Western Washington Shotokan Karate Group

Newcomers at WWSKG, a non-profit club that has taught traditional Japanese karate to all ages for 30 years, go straight into the regular classes. Their first few classes involve a lot of private or semi-private instruction while they train right alongside the other students, which, in the club's words, gives them support and lets them “see where they are headed.” To start, a new student shows up a few minutes early and introduces themselves to the instructors. The first week is free, with no contracts and no obligation.

The club describes karate as a full-body workout for fitness, strength, coordination and balance, with practical self-defense skills and the concentration that comes from learning new skills, combinations and forms. Tournaments are part of it too: preparing for and competing in them is a chance to test skills against other students. The club points out that karate understanding keeps developing as a practitioner ages, and that “an older overweight beginner and a younger fitter black belt can take the same class and each come out with new insights and development.” Anyone recovering from an injury is asked to tell the instructor, who then watches their pace and intensity of training.

All classes meet at the First United Methodist Church, 1934 108th Ave NE in Bellevue. On Monday and Wednesday evenings kids and adults train together by rank, with white to purple belts at 6 pm and brown and black belts at 7 pm. Saturday morning has a class for kids of all ranks, one for adults of all ranks and a short class for brown and black belts. The club suggests kids be at least 6 ½ or 7 years old to start.

Comfortable clothes work for the first few classes: sweatpants, shorts or leggings and a T-shirt. Once a student decides karate is for them, they'll need a white karate uniform, the gi, which the club stocks. The club doesn't name its instructors, so the few minutes before a first class are the time to meet them.