2022 PMA Year in Review

PMA Family,

Happy New Year’s Eve! I’ve been soaking up the Winter Break time with my 3 boys (9, 6, and 3 years old now). Christmas is always amazing but the magic of Christmas for these ages is just so much fun to be a part of.

We also took a quick trip up to Chicago during that crazy cold weather and spent some time with our great Brazilian friends - the Costas!

Now it’s time to reflect on the past year and get ready for the new one!

Here are some of the things that jump out to me from this past year -

Start of the Year: 2022 started off with PMA instructor, Maggie Fox, earning her blue belt (I gave her mine), competition training ramping up for the spring season and competing in two tournaments, and a new group of instructor candidates (our biggest yet) starting their training!

Summer: Last summer was incredible! We had a big group test in June, with two new Black Belt candidates being chosen, Austin and Eli Fox. Then in July, we had a FILKENJUTSU Black Belt Test and added three new PMA Black Belts - Alex Torres, Richard Sances, and Sam Fox! We went right from there into the annual PMA Oak RIdge Summer Camp, the Annual PMA Competition Team Games, and our first summer camp at PMA Knoxville (Jedi Training Camp!).

Fall: In the fall, we had three instructor candidates pass their Instructor Test to become certified PMA instructors - Sempai Jessy Heidle, Sempai Miles Jackson, and Sempai Maggie Fox! We also took our competition team to two more tournaments, and our Kids and Teens took home first place at a submission only tournament in Cookeville.

End of Year: From Halloween on is always such a whirlwind at PMA with the Halloween Party, PMA Fall Hike, Annual Holiday Sale, Thanksgiving Break (and video!), Turkey Roll, Harry Potter night, end-of-year belt test, Annual Holiday Party, and Spirit Week all happening back to back. But we love every second of it!

And here we are on the last day of 2022 with so much to reflect on from a great year at PMA. I didn’t even mention all of the self-defense seminars, well deserved promotions, and all of the great things that happen every single day on our blue mats. So here’s a video to recap some more of it if you haven’t seen it yet (we play it first at the annual holiday party).

Here were our Top 10 songs played at PMA this past year in case you need some music for your workouts this week:

1. Don’t Let Me Down (feat. Daya) [Illenium Remix] - The Chainsmokers

2. Zero - Imagine Dragons

3. The Last Goodbye (feat. Betty LaVette) - ODESZA

4. Harder Better Faster Stronger - Daft Punk

5. Finale (feat. Nicholas Petricca) - Madeon

6. Feel Good - Syn Cole

7. Tick Tick Boom (feat. BygTwo3) - Sage the Gemini

8. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

9. Feel This Moment (feat. Christina Aguilera) - Pitbull

10. Summer - Calvin Harris

Play on Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/pmas-top-10-most-played-songs-of-2022/pl.u-BNA668NIApEmxr

I have some BIG plans for 2023 so keep your eyes peeled, and I’ll see you all back on the mat on Monday, January 2nd when normal classes resume! Happy New Year! I’m off to celebrate my 13th wedding anniversary with b. ❤️

David Corrigan

Feels Like Home | A Special Thanksgiving Message for our PMA Family

We have a Thanksgiving Day tradition of sending a special video to our PMA Family each year! For this year’s video, we’d like to thank our incredible instructors, student director, students, family members, and friends for making PMA feel like home for so many people.

We hope you enjoy the day with your friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving!

And here are a few of the videos from years gone by in case you missed them:

2021 - I Love You So Much

2020 - 6 Feet Apart

2019 - Family

2018 - Never Grow Up

New Private Lesson Rates and Availability

We are introducing a new private lesson rate and increased availability for private lessons, beginning Monday, October 17! 

Some of you have been on a waiting list for private lesson availability, and we are proud to announce more openings on our schedule and new private lesson rates for different instructors; making private training even more accessible for our students. (All previously purchased private lessons and memberships will not be affected.)

For all of the times found below, you can purchase individual private lessons or you can set up a recurring monthly payment and we will book the lesson for you as a recurring lesson every week so that spot is locked down. We can also create a custom membership for as many lessons as you’d like to purchase at once and book ahead. Just email me or talk to Miss Kat with questions or to get memberships set up. 

