hello Tribe!

I am excited to announce that Grandmaster Jeff Smith will be visiting us again right after the Holiday break! 

Most of you know that he is my teacher and mentor, and a legend in the martial arts.

He is coming to spend the weekend with me from Friday the 6th through Sunday the 8th.

We will be doing some new year Vision casting, goal setting, planning, and training together on Friday, and then he is coming in to visit the dojo Saturday! So, if you make classes that day, you’ll get to learn from him!

Then he and I will go for a Harley ride Sunday before he leaves.

I wanted to share a few thoughts about Grandmaster Smith and his visit, and an important idea about what we can do to impress him when he gets here.

1. Grandmaster Smith is 75 years young. He is an inspiration and a walking, talking example of the fact that our habits and mindset affect our quality of life and contribution much more than the chronological years that we have lived.
2. He is also a model of the power of Vision, our 6th Blackbelt Superpower. Grandmaster Smith used Vision to become a Blackbelt in 1969 and a 10th degree many decades later, Vision to become a world Karate champion and then the PKA 7x World Kickboxing champion. He used Vision to coach the US Karate Team to ten consecutive world championships too! He used Vision to become a successful businessman as well.
3. And Grandmaster Jeff Smith is still giving back. At an age where most “retire” to a life of comfort and ease, he chooses to apply his many years of experience and wisdom to help the next generation of martial arts business leaders around the world be great. He helps me. And for this, I am grateful.

So, for us to be our best for his visit:

1. my team and I will be doing some improvements to the dojo while we are closed- for he and you.
2. we will leave up the Blackbelt Goal Setting Season Vision boards for him! He loves these and will be so pleased! Make sure to bring yours in before the break if you haven’t yet!
3. try to make that Saturday and come in your best Blackbelt training or Blackbelt Leadership gi (uniform)! Then make sure to show off your Focus, Respect, Discipline, Confidence, Gratitude and Vision while he teaches. YOU are all my legacy. Thank you in advance for making me so proud!

Prepare To Live; Empower To Lead!

Grand Master Stephen J. Del Castillo
Founding Master Instructor, Krav Maga Martial Arts
TampaKravMaga.com         StephenDelCastillo.com

p.s. Reminder of the holiday schedule & special events:

• this week is the final review week!

• next week is still regular schedule AND the first week of testing!

• Dec 16 is the Blackbelt Leadership Awards Dinner! 

• the 19th-22 we will be open on a modified schedule, and you can still test then.

  • Mon-Th 6pm for white, yellow, orange, purple, blue and green belts;
  • Mon-Th 7pm for brown, red and blackbelts.

• You may pick any of the classes during the 2 weeks to test. I wanted to make this holiday season as easy for you to stay on track despite the conflicting demands. So,

  • you can come to as many classes as u like and then test; or, if you’re confident, you can test right away.
  • you can test right away anyway and, if you’re not ready yet, we’ll give you the input on what you need to work on and you can do so and test again!
  • there is no wrong answer! just come have fun, do you best and take your test!

• We will be closed in observance of the holidays from Dec 23-Jan 1.

• Then we will host an awesome New Year and Graduation Celebration in every class from January 2-5!

• And then you get to train with Grandmaster Smith on the 7th and we start the 2023 1st Quarter Training evolution Monday the 9th!

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About Grandmaster Stephen J. Del Castillo: Grandmaster Del Castillo is the founding Master Instructor of Krav Maga Martial Arts and has been empowering lives in Pasco and Hillsborough Counties since October of 2000. He is a 7th degree Blackbelt, MBA, author, mentor and success coach, a US Army Veteran and a proud father and grandfather. He is married to Ms. Barbara Del Castillo who helps him run the school. Grand Master Del Castillo began his training in the early 80’s and has high level blackbelts in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Premier Martial Arts and Krav Maga Martial Arts as well as experience in kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do and Jiujitsu. He has high level instructor certifications from BBSI, IKMF, and KMG and has been featured in numerous Martial Arts publications and also Success magazine. He was a competitive sport karate and American Kickboxing instructor until he enlisted in the US Army where he served in the 82nd Airborne Division, where he won an Army Green to Gold scholarship and proceeded to ROTC and the University of Tampa. He was commissioned in 1992 and went on to serve in Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division and then in several other posts in the US until he left military service to pursue his dream of creating KMMA in 2000.

The Krav MagaMartial Arts Headquarters is in Lutz, FL at 1900 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., 33549. Krav Maga Martial Arts serves Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel, and surrounding areas.

See stephendelcastillo.com for more information and to order my book, Developing Your Superpower, Meditations on Mastery, Volume 1.

Also, check us out on Fun4TampaKids & on Go2Karate.com