St. Pete Fight Team Murals
The Covid 19 Pandemic decimated a lot of businesses, large and small alike. Here in St. Petersburg, one family run not for profit, not only survived, it flourished.
I spent a lot of time in martial arts as a kid and young adult, mostly the traditional forms of Korean Tang Soo Do and Chinese Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Some years back, I ran into a woman in the local grocery store wearing a shirt that said “Coker’s Karate” on it. We struck up a conversation. Her name was Emma, and she informed me that her husband was an Okinawan Karate instructor. I paid the school a visit and saw a guy who clearly loved what he was doing, and loved watching his students succeed. This man’s name was Germano Coker.
A short time later when I stopped teaching my own classes, I was able to donate my equipment to his school. After all, what on earth was I going to do with 30 bo staffs? We maintained contact through social media. The original school closed and the Coker’s moved to another location partnering with an existing school. The pandemic came, and their arrangement with their new location came to an end. They began to work out in local parks.
Their small group of dedicated students began to grow in spite of having no official building to call home. Then, one day the announcement was made that Coker’s Karate (now rebranded as “St. Pete Fight Team”) would have a new home near the Warehouse Arts District.
If you get the chance to see St. Pete Fight Team in action, what you will find is that Germano and Emma have not built a business. They have built a family. Each class is something new and exciting. Sensei Coker inspires his students to be the best that they can be, and pushes them physically and mentally. I have watched my son’s confidence, coordination, and fitness grow exponentially. I have even dusted off my old gi and have joined them in their Goju Ryu training.
How could I not give them something awesome for their dojo walls?
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