March 29, 2013 - Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group

March 29, 2013 — MOUNTAINEER 27
Soldier teaches art of discipline
Story and photo
by Walt Johnson
Mountaineer staff
Chad Dowdle
wanted to give back
to his military
community in a
positive way, so, in
November, he
decided to help
people develop a
new discipline and
learn self-defense.
Dowdle began
teaching karate at
Waller Physical
Fitness Center
because he said it
was an opportunity
to give back to the
Army and help people
fully understand the
sport and discipline
of karate.
“Karate is actually
good in diffusing
situations as opposed
to trying to hurt
someone. When it comes down to it, you don’t want
to fight, because we are learning things you really
don’t want to use against someone. I was a bouncer
before I came into the military, and they hired me
because they knew I knew karate. Fortunately, I
never had to use it. What you really want to do is
look in someone’s eyes and see if you can talk
them out of a situation,” Dowdle said.
Dowdle said learning the discipline of karate
teaches people more than just the art of self-defense.
People are also able to apply it to their everyday
life because of the discipline that is needed to learn
and understand it, he said.
Alejandra Rodriguez, one of Dowdle’s students
and a parent with two children in class, echoed
Dowdle’s feelings.
“I wanted to get involved with the discipline of
karate, because it is something I could share with my
kids. I also wanted us to get involved with something
that motivates each of us to help us get better at all
Mountaineer Sports Feature
phases of life. It helps
a lot when we have
something that we
can share as a family.
The discipline I have
learned from karate
has been valuable to
us. It has given us
a good structure
(and) gives us a good
way to learn time
management skills,
among other things,”
Rodriguez said.
Dowdle said one
of the keys to being
successful in karate
is understanding
the ABCD concept.
He said people
who master it usually
find a lot of success
and gratification
from the sport.
“(There are)
all kinds of different
karate school
mentalities, and
mine is relaxed. You
have to have discipline in order to learn all aspects
of the sport, which we call the ABCDs. That
consists of the right attitude, learning the basics,
gaining confidence and developing discipline. If
you have the right attitude to learn, that leads to
a better understanding of the basics. From the
basics you develop more confidence, and when
you have confidence you develop more discipline.
It is a never ending circle of learning that karate
can do for you,” Dowdle said.
Chad Dowdle, center, leads a recent karate discipline exercise at Waller Physical Fitness Center. Dowdle teaches a karate
class two times a week at the facility.
Photo by Walt Johnson
Fred Taijeron, right,
returns a serve to
his opponent, Martin
Newcomb, during the
championship game
of the 2013 Fort
Carson table tennis
championships March
21 at Iron Horse
Sports and Fitness
Center. Taijeron won
six contests to capture
the championship.
After the event
Taijeron said he was
very grateful that the
Directorate of Family
and Morale, Welfare
and Recreation sports
staff came up with
the tournament to
give table tennis fans
like himself a platform
to display their talents.
“Its difficult to find
people who play
table tennis, and to
see all the excellent
players that played
in this tournament
was a great thing,”
Taijeron said.