core group of 12 adults and is getting a kids program under way.
He feels no pressure to increase those numbers.
“As long as I can break even, I’m OK with that,” Solheim said. “I enjoy what I do and think it builds good character. I wanted to bring it up to this area — the rest is kind of secondary.”
He’s helped by the fact that he shares a location with Cascade Karate, which is owned by his father, John Solheim.
Cascade Karate reopened in 2009 after a three-year hiatus. In its first go-around of seven years, the club grew quicker than Solheim — who works primarily in commercial-real-estate finance — was ready for, especially as the banking industry started to take its hits.
“I missed it. It’s what I do,” he said of coming back.
At the height of its first incarnation, Cascade Karate had about 70 students. It’s now at 13 students, and that’s fine by Solheim. “We’re not doing it to make money. We’re doing it as our way to give back to the world,” he said.
Inner strength
Proponents of traditional martial arts are appealing to their narrow focus as they promote themselves, saying it’s the better route for developing inward as well as outer strength — things like self-control, confidence and respect.
Back at North Sound Karate, Mills said that’s certainly been the case for him.
The 37-year-old started learning karate at age 6 with his brother and father. The family lived in Lake Stevens at the time, before moving to Camano Island when Mills was 18. From there, he went on to travel the world and compete. His father, now in his 70s, still trains with him, as does his 14-year-old daughter, Aleen, who also helps out at the dojo.
“Particularly for the juniors, that sense of accomplishment they get from it is something you can never take away from them,” Mills said.
A beaming Marina is apt to agree.
“My friends, it’s like, ‘Wow, good job, I don’t know if I could do that,’” she said, before setting off to practice her new moves.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
