NEWSFLASH |
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We will be celebrating our 40th Anniversary the whole year! Our current banner commemorates the AMK's start as the HP Moo-Do club & photos from the 70s. To find out more about each photo visit our Facebook page! |
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2011 Photo of the Year |
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Master Lisa S. Amsell |
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Page 1 of 2 ![]() Lisa's older sister, Lynda SBN, started her training when she was about 6 years old with Grandmaster Chan-Yong Kim at the Oriental Moo-Do School (OMS) in Artesia, CA. Lisa pretended to be in martial arts with her and would sometimes come with her father to class. She would enter class, but once she got bored, she would leave. Over the years, Lisa got less interested in the martial arts and Lynda continued because of the condition that she had to train until reaching Black Belt before she could quit. Lynda received her Black Belt in 1985 and on February 18, 1986 Lisa rejoined the OMS, however, this time it was because her father felt the training would help her do better in school. Lisa also had the same condition as Lynda, she could quit upon reaching Black Belt. Lisa was very unhappy to be joining the martial arts class without any choice. She starting learning Taekwondo and Yudo at OMS. She also had her first testing there and successfully earned the rank of 9th Kub, White/Yellow belt. Unfortunately for her, Yellow Belt testing was not as easy. The way the OMS was structured testing was a different examiner for each topic. Lisa drew her father, Master Amsell, as the poom-seh examiner. She was to perform Kicho 1. She did not know it, no one in her group knew it either. Master Amsell was not happy with their lack of knowledge and informed her group they were getting a "zero" in poom-seh. Lisa did not believe he would actually do that until Grandmaster Kim questioned her on the "zero." Grandmaster Kim made a "deal" that if Lisa could learn Kicho 1-3 by the following week, she could keep her belt. With the help of Lynda, she learned them and kept her belt. ![]() Side Kick - 1996 Around mid 1988, her father started a children's class on Saturday which started out as a babysitting class for women who were enrolled in the Women's Self-Defense Class (WSDC). This class grew far larger than the adult class and Lisa felt a bit more comfortable with people in her age range. Overall though, Lisa found the martial arts training as difficult and frustrating. She also did not take the time to learn the material and her test scores proved that was the case. Lisa finally had her major accomplishment on December 14, 1991 when she tested for her 1st Poom Black Belt along with three other students (Nila Welker, Marcus A. Krieter, and Joseph Ok). These four students were the first Black Belts produced by the AMK. Lisa was a little more motivated than previously, but as one examiner stated on her test form, "something was missing." ![]() Lisa continued her serious training and around mid 1994, the AMK welcomed a new instructor, Sensei Rodrigo Carrasco, to teach Judo/Jujitsu and Aikido. Lisa took immediate interest in these arts after already thoroughly enjoying the basic Judo training she previously had. She learned as much as she could from Rod and guest instructors he introduced to her as well. Due to the deterioration of the neighborhood in Anaheim, the AMK moved to Lisa's hometown of La Habra in early 1995. Lisa started getting more assistance in teaching now from her cousin Jason Nguyen SBN who was now close to Black Belt. In December 1995, Lisa tested for her 3rd Degree Black Belt and had another former student, Linda Tsai, come to support her testing. Sad news came in 1996 when the school was unable to continue and had to close it's doors. Lisa and her father worked to find another location for students who wanted to continue training. It came at a health club down the street, but unfortunately, it didn't work out. The only bright spot at this location was that the La Habra Star newspaper wanted to do a feature article on Lisa. A few months later, the AMK left the health club. Lisa encouraged Master Amsell to try it's roots. Training once again resumed around the end of 1996 where it began: back at the YMCA. Training continued there for a little over a year before Master Amsell's new employment made it more and more difficult to continue that class. ![]() Pretending to be a Yellow Belt Lisa continued the training from the previous years and continued teaching the Judo/Jujitsu and Aikido fundamentals she learned from Sensei Carrasco. To enhance that aspect, Lisa also took a college course in Aikido to fine tune her skills. In December 2002, Lisa finally tested for the first time in 7 years for 4th Degree Black Belt. She accomplished her 5th Degree Black Belt in December 2006. Today, Lisa has continued to train inside and outside of class and works side by side with her father to improve the training and skills of their students. Lisa is very active in all aspects of the training curriculum and even helps students in her spare time on any questions they may have. Lisa never questions traveling to help out fellow martial arts colleagues and welcomes it. She has also made the class more interactive with taking on the planning of activities for the students to participate in as well as printing all necessary supplies for students. She is still seeing all the benefits the martial arts has to offer and feels, in turn, she also has a lot to offer to present and future students. She feels that with all that she has done, she can still do more and is readily available for assistance. Lisa feels very fortunate that her father forced her to join the martial arts class at such an early age and started her on the path that she continues to walk today. |
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