These lessons can also be scheduled and purchased on your own through our Zenplanner site at pmaoakridge.zenplanner.com. When you go to the schedule to book an appointment, you can sort it by location (Oak Ridge or Knoxville) and/or by instructor. Or you can just see what’s open on the calendar and schedule with anyone that has availability when you need the lesson. As you can see below, with the addition of new instructors, we’ve been able to expand our availability tremendously - adding times in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings seven days per week!

New Private Lesson Rates and Availability

2021 PMA Year in Review

Hello PMA Family!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas time and are soaking up these last few days of the year. I love this time between Christmas and the New Year with my family. Here are my 3 boys on Christmas morning (now 8, 5 and 2)!

Now it’s time to reflect on the past year and get ready for the new one!

Here are some of the things that jump out to me from this past year -

Kangeiko: The year started out with all of our classes still training outside and our students showed so much resilience training in the cold all winter.

March-June: Some students started to receive vaccinations and in-person training with contact started back with private training. By the middle of the summer, all of our group classes were back inside with contact again!

July: July was a big month at PMA. We got to hold our annual summer camp again after missing out last year, I hired a new assistant instructor in Maggie Fox, and we had the largest FILKENJUTSU Black Belt Test yet with 10 candidates testing from PMA and Fusion Martial Arts Club! This test was extraordinary, with a great group of candidates, and a great group of Black Belts getting together again from all over the country for the first test in 3 years.

NEW FILKENJUTSU BLACK BELTS:

Darrel Craig, Eric Ridenour, Christine Traigis, Miles Jackson, Ken Oakley, Tim St. Clair, Rick Wilson, Jesse Heidle, Bill McClintic, and Dr. Nick Xenopolous!

September: My great friend and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor, Felipe Costa, got to visit for a quick seminar with our students and tie the black belt on my wife, Brittany Corrigan. She became the first female Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt at PMA! We also picked three new FILKENJUTSU Black Belt Candidates who are now preparing for their 3 day black belt test - Sam Fox, Richard Sances, and Alex Torres!

October: Our competition team made a return to competition for the first time in 2 years and our Kids and Teens took home 3rd place at the NAGA Tennessee Championship! And in October, we expanded to Knoxville with SiFu Terry taking responsibilities as a chief instructor at the new location!

Holidays: We enjoyed a wonderful holiday season with things seeming a bit more normal than last year. We were able to have our annual holiday sale (best one ever!), our annual holiday party (best one ever!), Spirit Week, and we found out that we were voted as the Best Martial Arts School in Anderson County again.

Here is the 2021 End of Year Video if you haven’t seen it yet -

Here were our Top 10 songs played at PMA this past year in case you need some music for your workouts this week:

1. Way Less Sad - AJR

2. Bang! - AJR

3. I Feel Good - Ehrling

4. survivin’ - Bastille

5. Saturday - twenty one pilots

6. Feel It Still - Portugal the Man

7. One More Time - Daft Punk

8. Fly Away - Tones and I

9. Thunderstruck - ACDC

10. Cutthroat - Imagine Dragons

Play on Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/pmas-top-10-songs-of-2021/pl.u-Z6geWT6zPDD

Alright, I’ll leave you at that. I’ll be mostly offline the next couple of days with my wife celebrating our 12th anniversary on New Year’s Eve! Enjoy the rest this week, and I’ll see you all back on the mat for a great year of training on Monday, January 3rd!

David Corrigan

I Love You So Much | A Special Thanksgiving Message for our PMA Family

Every year at Thanksgiving we like to send a video out to our PMA Family. This one goes out to all of our students, as well as their moms, dads, siblings, friends and other family members that support them and their training. We love you all so much!

And here are a few of the videos from the past few Thanksgivings for those that may have missed them!

2020 - 6 Feet Apart

2019 - Family

2018 - Kids at PMA

Happy Thanksgiving! We are so grateful for each of you and hope you have a wonderful rest of the week with your families. See you back on the mat next week!

PMA Is Expanding to KNOXVILLE!

On October 18, 2021 PMA will begin teaching classes at a new location in Knoxville!

