When BKMA first began, we were simply a group of friends brought together by a shared passion—to train, to grow, and to exchange knowledge in the martial arts. Word of what we were building spread, and before long, others began asking to join us.
Many of those individuals had always dreamed of learning martial arts but believed it was out of reach due to financial limitations. From the very beginning, we made a commitment: no one would ever be turned away because of money. Our mission has always been to share our art, not to profit from it.
More than 30 years later, that philosophy remains unchanged. We continue to hold classes in spaces that keep our costs low—such as churches and city parks—allowing us to charge only what is necessary to sustain the school.
Our instructors are all volunteers, dedicating their time purely for the love of the art and the desire to pass it on to others. To this day, if a student cannot afford tuition, they are still welcomed. We simply ask that they contribute what they can, when they can, or assist in other ways—such as helping maintain the dojo.
All such arrangements are handled with discretion and respect, remaining strictly between the student (or their family) and Sensei Braun.
BKMA has joined different associations to provide our members with rank recognition, school support and better training opportunities.
The first one was founded by the late grandmaster, Rev. W. Foster; the Yin Yang Do Karate Association.
The second one is the United States Karate-Do Kai, under the direction of Grandmaster Phillip W. Koeppel.
And lastly, we belong to the Shogun Federation of Martial Arts, lead by Gregg Brown Sensei.
To learn more about these groups, please click on their names to be brought to their individual websites.
Yes, we do train in 4 different wooden weapons within our system.
The first weapon that our students train with is the escrima sticks (baston). This is is taught from white belt through green belt.
The second is chizikun-bo. These are taught at the blue belt level.
At brown belt we teach kenjitsu, or sword training. Students will use the bokken for most of their training and gradually change over to a metal blade.
The last one is a tanto, or knife. This is taught at black belt (1st degree).
Students are welcome to train in other weapons; in fact we host seminars on different ones often by bringing in masters of Okinawan Kobudo.
The first Saturday of each month is dedicated to weapons training. Please see the instructor first for details.
No. There is no fee for the testing, belts, or certificates. Ranks are always earned and never bought. All of our ranks are still recognized by the Associations that we belong to (see above). Because of that, no student will ever "pay" for his rank. We feel that ranking is a part of training and our privilege to be a part of the student's progression in the martial arts.
To view our rank requirements, please click the button below.
Uniforms are nice and do help the student get into a "mind set" for training, however they are not required. Its always best to see if the student will stay with the training before investing in a uniform.
Uniforms (if you do wish to wear one) should be the fold-over, or traditional, style Karate Gi. You can wear any color you wish or mix and match. We do sell them in black, white, blue, red or pink.
One of our most common question is "Can I come watch a class?" No. You won't understand if you like the training or not by sitting on the sidelines. You can, however, come and participate in classes for a few weeks to see if you or your child like it. We are not a business and not looking for your money. We want people that will become students. Come and try the classes for free and see if you want to become a member of our dojo family.
It is important to know where our traditions come from and who was our teachers. Please see our martial arts lineage HERE. If you have any questions about our lineage, please feel free to reach out to us.