How it all came about . . .

You know I'm not much of a "computer guy". Sure, I check my email, but that's about it - and I didn't even get an email address until 2004! Now don't get me wrong, I like technology and electronics,but I never got "into" the emailing, texting, blogging stuff that everyone around me seems to be doing and enjoying.

So, now my wife's talked me into blogging. She's been blogging for awhile. She enjoys it and people enjoy reading her blogs. She's been after me for months about starting a blog, but I've just been hesitating, waiting, unsure about the whole thing. I'm not sure how it's going to go for me. This stuff comes so easily for her. She's good at it, really good. I would tell you to go check out her blog, but then you'd probably go read hers and not read mine. We're both martial artists, and in this family, she would be considered the Black Belt Blogger and I would be the nervous novice - the white belt blogger! But, like we tell our Taekwondo students to do, I'll go forward with confidence, I'll practice, I'll make mistakes but also make improvements, and hopefully I'll move my way through the ranks of this art called blogging.

With much advice and support from my wife, we've decided that my first blog should kind of give a preview of what's to come, give you an idea of what you can expect to find here. My hope is that this blog will be informative, educational and entertaining. It will be a place to learn stuff about me, Eddie Lott, that you may or may not know. I know you may not want to know stuff about me but my wife assures me that that's one of the intriguing things about blogs, that's why people read them. Anyway, this blog will be a place to see pictures and videos of students, instructors and their families at ATA events like testings, tournaments, seminars, late nights, etc. Each week I'll also talk about a martial arts idea, event, training method, teaching method, tradition or philosophy that I hope you'll find interesting and want to come back again and again to see what's next!

For today, I'll wrap up with some background information about me. If you're not interested, just skip this part and best wishes until next week.

Well, in the beginning there was my mom and dad. They had me on March 15, 1973 in Los Angeles, California. Didn't stay there long. I "grew up" in and around Willacoochee, Georgia - yes, Will-a-cooch-ee, a super-small, South Georgia town located on US Hwy 82 between Waycross and Tifton. We moved around a little during my kindergarten through second grade years but settled into the Atkinson County School System from third grade on. I started my martial arts training in May of 1986 with my two younger sisters. I was 13 and our first martial arts school was a rental property that my dad owned next door to us. To go to class, we just walked across the yard, climbed a fence and we were there. If it were only that easy nowadays? My parents, like most, encouraged/supported/modeled/enforced/rewarded our learning in school. They wanted us to succeed in school. Maybe they thought learning stuff in school helped you do better in life? . . . You think?

Oh well, on to high school. I was lucky. I was able to do and be successful at many things. I played sports (football & track), competed in Literary events (spelling and keyboarding - 2nd in state even!), and was class president for 3 straight years. But I take the greatest pride in the fact that I graduated Valedictorian of my 1991 senior class (even had lunch with Governor Zell Miller). What I don't tell most people, though, is that there were only 76 other people to beat out. Is that good or bad? Anyway, by graduation I was a first degree black belt. I had even taken a break from training during my junior and senior year of high school.

I moved to Statesboro to attend GSU that Fall. During my first 2 years at Southern I didn't really know what I wanted to do "when I grow up". Of course I did a lot of core classes, but I also took psychology classes (because I liked them) and biology and chemistry classes (at one time I wanted to be a physical therapist) and business classes (I think I knew then that I was going to be my own boss - at least until I got married - but that's another blog). During this "unsure" time in college I continued my martial arts training, testing for higher rank and entering the instructor program. And then - somewhere right in the middle of my college career - it clicked . . . I wanted to teach Taekwondo "when I grow up". So, I chose a major - Psychology (mainly because my dad said I should "pick something that you could use no matter what you choose to do . . . you'll pretty much always have to deal with people) - and so it began.

I started teaching Taekwondo in January of 1993 at the Recreation Department here in Statesboro and for the next two years I went to college in the mornings and taught Taekwondo in the evenings. Classes grew and I moved into my first commercial building soon afterward. From there we expanded several times in the original shopping center and moved our location twice, landing where we are now on Northside Drive. During this same time my martial arts training continued. I was training, competing and learning. Also, during this time, college continued. I graduated from GSU in December of 1995 with a degree in Psychology (and a couple classes short of a minor in business). I did manage to graduate from GSU with honors, too - not first in my class - but with honors (there were a little more than 76 other people in this class to beat out.?!) But seriously, I valued education then, and I value it now. Maybe that's why I'm so excited about what I get to do - teach people martial arts-leadership-life skills.

I am truly blessed. Today, I'm a 5th degree black belt business owner/instructor. One of my goals is to test for my 6th degree next Summer. At 35, I'm truly in the best shape of my life. Jamie, my beautiful wife, and I were married in 2000. We have an incredible 4 year old son (who turns 5 on August 6th). We're blessed with a loving family, 3 unique dogs, an unbelievable house and pond on 5 quiet acres of land in Portal, Georgia, a super-small "just north of South Georgia" town about the size of Willacoochee, Georgia. Imagine that.