Dear Christ Lutheran Church Committee,

I submit this letter with the hopes that you will consider this information when making your decision regarding renting your facility to Shawn T****  for karate classes.

If you happen to see Shawn teaching his class, he may look like a "tough guy". My husband and I have been Shawn's students for two and a half years. I helped him with all of his classes for one year. We have taken private lessons almost every week for about a year. I'd say I know Shawn pretty well.  From my first class when Shawn came up to me to shake my hand and thank me for coming, it was clear that someone special had raised him. Shawn exhibits qualities frequently lacking in society today: He shakes hands, he makes eye contact, he uses people's names when addressing them, he calls if he is going to be late. Shawn is fair, honest, and definitely not profit motivated! Our hour-long private lessons have gone as long as three hours. Shawn is looking to leave the Youth of America organization mainly because the ideals that used to exist, like their charitable donations to St. Jude's Children Hospital, have slowly been stripped away. I can honestly say that during my kids' first class, I was touched by Shawn's passionate speech about  respecting church property.

Shawn's commitment to teaching is hard to match. This is how I define Shawn as a teacher: Shawn was substitute teaching at another location and he invited us to come after class. He looked us in the eye and said that he didn't want any money. He knew we hadn't been getting much of his attention in class and we were struggling. When we arrived at the school, Shawn was already drenched in the hot, humid, un-airconditioned facility. He worked tirelessly training us for forty-five minutes. We finally told him that we were comfortable with the moves. He then casually mentioned that he had to get home because Eddie Bravo was in town for a seminar and was staying with him. Eddie Bravo is a world famous professional fighter. Shawn had chosen to work with forty-year old, nerdy,  non-athletic us for free rather than 'hang out' with a very cool legendary superstar his own age. Shawn works tirelessly. He'll call us just to tell us the direction the class is going. He fields e-mails from everyone and posts moves and tips on his website. Once we e-mailed him with a question on a Saturday night. Within an hour, he made a video of the move and sent us the clip. Shawn would do anything to help his students succeed.

We couldn't have a better role model for our kids. On occasion, he must discipline a child. When the child has completed the pushups, or the time out, Shawn welcomes him back to the group with a handshake. If he must talk about a problem or discuss test results, he crouches down to talk to them on their level. Once I saw a child pass a difficult test that constituted a significant milestone. Shawn spontaneously dropped to his knees and hugged him. I cried. Like in any sport, bumps and bruises sometimes occur. If you could see how kindly and tenderly Shawn treats the occasional injured child (and adult for goodness sake), you would cry too. On that note, what first impressed me as a parent  about Shawn was his safety lecture and ongoing commitment to safety. I am an RN and I can honestly say that Shawn knows way more than I ever did about the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. Kids can try anyone's patience. I have never seen Shawn lose his temper. He is a true professional. Of course Shawn always stresses the use of martial arts for self-defense only. He goes to great lengths to stress fight avoidance and gives the kids real techniques they can use to show that they don't want to fight.

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I'm not sure how to make the case for the quality of the material Shawn teaches, but it is extremely practical for real world situations. We laughed when we learned that Shawn used to
work as a bouncer (or as he puts it, "escorting individuals out of a building".) It's no joke. That job enabled Shawn to observe patterns and interpret body language that signals likely violent behavior. He has seen how fights start, and he knows all the typical scenarios. He also knows what tactics street fighters frequently use. I was never good at sports, I was never interested in martial arts, but when I signed my kids up, and saw what Shawn was teaching, I couldn't stay in my seat. I sincerely believe Shawn's style of self-defense is without any gaps. In fact, the other main reason that Shawn wants to leave Youth of America is that one day a week is not enough time for people to master this all-encompassing style.  I learned that every single  aspect of what is taught, for instance, if Shawn tells me, "hold your hand like this",  it is done for a reason and backed by highly scientific theory. The vastness and depth of his knowledge and experience is truly staggering.

Because of the kind of person Shawn is, the kind of teacher he is, and what he has meant to us, my husband and I would do anything for him and we are by no means the only ones. I think you can be proud to have such a good person renting your facility for such a good cause. If you would like any extra services such as someone to watch that kids don't wander beyond certain points, I'm there. If any extra clean-up would help, we're on it. Rest assured that we are committed: My husband and I have only missed one class in our two and a half years, and we didn't even miss the same class.  Whatever your decision, we truly appreciate the relationship you have had with our school.

Sincerely,
Terri S****