Back in his second home, Sean Haley shares his passion for martial arts in Tigard

By Kristen Forbes

The Times, Dec 3, 2009

Sean Haley has been doing martial arts for around 24 years. Of those 24, he’s spent the last 20 teaching. Originally from the Troutdale/ Gresham area, he met his first instructor there.

“I was such a go-go gym rat; he asked if I wanted to start teaching,” Haley recalls.

The instructor taught Haley about the business side of teaching, which proved an invaluable lesson to Haley. Being skilled in a sport and being able to teach a sport are entirely different, Haley points out. If you wanted to learn boxing, for example, you wouldn’t necessarily want to learn from Mike Tyson.

“Not only am I an educator who teaches people how to use martial arts, I also have to be an entertainer. I have to keep people’s attention for the hour-long class.”

When this instructor moved his school from Gresham to Tigard, Haley decided to go with him. In high school, he would spend 2½ hours on a bus getting from Troutdale to Tigard and back to teach classes.

“Tigard’s always been like a second home for me,” Haley says.

A while ago, Haley accompanied his wife, a nurse, on a traveling nurse expedition across the country. During his travels, he stopped in at the top martial arts schools and took notes on what they were doing.

When they arrived back in town five years ago, Haley knew he was going to open his own studio. When he learned the owner of a school in Canterbury Square wanted to get out of the business, he took this as his opportunity to get in.

The classes at Oregon Martial Arts Club reach men, women and children. The youth program is divided into three age groups: Tiny Tigers (ages 4 to 6), Junior Dragons (ages 7 to 10), and Teen Tigers (ages 11 to 15).

“Working with Teen Tigers, I can emphasize more fitness, whereas with Tiny Tigers, I’m obviously not going to make them do 100 push-ups and sit-ups.”

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit