master
REGINA GONZALEZ
5th Degree Black Belt, Co-Founder of American Karate Institute, Teacher, Inventor and Martial Arts Consultant. I have been involved with the Martial Arts for more than 43 years.
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THIS IS MY STORY.
Hi my name is Regina Gonzalez, the program director of American Karate Institute. I was born in Tampa, FL in 1955. My story is completely different from my husband. I was not being bullied. As a matter of fact, I used to bully kids all the time. I lived in a neighborhood where you had to be tough. I had to protect my “shy” younger brother from the tough kids in the block.
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I did not start Martial Arts until the age of 17. The reason why I started was because I was motivated after seeing the movie “Chinese Connection” starring Bruce Lee. At that time, I was attending the University of South Florida. When I was enrolling for some semester courses I noticed a karate class as an elective. It was a Japanese style called YoshiKai. The instructor came to me after class and asked if I had ever taken martial arts before. He was surprised when I told him that this was my first class ever. That was when I realized that I was a natural.
I met my husband in 1973 at Tampa Catholic High School and we married in 1975. We both started taking lessons together with Sensei Mike Hayashi. At that time, I was the only girl in class. I did not train as many hours as my husband but I was able to earn my Brown Belt. I was never able to test for Black Belt because the school closed down.
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Because of the systematized curriculum and quality instructions, it was at the Jhoon Rhee Institute that my technique became refined. I started to compete in local tournaments as a Brown Belt winning 1st Place each and every time. I was rated #1 in the State of Florida.
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When I became Black Belt, being #1 in the State of Florida was not enough. I had greater inspirations so I started competing at the National level. By the 80’s, I was rated #1 by the North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) in forms and fighting. I became Forms Champion by winning 1st Place at the following big named tournaments: US Open, Battle of Atlanta, AKA Grand Nationals, Blue Grass Nationals, Diamond Nationals, Bermuda Grand Nationals and Jhoon Rhee Nationals.
