Not Just For Kicks: Klotz Institute of Karate Nears 25 Years

Following instruction from an athletic teenager named Kristen Klotz, a dozen or so 4- to 6-year-old boys dressed in karate outfits flick their right legs in synchronized motion at imaginary opponents. 

A few feet away, a slight smile creases the lips of Klotz's 49-year-old father, Ken, head of the Klotz Institute of Karate on Columbia's Little Patuxent Parkway, where the budding martial artists are being instructed. 

It was some 40 years ago that a much younger, Bruce Lee idolizing Ken Klotz got a similar start on the second floor of a firehouse in Riverdale, MD, of Prince George's County. 

"There's a picture of me when I was about six years old, holding my hands in chops [a poised karate stance]. The kids come in here and they think, 'Hey, we know Karate already,' visualizing that they can do it," said Ken Klotz, a sixth-degree black belt.

"I then started my own school, and it will be 25 years in October since that happened," said Klotz, who also has a site in Bowie. "But never in my mind did I have aspirations that it would be what it has become."

Klotz's clients having grown to include employees at the Naval Academy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as athletes at the University of Maryland, among other institutions. 

"My dad, ever since his mom put him into karate as a little kid, he's always wanted to share it with people," said Kristen Klotz. "It's not just about getting into shape, it's about creating a family and friends. It's so much more than some people see it."

Ken Klotz's success lies within philosophical and societal needs for discipline, self-defense and confidence, central themes that have resonated beyond recreation centers to college athletes, corporate employed adults and even stints with Washington, D.C.'s Rape Crisis Center.

"We get approached from a fitness point of view, the self-defense, which is the most common theme among everybody, and the mind-body connection," said Klotz, a 1998 graduate of Hyattsville's DeMatha High, where he did not play sports.

"With the martial arts, you're learning to respect people more rather than to abuse it and misuse it," said Klotz. "It's such a long process that it weeds out the people who just want to fight. They learn that this is not what it's about."

Those factors have allowed Klotz to make a martial arts living born of his early desires to emulate Lee's Kato of the Green Hornet and David Carradine's Kwai Chang Caine of the old television series Kung Fu.

"I was just a fighter, but I've been doing that [tang soo do] for most of my life now," said Klotz, who, after a brief hiatus from Karate during his youth, returned on his 13th birthday to the lesser-known tang soo do style practiced by actor Chuck Norris. 

"Back when I first started, all that I wanted to do was to kick and to punch. They called it hyperactive, not ADHD. So my parents came from the angle of, 'This will help focus and channel his energy,' " said Klotz. "What I say to parents who come in here is, 'Absolutely, it helps with that singular focus' for that child who has trouble settling. Our big theme is 'We don't play karate, we practice karate.' "

Students at Klotz Karate are instructed in the Pee-Wee classes for ages 4-to-6, youth from 7-to-12, and adult classes for those 13 and over. 

"For the kids, I try to structure my classes the way that my brain works, which is the ADD brain. I don't like to do something for 45 minutes straight, or an hour straight. We do exercises, and then, right after we do the exercises, we'll do a seven-minute focus session on the mitts or on how you hold your guard. Maybe even a jump-kick," said Klotz. 

"Then there's the longer topic, like, maybe they have to memorize a pattern or basic motion skills or a Jiu Jitzu hold," said Klotz. "Then we end the class on a high-note, like, 'Let's kick a bag, or work on the blocking noodles.' That appeals to how my brain needs a change in activity."

Among those within one half-hour long Pee-Wee class were the 5-year-old Collora twins, Lewis and Dylan, whose father, Keith, watched along with other parents from behind a large glass enclosure.

The Collora siblings zoned in on Kristen Klotz, their former babysitter of about two years, launching kicks and punches in unison at her direction.

"They've been in it for about six months. It's for the discipline, the exercise and the social activity. They love it," said Keith Collora, whose boys are also involved in soccer and swimming.

"But the Karate is about their developmental skills and just kind of getting them to focus," said Collora. "To be able to control their movements and to control what they're thinking about as far as doing it before they do it."

