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School for self-discipline Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Lindsay Fry and Zach Haveman, 11, demonstrate some self-defense moves at Sun and Moon Karate Academy on Riverside Avenue in Medford. Sun and Moon Karate Academy is more than just kicks By SHARI DOWNHILL Lindsay Fry learned early how to throw a punch. Without the restraint developed through self-discipline, she found her fighting skill was a two-edged sword. Fry has much better control today, thanks largely to karate. She and her husband, Thomas, have operated the Sun and Moon Karate Academy in Medford since January and last week moved the business to larger quarters at 25 S. Riverside Ave. "I was raised with four brothers and sisters, which gave me lots of opportunity to learn some self-defense," Fry said. "Roughhousing instilled some really good self-confidence, but ... I learned to speak up to anybody. Both kids and adults. Nobody was going to pick on me." That resolve, fueled by anger particularly acute in teenage years, repeatedly landed Fry in difficult situations. Karate, she said, helped harness her volatile emotions. "Karate gives you such discipline and self-control over anger and emotions ... and I wanted to give that to others," she said. Though she laughs now, her high school years were chaotic. Fry battled not only with her anger but what her teachers labeled "learning disabilities." "I just learned differently than everyone else," she said. "I learned through rhythm, rhyme and music. I thought the way my mother taught us was fun and inventive. She was always dancing around and singing. I didn�t think that it was abnormal until I got into high school." Fry found her path to karate shortly after emerging from high school � barely. "I saw this karate school every day I went home from work," she said. "I saw all of these crazy people doing crazy stuff. It looked fun but challenging, and a good way to get a workout." What she initially thought might be "fun" turned out to demand complete immersion in self-discipline. While Fry signed up to learn kick-boxing and lose a few pounds, she said she acquired much more. "I went in and ... started learning really fast � for someone with a learning disability," she said, laughing. "If I had trouble learning something, they would try something else to help me. That�s when I vowed that, if I were going to teach, I would teach the way students needed to be taught, not the way I thought they needed to learn." Fry went on a fast track to attain her black belt � a level marking excellence in karate � and a business that she now operates with her husband, Thomas, under the direction of her instructor, ninth-degree black belt Hanshi Jerry Piddington. The title "Hanshi" refers to a karate master or professor. Fry found karate was much more than a glorified aerobics workout. She learned poise, respect and a self-confidence that allowed her to know her own strength without having to demonstrate it in an undisciplined and destructive way. Now, she has dedicated her time and energy to give the same gift to her students."Martial arts is a gift that your instructor gives you. It isn�t just the teacher-student relationship. It�s closer than that. It�s a subculture where it�s a family and you stick with those people for the rest of your life." With a decade of combined experience, the Frys soon found their business required a larger dojo � or karate training hall �to accommodate their students. Moving through a kata, or series of karate moves that looks much like a choreographed dance, Fry is as solid as she is fluid, soft as she is hard. Her breathing is disciplined. Though Fry�s accumulation of karate awards and kudos came quickly, including an international flyweight kick-boxing championship in Canada, her focus is not on ego but on the development of a higher level of skill, both for herself and her students. Though she is available to teach a wide age-range of students, she specializes in programs for women and children. "Women have been raised in a society believing that we need men as our protectors," she said. "And women are most often the victims." Karate, Fry said, is a productive way for women to protect themselves and avoid being intimidated in what seems to be an increasingly unsafe world. "This is a way of getting in shape, and you don�t even know you�re doing it," she added. Children function better in school and around their peers when they have self-confidence, said Carla Haveman, the mother of Zach, one of Fry�s students. "Karate has really helped with (Zach�s) self-esteem," Haveman said. "Even in class, when he does presentations and things that have nothing to do with karate. He gets up to do a book report or the science fair ... and he has such poise." Studying under Fry for three years, 11-year-old Zach now has his black belt and spars with his instructor with a confidence and respect that was foreign to him in the beginning. Sun and Moon Karate Academy offers instruction for children 3 and older. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.