By: Collin Anderson
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – During the COVID-19 pandemic, many small businesses had to close their doors forever. This was nearly the case for the Northwest Arkansas Martial Arts Academy. But one former student thought this place was too special to shut down. New owner Michael Felix said the studio is more than a dojo, it’s a home.But taking over the academy did more than save it. Felix is the only African American man in Northwest Arkansas to own a dojo.
“It means a lot,” said Felix, “to have representation is a big thing, and not only within the community here, but I think, worldwide.”
As a child, Felix was rambunctious kid being raised by a single mother. She had trouble getting him to listen and tried to find a way to make him more responsible.
“She knew she would need me to have a bit of respect and be able to listen to her,” said Felix, “I didn’t listen, I didn’t have very good focus. So, she put me in it simply for the life skills, but I just ended up continuing, I love it.”
While karate may teach speed and strength, it also teaches patience, discipline, and respect. To Felix, these lessons are just as important, if not more, than the physical ones. Often, he will use his own experiences to mentor students and give them firsthand advice on how to handle problems they may be facing.
“I’ll use things that I messed up on, things that I did to kind of teach them, like, hey, I made the mistake. Let me make it for you so you don’t have to,” said Felix.
Another major skill Felix teaches is leadership. He does this by giving students of a higher level a chance to teach their peers. Those reach a certain level can begin teaching people of age that may not be at the same place physically. One instructor, Kaleb Williams, has been doing karate for 14 years, and has helped teach for 11 of them.
“My sister got into karate before me,” said Williams, “we signed her up, and then my family followed suit, and then I followed suit.”
Williams teaches to help other kids learn life skills to benefit them in the real world. But his favorite part, is bringing joy to his students.
“I love seeing just kids with big smiles on their faces. So anytime that I have a student that at the end of class they just have this big smile. It gives me a big smile on my face too.”
Felix, Williams, and the other instructors take pride in being able to build a community for their students the way it was built for them.