Who We Are:
30+ years of martial arts in the Keweenaw |
Our first dojo was in the basement of a retail store whose entrance was down a side alley behind a bar (KI fighters have to be tough even to get to the dojo sometimes). Air flow down an old coal chute often meant winter training had to be fast and hard as more than once students came in to find the water bottles stored in the back frozen solid.
In time the student body simply outgrew the space and the club moved down the block to a grand ballroom that had been occupied for the previous one hundred years by the “International Order of Odd Fellows”. This “secret society”, one of many that followed the immigrants and miners to the area in its boom, no longer had enough members to stay open. As the parents of two karate students owned the building the club was only the second tenant to occupy the space in the buildings history. This home was to be short lived however as after only a couple of years the landlords wanted the space for their own purposes. The next temporary home shared space in a body building business until they too had to close their doors due to business difficulties. Needing a long term solution another old ballroom was discovered which also had originally been a home to a secret society (the Knights of Pythas), only this third floor space hadn’t been used in over fifty years (except to store discarded office supplies, and equipment from business’s that had come and gone in other parts of the building). Starting in October of 2000, Sensei Maki and Mr. Dave Doll spent three months working over 50 hr.s/week (after their regular jobs) transforming this forgotten space into a dojo to be proud of. With other students helping when they could, over 5 tons of discarded material was carried down the three flights of stairs and hauled to the transfer station. Electricity was run, drywall and flooring were patched, over 40 gallons of paint applied, and all 3000 square feet of hardwood flooring was sanded and refinished. This beautiful location housed us for 18 years when new owners decided to use the space differently. Again we hit the road and have another restoration project ahead of us. Currently training martial artists from Little Dragons to Adults, and another group of dedicated aerobic kick boxers, a permanent home was at last found for the Karate Institute of America in the “great white north” at our new home at 632 Quincy in Hancock. In addition to everyday training the C.C.K.I.A. has been proud to have hosted 6 summer national events both here and in the Mackinaw Island area at the northern end of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, as well as numerous K.I. Adventure team outings in our beautiful wilderness surroundings. |
A peek into our dojo.
Philosophy.
We are a family oriented organization centered around training each individual to the best of their abilities, reinforcing respect for others, and providing real life skills to our students.
Classes are designed with self defense in mind while those with the competitive spirit can challenge themselves toward tournament skills as well.
We proudly encourage whole family involvement whether it is through our classes which include both younger students and parents, winter and summer "Pot-Luck" dinners to bring students and families together, national event camping and tournament weekends or our yearly fund raising activities for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Classes are designed with self defense in mind while those with the competitive spirit can challenge themselves toward tournament skills as well.
We proudly encourage whole family involvement whether it is through our classes which include both younger students and parents, winter and summer "Pot-Luck" dinners to bring students and families together, national event camping and tournament weekends or our yearly fund raising activities for the Make-A-Wish foundation.