“I’ll give you a quarter if you kick him in the head.”

These are hardly the words one might expect to hear during a ka- rate class. In fact, when the average person envisions karate, a martial arts master more along the lines of Mr. Miyagi from the “The Ka- rate Kid,” whose wisdom includes such idioms as “now, use head for something other than target, Daniel-san,” comes to mind.

Joshua Boggs, however, is not a typical martial arts instructor. While he attempts to keep the mood light, he is beyond serious about martial arts. After joking with her, Boggs moved on to show his student better form and technique.

Boggs teaches at the Family Martial Arts Studio in Mansfield, OH. He has always been interested in karate, but he received his first chance to learn in a more structured setting in November of 1993, when he was just 16 years old.

“My mother was a professor at Ashland University,” Boggs explained, “so I was hanging around the campus one day when I saw flyers for the AU Karate Club.”

Though Boggs was not an AU student, his mother looked into the possibility of joining the club for him, and Boggs was thrilled to learn that he could join.

The AU Karate Club has long since disbanded, a misfortune Boggs attributes to the club being taken over by a professor. The club originally met in Redwood Hall three times each week for practice with original instructors Gary Music and Aaron Markel.

“(Gary Music) eventually talked to me about opening up a studio here in Mansfield,” Boggs said, “so I did.”

The Family Martial Arts Studio, which has been at its current location in Mansfield for a little under a year, offers classes throughout the week for a monthly fee of $65. Classes include instruction in karate, ju-jitsu, kung fu, and zumba. Though it may not seem apparent to the average individual, there are distinct differences between the various arts. Some are “striking” arts while others are “grappling” arts. According to Boggs, karate, for example, involves more punching and kicking, while ju-jitsu involves more throws and grappling. “Zumba is all over the place though,” Boggs said, clearly find- ing humor in the stark contrast between zumba and martial arts. “It’s dancing like Shakira does… The class dances for an hour, and

I guess it’s a real calorie burner.” Boggs himself prefers to focus more on the martial arts. He is a black belt, as is the traditional level one must reach in order to begin teaching. There are several belts which correspond with the differ- ent levels of training, beginning with the white belt and moving on to yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, red, brown, and black belts, respectively.

“You have to earn three stripes and then your belt,” said Stan Pritchard, whose son Jarret and grandchildren, Hannah and Keith Myers, have taken lessons from Boggs since the studio opened. “It takes about three or four months to earn the stripes, depending on how well they learn their kata.”

Kata, according to Boggs, is a sort of ‘blueprint’ for how one should move the body. It is a fundamental part of martial arts. Kata is also one of several divisions included in tournaments.

“Want to know something, Papa?” Keith asked as his grandfather tied his white belt around him properly, “I have three stripes on my belt. I might get my yellow belt today.”

Though Hannah and Keith have not yet advanced beyond the white belt, Jarret is a blue belt in karate, and his favorite event is sparring. During a sparring match, one trains or competes against an- other person using the techniques learned from the kata. Sparring is another division included in a martial arts tournament.

Despite his love for martial arts, Boggs himself has never competed. “That’s what my students are

for,” he said. Much to Jarret’s delight, Boggs asked him to spar with another student in order to further their training. The girl in question was Madeline “Maddie” Hamilton, a yellow belt who has also been training with Boggs for about a year. “Jarret, go ahead and tell everyone the rules for sparring,” Boggs directed.

“No punching in the face, no pushing, and no kicking below the belt.”

“Very good,” Boggs said. “Now, keep that fist by your cheekbone… Maddie. No pushing…Maddie.”

With that, Boggs started the timer, and the pair began to fight. Each sparring match lasts for three minutes, and throughout those three minutes, Boggs watched the match intently, offering advice and incentives as his students delivered various blows to one another.

“Maddie, if (Jarret) goes to the wall, I’ll give you another quarter,” Boggs joked.

At the end of the match, Boggs decided to deliver what was per- haps the most poignant lesson of the day.

“Sparring is about just making contact,” Boggs explained to the class.

He then proceeded to pull a freestanding punching bag away from the wall in order to demon- strate his point.

“This is how hard you were kicking,” he explained to Jarret, toppling the punching bag with the force of his kick. As the class watched, wide-eyed, Boggs righted the punching bag and gave it another kick. This time, the punching bag remained upright.

“That was the same amount of power,” Boggs said to his students. “It’s all about control.”

According to Boggs, karate – and martial arts in general – is not just a sport, but a lifestyle change, and he takes both his own training and the training of his students very seriously. Despite how far he has come, however, Boggs will never forget where he began. Those first few years of training at AU were the foundation for what has ultimately become his life.

“I still try to get into Redwood Hall once in a while,” Boggs said with a twinkle in his eye, “just to reminisce…but AU keeps it locked up pretty tight.”

Clearly, AU has not seen the last of Boggs and perhaps, in the near future, martial arts will make a return to AU as well.