It for similar reasons that 23-year-old second-degree black belt Ryan London first met Klotz at the age of 5, his parents taking him to the Bowie studio "because I had so much energy that they had to put me into something."

A black belt since the age of 14, London now works as an instructor for Klotz. 

"I was borderline ADHD, but it was never really diagnosed. They just said that I had control over it, but that I didn't want to have control of it. You have to focus your energies in order to do this. It's all within you," said London, a college student with designs on a career in internet security.

"There are aspects within it where you're competing against others and things like that," said London, "But this is something where, whenever you're stressed out from school, or work, or things like this, this can help you to chill out and to focus on things that you need to get done."

Farah Ali likes the fact that her two sons, Ibraheem, 12, and, Hasnain, 8, "are burning a lot of energy, learning self-defense and taking their frustrations out at the same time."

"Ibraheem has been doing it since he was in first grade. I know that he's more disciplined," said Farah Ali. "Ken creates a very structured, respectful environment. They're making friends and learning how to respect others."

Hasnain Ali put it another way. 

"I feel like the activity makes you stronger. You have to hold your position when you're stretching. I feel more confident," said Hasnain Ali, an "A" student and Elkridge resident in his third year of karate. "And when I'm walking down the street, and someone attacks me, I can defend myself."

A 45-year-old economic developer, Larry Twele comes to Klotz Karate once a week with his 10-year-old son, Michael. 

"We come specifically on Tuesday night for the adult-child instruction to take it together. For my son, it's good exercise, he's building confidence, and he's learning how to take care of himself," said Twele, a green belt from Ellicott City who has been a student for a year and a half.

"We're exercising together, spending some time together, and it's just a great program," said Twele. "Ken is great with the students, he has first-class instructors, and he has a good way about presenting the information and walking you through it."

Ken Klotz did the same for his children, Tom, 17, Kristen, 19, and, Dave, 20—a Wilde Lake senior, and a Maryland freshman and junior respectively.

All three of the Klotz siblings are black belts and aspiring educators. 

"When people ask me what my dad does, and I say, 'Oh, he's a karate teacher,' their reaction is often, 'That's all that he does?' And I'm like, 'Yeah,' " said Kristen Klotz, an instructor since age 12 who is pursuing a major in early childhood education. 

"Honestly, it's pretty much the only thing that I've ever known about my dad is that he's taught karate," said Kristen Klotz. "I don't understand why people don't consider that a profession. People think that it's only about getting fit. I don't think that they see it as a lifestyle. It's not just about violence."

But it is also about self-defense. 

"People do ask me if I have ever been in a fight, and I'm like, 'No.' But if the situation ever presented itself, I would know what to do," said Kristen Klotz. "Just because I've never hit a person doesn't mean that I don't have the confidence to know that I can do it."

Benjamin Eisenberg simply wants to be a ninja, similar to how Ken Klotz once sought to emulate Bruce Lee.

"I've always wanted to be a Ninja, I guess, so that's why I started karate. It was never about school for me," said the 11-year-old Eisenberg, who has been taking classes for a year. 

"We do stretches and all of that, so I'm a lot more flexible. We develop power in our legs and arms and stuff," said Eisenberg. "I've gotten more advanced in my punches and kicks. I still want to be a ninja, so that really hasn't changed."

Hearing Eisenberg's assertions drew laughter from Ken Klotz.

"I look at martial arts from when I was at that age where it was magical and exciting," said Klotz, who began teaching the manager of his Bowie location, Mike Dorothy, 29, when Dorothy was 8. "When I teach, I think of how they're seeing it. You get to kick and punch and hit targets. It's a blast and a lot of fun."

Farah Ali was "surprised" to learn that Ken Klotz lacked focus during his youth.

"Because he is such a calm and peaceful guy, I would never have thought that he was a hyperactive child," said Farah Ali. "Ken is definitely a very good teacher and motivates children in a positive way. We love him. My whole family loves Ken."

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