Red Sun Academy

Yesterday's class:

Yesterday, students enjoyed our annual academy spring picnic at a Wilkerson Park's picnic shelter in North Raleigh. Thank you to all who attended. The food was great, the fellowship was even better, and a good time was had by all.

WELCOME NEW STUDENTS!
A warm welcome to several new students who have started their martial art journey by joining Red Sun Academy this month:
Sherri, Alec, Dillan, Michele, Farrah, Marcella, and Alex!

Fun Events at Red Sun Academy:

Looks like Tai Chi... but wait...

Focus!

Our past classes in the water ––
the ocean, the lake, and the pool.

In a couple of weeks, students at Red Sun Academy are headed for our annual class in the lake!

About 20 Red Sun Academy students earned a bronze, silver, or gold award at our annual Fitness Dinner Award Ceremony, where students and their families were invited to attend. During the month of April, students participating in a grueling fitness program, performing several tests in balance, flexibility, speed, and strength. From push-ups to planks... from sprinting to running the mile... they completed the program and did well. Proud.

Our recent academy tournament.
Here are our winners:

First place winners in the sparring competition are: Mike, Jeff, Tommy, Daniel, Eliot, and Kayden.
Second place winners: Sly, Damien, Alex, Jonathan, Rose, and Mark.
Third place winners: Mr. Hamm, Thomas, Stephan, Kailyn, and Silas.
Thank you Mr. Efird for being a judge, and Jim for keeping time in the ring.
Everyone showed good school spirit. Offense and defense looked pretty good, tho too much focus on offense. We need to work on footwork –– getting in and out quickly, and angle attacks. Will train further...

Throughout the years, Red Sun Academy has offered students to learn from other GUEST INSTRUCTORS from other styles.

We were privileged to learn from the late and infamous Ed Martin, senior police officers, attorneys, an international body guard from England, and Ando who's most popular on YouTube with his great video series... all whom were Guest Instructors at Red Sun.

Students were introduced to a large variety of styles, including Jeet Kune Do, Dirty Boxing, Sayokan from Turkey, Native American knife fighting, bujinkan ninjutsu, Kung Fu, systema, Aikido, Filipino martial arts, Kenpo, Krav Maga, and more.

We'd like to share memories of these lessons with these wonderful instructors from the past.

Nice visit with Jeff Sawyer, who's visiting the United States from England. He's a phenomenal martial art instructor, and a good friend.

Older photo below.
Unfortunately, we didn't take a photo of us together during this visit.

Last night, we had our annual Christmas Party. It was very nice. Sadly, Christy, Mike, Jeff, Kayden, Paul, and Jasper were unable to attend. Santa came all the way from the North Pole just to attend our party, gifts were exchanged between students, the staff at our venue were fantastic, and a nice time was held by all.

Sorry about the photo's poor resolution, but the room was dark.

Red Sun students are the best!

When I first glanced at this photo, I thought it was a Tai Chi class.

FREE MARTIAL ART TRAINING for any veteran. Sign ups good during November 2021. Contact the owner for details.

Red Sun Academy updated their business hours.

I want to share a recent correspondence:
~~~~~~~~~~
Ryan — hi, and happy Labor Day!

I will answer your questions:

1) How well is your business doing right now?
Despite the pandemic, Red Sun Academy is doing well. Soon after Covid hit and took hold (March-ish, 2020), we lost about 20% participation, some of whom were long-time students who were with the academy over 5 years. By fall, most of the students had returned. Only a few students joined during Covid, until the situation with the pandemic got better soon after the vaccinations. By spring 2021, we got many new students.

2) What's the thing you like most about your business?
The students. We’re like family. Red Sun Academy has been around for over 30 years (!), and it sincerely fills me with joy being able to empower people with the means of which to defend themselves. Also, I love having a child enroll in our academy, and watching them grow up. I’ve been invited to several weddings, countless family dinners, and I once even spent a week–long vacation at a student’s lake house. Training together creates a strong bond.

3) What's the biggest headache you're currently facing?
I would say the biggest headache is this: When a student first joins, we all (myself, other black belts, and other senior students) take the time to work with them individually off to the side while the senior students train in a way beginners cannot. We invest our time and heart into them, and after that, when they realize it’s not just fun and games but it takes some work, some quit, before learning what we’re about. A vast majority, though, stay, and those who do continually say that they’re glad they did.

4) What's the biggest goal you have for your business right now?
I want to reach as many people as possible to share the knowledge. I’m hoping each student shares the feeling of awesomeness that I have with the martial arts. I never want to stop learning and changing. Lord knows… I’ve made my mistakes in the past, as we all do. It’s a continuing journey.

Best of luck with your college research! I remember my college years as being absolutely wonderful.

RED SUN ACADEMY OF MARTIAL ARTS
9950 Durant Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27614
phone/text: (919) 210-8888
website: http://www.redsunacademy.com
____________________

Hi, I'm Ryan, and I'm a college student at NC State doing research on martial arts gyms around Raleigh for one of my classes, and I was wondering if you could answer a few quick questions?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

1) How well is your business doing right now?

2) What's the thing you like most about your business?

3) What's the biggest headache you're currently facing?

4) What's the biggest goal you have for your business right now?

Have a great week!

~ Ryan

Class last week

Training with mitts

Training with tonfa

Classy Martial Artists

We enjoy training outside very much, something Covid made us more aware of. This photo was taken last week. We'll be back inside in June, but in the meantime, we're enjoying training in fields and parks.

Red Sun Academy updated their address.

Red Sun Academy updated their information in their About section.

Congratulations to Jim for earning rank!

Our test was held on top of Green Hill which overlooked all of Raleigh. Instead of taking the path up the hill, Jim walked directly up, which is 4 times shorter, but 4 times as steep. He said he was wiped out before the test began!

It looks like Mike is nearly ready to test next.
He has learned his material very quickly!

Is it true that the first people in line to get the vaccine are firefighters, the elderly, and martial artists? 😳

One of my past students is now teaching overseas. He asked me for teaching tips. Here was my response:
~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh my gosh… I made so many mistakes and discoveries when teaching for the last 30 years. Let me see if I can gather my thoughts…

TEACHING TIPS:

Keep it simple. Don’t show step 1 AND step 2 AND step 3 AND step 4 all at once. While it’s simple and obvious to YOU, it is not to the student. For example, when teaching a spinning hook kick, don’t do the whole kick. Just show them where their feet are placed when they turn at first. Once they get that, THEN you can move on.

If they aren’t getting it, be even MORE simple. Don’t just repeat what you’ve taught. Break it down into tiny baby steps.

When you give announcements to the class, don’t talk on and on. It’s hard for them to process. Say a sentence, then pause, so they can process it. Knowing when to pause is key.
Also, stand straight, look them in the eye, and speak firmly. Don't mumble. Display confidence.

When you teach, asking questions is better than telling. For example, ask “Why do you keep a hand up protecting your face?” instead of simply telling them to do so.

***Understand that the students who “get it” the fastest aren’t necessarily the best students. Sometimes it’s the slow learners who end up being the most loyal and devoted, in the long run.

Encourage questions.

If you don’t know the answer, say “Wow, I don’t know that one.” Many instructors believe they should know everything about the martial arts, and believe it’s weak to say “I don’t know”, so they make up an answer. Admit you don’t know, but then, be sure to find out. It’s okay not to know everything.