Norbert Urban
Rank: Shichidan (7th degree)
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Norbert Urban is the founder of the Karate-Do Academy which he started in 1992 and has taught thousands of students over the course of his martial arts career. He began his own training in 1970 and earned his first-degree black belt in 1977. At this point and time, karate was gaining massive popularity as a way to develop strength of body and of character, especially with the release of the original Karate Kid movie in 1984. Young students were eager to learn this ancient art form and protect themselves from those who tried to bully or hurt people and parents were just as enthusiastic about this idea and encouraged Norbert to start teaching in his own karate school which is how Karate-Do Academy came to be.
One principle that Shihan Norbert always taught was that just because someone was bigger or stronger doesn’t mean they will win, the smarter martial artist will prevail. After so many years of passing on these martial arts lessons, he is satisfied in knowing the positive changes he has made in the lives of his students. To this day he believes the most valuable lesson that karate teaches its students is to always apply maximum effort in all your endeavors and just be a good person.
Though Shihan Norbert has retired from teaching regularly, his legacy lives on in those who currently teach on his behalf. He is always available as a source of support, encouragement, and knowledge within the club and can be seen regularly yelling ‘gyaku tsuki’ from the side of a ring at tournaments and at important events such as black belt testing and our annual karate family BBQ’s.
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Gordon Stull
Rank: Yondan (4th degree)
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Gord Stull has been involved in several different fighting systems over the past 35 years. He started as a high school wrestler competing against the likes of the late Owen Hart. When he began policing in 1990 he also started his advanced combative training, learning techniques from multiple different styles and how they apply in real life self-defense scenarios. After moving to Medicine Hat in 1995 to work for MHPS he started training under Shihan Norbert Urban at the Karate-Do Academy and continued his formal police training. He currently holds 12 years of instructor certificates in knife defense, ground fighting, and pressure point control tactics that he can teach to other law enforcement agencies and is developing a curriculum on the introductory use of force in policing, for those who want to start their law enforcement careers.
He continues to train regularly and enjoys sharing ideas and learning from other instructors. Since taking ownership of the karate school he has developed a passion for really going back to the roots of karate and finding ways to combine that with over 25 years of law enforcement to teach lessons that are both traditional and work in modern self-defense situations. He most enjoys teaching our advanced belt classes because it challenges him to continue learning so that he can pass those challenges on to his students and make them better martial artists. When asked ‘what is the most important lesson we teach our students at Karate-Do Academy’ he said without a second thought: SELF CONFIDENCE.
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Ally DeWolfe
Rank: Sandan (3rd degree)
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Ally has been involved with the Karate-Do Academy since she was 7 years old. She was a student of Shihan Norbert Urban in the early days of the club and received her first-degree black belt at the age of 15 and began to help as an assistant instructor. She currently holds a third-degree rank and is the primary instructor for the preschool programs (Tiny Tigers & Little Ninjas) as well as the beginner family class. She loves teaching children because she believes that the fundamentals are the key to success in both the martial arts and in life. Children are amazing little people who rise to expectations and guidelines when they are given them. She believes in building attributes such as self-esteem, respect, hard work, and ultimately kindness in her classes along with essential martial arts skills for these kids to protect themselves from ‘bad guys’ if they ever need to.
Karate has always been part of Sensei Ally’s life. In fact is was through martial arts that she met her husband Colin (who holds a black belt rank in Wushu and was a national level kickboxer) and their daughter, who has been taking classes since 2 years old already has a pretty awesome little roundhouse kick. She wants to be an example to females that you can do anything you set your mind to if you are willing to put in the time and the effort!
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Rhonda Lowe
Rank: Nidan (2nd degree)
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Rhonda is too busy practicing her kicks and blocks and her kata to write her bio for this website. If you would like to know more about Rhonda in the meantime, head to the dojo and say hi. She can often be found speaking in German even though no one around her understands what she is saying most of the time. But we do enjoy the enthusiasm she brings to every class and her description of lazy knife hand strikes which she calls ‘dead fish hands’. The kids absolutely love having Sensei Rhonda as an instructor.
Oh, and as per Sensei Gord, she will remain a PROUD Calgary Stampeders fan until her website bio is submitted.
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Loriann Muddle
Rank: Nidan (2nd degree)
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Loriann is also too busy reading her karate books as well as watching about a million karate drills on Youtube to write her bio just yet. She is forgiven though since she is often filling in last minute when one of the other Sensei’s cannot make it for their class. In fact, she is probably teaching right now so if you want to get to know Loriann she can be found in the dojo. But be careful, she is pretty good with a katana so make sure you don’t sneak up on her.