Chief Instructor's Statement

My name is Aleeta Van Petten. I am currently a student of Sensei Chuzo Kotaka, 8th dan, Founder and President of the International Karate Federation based in Hawaii. I am ranked to nidan, or 2nd degree black belt, in Sensei Kotaka's empty-hand system of shito-ryu karate, and to shodan, or 1st degree black belt, in his kobudo (traditional peasant weapons) system. I have been training and teaching at the Feminist Karate Union since 1981 when I began my study of the martial arts. I am fortunate in that I represent the third generation of women martial artists and teachers at my school. I was trained to black belt by my teacher Linda Kenoyer, who in her turn was trained to black belt by her teacher Py Bateman. I'm busy training a fourth generation of women to black belt. I am fortunate and somewhat unique in this as women taught by women are still a relative rarity in the martial arts.

I was brought to my training by my curiosity regarding the mystique surrounding the martial arts. I stayed with the martial arts because of the excitement and challenge of learning new techniques, movements and ideas, and by the satisfaction of seeing my body and its responses change through training.

Having reached the rank of nidan, I continue to train hard to maintain what I've learned, and to learn new techniques and ideas. My excitement and motivation now, however, are my students. Many martial arts instructors find their greatest reward in training children to self-confidence, or in working with promising athletic adults for outstanding achievement in martial arts competition. Of course I truly enjoy watching a physically gifted woman develop as a skilled martial artist under my coaching. But for me the most excitement and reward is in helping average women who come to my dojo. They generally come with apprehension and curiosity to see what a school called the Feminist Karate Union might have for them.

What I hope they find at my school, what I try to give them, is a place of acceptance. Whether they are a middle-aged middle-class housewife, an exotic dancer, a radical lesbian, a chador-clad Muslim, or a college or high school student, I try to accept my students as they come; whether they cannot possibly do one pushup or if they can do one hundred, if they don't know right from left, whether they're self-confident, over-confident or fearful. Many women who have been physically or emotionally injured by men need a place to train where they can be free from even the imagined possibility of male threat. My job as I define it as martial arts instructor is to train each woman as she is, help her to set and reset her goal(s), and work with her toward those goals and beyond.

I believe that I have found what intuitively drew me to the martial arts. I believe that with effort and correct attitude the martial arts will help us each turn inward and find, confront, and make peace with our greatest foe and ally--ourselves. My dream is to help other women in this achievement.