Students have been asking for years when we would open another location, and the answer has always been “when we have an instructor that is ready to be the chief instructor at another school.” This is because as many of you know, ALL of PMA’s instructors are home grown! Each one has learned from white belt to black belt not only the martial arts that we teach, but also how to teach the way we teach, with our instructor training program.

Well, that time has come! SiHing Terry Alcorn began training at PMA in 2008 after watching us teach his son, Cameron, for a couple of years. He earned his Black Belt in FILKENJUTSU Kenpo in 2012 and entered into instructor training. After becoming a certified PMA instructor in 2013, SiHing has been honing his teaching style at PMA Oak Ridge teaching the Adult Fundamentals class, the Young Adults class, and one of the Juniors classes, as well as working with every class sometimes as a substitute. And now he is ready! SiHing Terry will now hold the title of SiFu and be the chief instructor at PMA KNOXVILLE!

We will be teaching inside the dojo that SiJo Bruce Corrigan teaches out of. As he will only be teaching a small semi private group class for his Black Belts and private students, we will be begin offering a full schedule of classes for ALL AGE GROUPS, beginning Monday, October 18, 2021! SiJo’s Fusion Martial Arts Club will become the new PMA KNOXVILLE!

Classes are limited in size, so those that are interested should call (865)481-8901 or email info@pmaoakridge.com to get on the schedule for a free introductory lesson and be one of the first students at our new location. Click here to see the new group class schedule for PMA Knoxville and hurry to grab a spot in one of these classes if interested.

Who will be teaching the classes SiFu Terry currently teaches? Beginning Monday, October 18, Sifu David Corrigan will be taking over the Young Adults class and Monday/Wednesday Juniors class, and Sempai Gary Hall will be the new Adult Fundamentals instructor! And don’t worry, you’ll still see SiFu Terry around!

We are so excited for SiFu Terry, and to be able to offer classes for all age groups in a new area of East Tennessee and provide our training to more people! Be sure to like our new PMA Knoxville page on Facebook to keep up with the news at the new location - www.facebook.com/knoxvillepma!

See you on the mat!

2020 PMA Year in Review

Hello PMA Family!

I hope you are reading this after a wonderful Christmas or holiday time with your families. For those of us here in Tennessee, that was a white Christmas this year! My wife and 3 boys and I loved every second.

This week in between Christmas and New Year’s is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Life slows down a little bit now with Christmas over and the New Year around the corner, and with the academy shut down I have a chance to spend time with family, reflect on the past year, and plan for the new one.

When reflecting on this past year, it is hard to avoid constantly thinking about the pandemic, as it will dominate all of our memories of 2020 I’m sure for the rest of our lives. BUT there are many great things that happened this year and here are some of my favorites:

January - March: The year started out just like every other year with our students all training hard, the competition team in high gear getting ready for their spring tournament, and there were even a few promotions like Sempai b and Sempai Kristie to 2nd-degree black belt and SiHing Terry to 4th-degree black belt in FILKENJUTSU Kenpo!

March: PMA closed down for in-person training as the world was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. We quickly put together videos for training at home, started holding classes on Zoom, and the craziest year of running this academy began! The pandemic obviously isn’t one of my favorite memories of the year, but beginning in March and lasting all year long, you guys blew me away with your dedication to your training and support of the academy. I will never forget it.

March-May: In addition to the videos on PMAVideos.com and Zoom classes, we started posting some challenges for you guys to try at home while we were getting bored. I had a blast doing these and putting together some of the videos for you! You can catch a couple of them in the End of Year video below.

Summer: PMA opened back up to in-person training in the middle of May with extra cleaning, temperature checks, social distancing, mask-wearing, and outdoor training, and once again you guys would show your resiliency. ALL SUMMER LONG our students and instructors trained in the heat with no complaints (okay, there were a couple of complaints but we’ll forgive you). Our competition team shifted their focus from Jiu JItsu (one of the least socially distanced activities you can find) to speed and strength training outside at the track and park. Grady Fox earned his Junior Black Belt! And 4 students from PMA, alongside one student from SiJo’s school, became Black Belt candidates in FILKENJUTSU Kenpo and began their preparations for their Black Belt Test - Darrel Craig, Eric Ridenour, Christine Traigis, Kyra Melton, and Ken Oakley.

