Our Story
Posted: May 29, 2020
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I count my blessings everyday, but it has not always been easy. The first several years owning a school were more difficult than I could have imagined. There were many times I almost called it quits. It was painful to scrape up $2000 for rent every month while making far less than minimum wage and while I didn't even have a place to call home. I'm so grateful to all of you who let me crash on your couch or use a spare room. These struggles and sacrifices gave me so much respect for my instructors, as well as for all the small business owners out there.
Chasing my dream of being an Olympic TKD champion was dashed by a knee injury at the 2004 National Championships. A couple years later my focus turned to high flying martial arts tricks. There is nothing more freeing than floating through the air while spinning, twisting, kicking and flipping. Unfortunately, another more severe knee injury put a damper on that passion also. Even if I could, I would not trade my time and experience in the martial arts to avoid these challenges. They have made me a better, more compassionate, and more informed teacher.
I owe more than I could ever repay to my wife Aly. She has always believed in me and supported all of my crazy goals and ambitions. Our 1st year of marriage consisted of opening a second martial arts school, plus working 3 part time jobs each to pay off debt and support the schools. Yes, Aly worked 3 jobs while pregnant with our first child!
In our second year of marriage we moved out of our 1 bedroom apartment and into the martial arts school. No bedroom, no kitchen, no shower, no problem. Nothing a blowup mattress, an electric frying pan, and a Golds Gym membership (for the shower) couldn't fix. My oldest son Bryton can still sleep through anything after spending his first year growing up in a noisy martial arts studio. We lived there for a year while we saved every penny for a down payment on the building. It was extremely challenging and stressful, but so worth it when I knew I would never make another rent payment again.
I am so grateful to my mentors, to those that believed in me when I didn't believe in myself, and to those that gave charity when I hit rock bottom. Martial arts is my passion, but more than that it is one of the best tools that I use to give back. I can not repay everyone that gave value to my life, but I can multiply the gifts they gave to me by sharing them with others.
If you have a dream that's worth the pain, sacrifice, and discipline required to achieve it, then fight the good fight. You will grow in more ways than you could imagine. You may not end up where you expect, and that may be a good thing. "I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it!"
Honor! Masters Mindset! Unite as a force of one!
West Coast World Martial Arts Team! Ahsah!
Happy New Year from our Team/Family to Yours,
KJN Shane Myler