ONE COMPANY’S STORY
business is a kick
Disability doesn’t inhibit karate instructor
Jul. 15, 2003
By Neil Ralston
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
People who first walk into Tracy’s Kenpo Karate school often are surprised when they see one of the owners and instructors zipping around in a wheelchair. But Frank Wajtol said that people who see him in his motorized chair often become curious about the ways karate can help even those with disabilities.
“They are surprised,” he said, “but I’ve never gotten anything negative out of it. It’s always been a plus.” Wajtol, who has had cerebral palsy all of his 30 years, can get around without a wheelchair, but he prefers to use it when he has to cover a lot of territory. That can include some days at the school he owns and operates with his father, Ron Wajtol, 65, a former Marine. The pair took over the school, at 506 Codell Drive, a little over a year ago after operating a similar business in Sterling Heights, a Detroit suburb. Ron Wajtol said they made the move to Lexington at the urging of other Kenpo practitioners, including Al Tracy, the developer of the Tracy system of Kenpo karate. Kenpo karate is not a competitive sport, Ron Wajtol said. Instead, it is designed as a system of self-defense in which a student earns a belt of a different color with mastery of each skill level.
He said Kenpo karate is typically practiced using one of two systems: the Tracy system, based on traditional Chinese fighting techniques, and the American system, which has changed some of those traditional techniques for the benefit of American consumers. The Wajtols said they prefer the more traditional system. “We are a combination of Chinese street fighting (and) Chinese self-defense,” Ron Wajtol said, “and incorporated in there is some of the best stuff out of the Japanese styles and some of the Korean styles.” The school offers private Kenpo lessons that last about 30 minutes each. People who take lessons may join group exercise sessions at no additional cost. Although group lessons aren’t required, “we do recommend two group classes a week for every one private lesson to really reinforce (the training),” Frank Wajtol said. Customers are likely to be taught by one of the 15 local instructors contracted to teach karate. “They know the system very well,” Frank Wajtol said of the instructors. “We learn from them; they learn from us.”
Frank Wajtol said he became involved in karate about five or six years ago in Michigan when an instructor, Keith Curts, persuaded him to try the Kenpo system even though cerebral palsy limits movements in his legs. "He just looked at it and said, ‘Well, you can’t kick. Let’s just focus on what you can do.’ “We started breaking down the belts, and the next thing I knew the yellow belt went by, the orange belt went by, the purple belt went by, the greens, browns and blacks.” Frank Wajtol said he continues his karate training because it’s fun and because it helps him maximize his range of movement. “I do have osteoarthritis in my joints. I don’t have much cartilage in my elbows and my knees, and movement-wise, it has helped tremendously.” An added benefit is running a business with his father. “I think we feed off each other because we have fun doing it, we have a drive to do it,” he said. His father agreed.
“I never knew my dad until he retired at 66,” Ron Wajtol said. “I was so thankful I got to know my dad while he was still around. Here, I am taking advantage of knowing my son while I’m still here.”
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