Jiu Jitsu: All year long our Jiu Jitsu students had it the hardest. Kenpo is much easier to train without a partner, but Jiu Jitsu is just difficult. These guys did solo drills and movements, created their own dummies for zoom classes at home, some got to partner up with one training partner, and start attending classes in person again. Despite the difficulties, you are still here and working hard to improve in the ways that you can. We did have a handful of students earn a promotion despite the craziness - Sam Fox and Eric Ridenour earned their Blue Belts, and Dustin Retterer and Matt Armstrong earned their Purple Belts!

Fall: We found a nice rhythm with our new normal, and the progress our students were making in the areas that we are able to train right now really started to stand out. Attributes like balance, flexibility, strength, and speed were improving. Kicking skill, footwork, forms, and techniques all were looking stronger and stronger. The dedication to training was really paying off for students that opted to keep on going despite the year’s challenges. We also had Alex Torres earn his Junior Black Belt, and the competition team had their first annual “Competition Team Games” where they competed against each other in areas of strength and speed in lieu of a Jiu Jitsu tournament. We loved the event and are going to bring it back every year now!

Thanksgiving: As per tradition, we put together a fun video for you guys for Thanksgiving. Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet!

December: We wrapped up the year with another great outdoor test - our first test with Lil’ Dragons and Juniors all together, Richard Sances earning his Junior Black Belt, and Sam Fox and Miles Jackson earning their Brown Belts in FILKENJUTSU Kenpo. Then we had a blast with our second annual spirit week!

Here is our 2020 Year in Review video when you have some time to watch. I hope you enjoy it!

Here were our Top 10 songs played at PMA this past year in case you need some music for your workouts this week:

1. Level of Concern - Twenty One Pilots

2. Seve - Tez Cadey

3. Territory (feat. Young Bleu) - Tenille Arts

4. Be Free With Me (feat. Frank Moody) - Siine

5. Take Back the Power - Raury

6. Strangers - Mt. Joy

7. Little Things - Louis the Child, Quinn XCII & Chelsea Cutler

8. Caution - The Killers

9. Get What You Give - Felix Cartal

10. BANG! - AJR

Play on Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/pmas-top-10-songs-of-2020/pl.u-RrkqVulxgbb

In closing, we are so proud to be your martial arts school of choice, and this year has made us prouder than ever to be your instructors. Stay healthy, and rest up the rest of this week, because we start back training next Monday and 2021 is going to be great!

See you on the mat!

David Corrigan

6 Feet Apart | A Special Thanksgiving Message for our PMA Family

PMA 865

We are so excited to announce an idea that we are launching today that we’ve been sitting on for years!

About 10 years ago, we switched up the focus of our blog to focus on what we call “The Martial Arts Way of Life.” Since then we have been writing on this blog about the “8 Aspects of the Martial Arts Way of Life.” We got the idea for these from the Kosho family crest which used an octagon to represent the 8 aspects of their Kenpo system (which we come from). We have altered the aspects slightly to fit modern times, but they for the most part stayed the same. The 8 Aspects of the Martial Arts Way of Life are:

1. Health/Fitness

2. Meditation

3. Philosophy/Mindset

4. Yoga/Stretching

5. Nutrition

6. The Stand Up Arts

7. The Grappling Arts

8. Self Defense

We have also written to you in the past about “The 5 School Principles.” Handed down for generations, these are 5 qualities that we would like to see instilled in all of our students:

1. Effort

2. Etiquette

3. Sincerity

4. Self-Control

5. Character

So, here is the idea. A few years ago, we realized that we had an 8 and a 5, and just needed a 6 in the middle to complete the “865.” For those that don’t live in our area, that is our area code which is special to the Knoxville natives as it spells “VOL” for the Tennessee Volunteers. We decided to create the “6 Rules of the Mat” to go along with the “8 Aspects of the Martial Arts Way of Life” and the “5 School Principles,” and together these 3 will make up the “PMA 865.”

The 6 Rules of the Mat:

1. Humility

2. Positivity

3. Receptiveness

4. Respect

5. Sportsmanship

6. Hygiene

We are very excited about using these to better structure the character development program already present in our programs. We feel that launching something like this will help make these more memorable and highlighted for our students. There are so many important lessons to be taught with these different aspects, rules, and principles.

We don’t have a logo designed yet, so if any of our students have some ideas for that, please send them in! Maybe one of you can even create the PMA 865 logo! We will begin teaching these with the new quarter that begins this week and have the curriculum outlined for the rest of the year. Knowing what our “mat chats” are focused on can help you reinforce these habits and lessons at home:

July 6-9 - Health/Fitness

July 13-16 - Meditation

July 20-23 - Philosophy/Mindset

July 27-30 - Yoga/Stretching

August 3-6 - Nutrition

August 10-13 - The Stand Up Arts

August 17-20 - The Grappling Arts

August 24-27 - Self Defense

August 31-September 3 - Effort

September 7-10 - Etiquette

September 14-17 - Sincerity

September 21-24 - Self-Control

September 28-October 1 - Character

October 5-8 - FALL BREAK

October 12-15 - Humility

October 19-22 - Positivity

October 26-29 - Receptiveness

November 2-5 - Respect

November 9-12 - Sportsmanship

November 16-19 - Hygiene

November 23-24 - Effort

November 30- December 3rd - Etiquette

December 7-10 - Sincerity

December 14-17 - Self-Control/Character

Continuing with that schedule, we should be able to hit the 8 Aspects of the Martial Arts Way of Life and the 6 Rules of the Mat 2x/every year and the 5 School Principles 4x/every year. We are working on using our attendance tracking to also keep track of which lessons our youth students are present for and have different levels of a “PMA 865” patch that can be earned.

We have been teaching the actual martial arts techniques from a rotating curriculum for decades now. We continue to update the curriculum year after year, and know that this is the best way to make sure our students all learn what they are supposed to learn, in the most efficient order of learning it. There is no reason that the character development portion shouldn’t be done this way too!

We are so excited about “PMA 865” and love how we can attach something so good and positive for our students to our hometown. This is going to be one more way we can continue to provide the absolute best martial arts instruction available!

Thanks for reading!

PMA's COVID-19 Phased Reopening Plan

On May 1, 2020 businesses all across Tennessee will be allowed to reopen after being forced to close down due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 89 counties (including Anderson), gyms will be included and allowed to reopen with specific guidelines to make sure that employees and customers are safe. While PMA is not technically a gym, we align ourselves most closely with this category of businesses, and martial arts instruction was specifically listed in the guidelines for group fitness classes put out on April 28.

At PMA, we are both excited about the prospect of being able to open back up for classes, and also cautious to not jump ahead and put our students and their families at unnecessary risk. Here is our plan for opening back up:

PMA’s COVID-19 Phased Reopening Plan

In closing, the last couple of months have been a rollercoaster of emotions for us as your martial arts academy and as a small business. The longer that we remained closed, the more students that dropped their memberships. Some dropped their memberships because they had lost their jobs and could not afford to continue to pay their tuition, and a few others dropped that did not see the value in the online training we were providing. It is a very discouraging sight to see your student count dropping week after week after spending so many years building it up.

However, for every 1 student we lost, there were 10 others that were unbelievably supportive. We had some extremely dedicated students who watched every video we uploaded, attended every zoom class, and scheduled 1-on-1 sessions with me. We had students who could not access the video content due to their own internet or technology issues, or just don’t enjoy that method of learning, but sent us messages saying we could be closed for a year and they’d keep paying their tuition because of what PMA means to them. And all different levels of commitment and support in between.

We will always remember 2020 because of this pandemic and how much it shook our world and changed our lives. But the memories for us will be highlighted by these messages and signs of support from you - our incredible PMA family. Thank you.

Now, we are excited to see things heading towards the direction of us eventually being able to train as we did before. Until then, let’s continue to be diligent with our health and safety.

We will see you on the mat, either physically or virtually, whichever you prefer!

Sincerely,

David Corrigan

Owner/Chief Instructor

Progressive Martial Arts Academy