Wow. I can’t believe the new school is right here in the heart of the city. When I started training at PMA over 16 years ago, it was tucked away in a small corner off Emory Valley hunkered down in the shadow of a Food Lion that doesn’t exist anymore.
That’s me at 17 years old at the old PMA Emory Valley location in 2007!
I was a teenager then, and it never occurred to me that my martial arts school might move — as if businesses stayed in one place forever; never growing or expanding or updating. I knew already that life, by definition, was impermanent, but my world view wasn’t all that big yet, and so in my mind, my dojo would be in its small corner forever. But look at it now.
The official Ribbon Cutting at our new location on Oak Ridge Turnpike last Friday!
PMA has been a part of Oak Ridge for nearly 20 years, and it’s so fitting that a place that has brought so much joy and character, so much enthusiasm and heart to this community will now be at its center. PMA works not only to improve peoples’ lives by providing quality martial arts training in a fun, safe, and welcoming way, but to be an asset to the community by providing free training opportunities to the public - like Bully Buster programs and Women’s Self-Defense seminars, by participating in school programs and community events like National Night Out, and by helping our youngest community members develop character and confidence so that they too will be an asset to this city we love so much.
Some of PMA’s Juniors and their instructors!
PMA may have started out in a small corner of our town, but it’s influence has reached into every corner of Oak Ridge. I know it has impacted my life in profound ways and, though I’ve grown quite a bit since I started as that teenager all those years ago, I’m still here in this small but wonderful city, just like PMA. And I’m so grateful that PMA has made my small corner of this world big by pushing me to be the best version of myself, by instilling me with confidence, by teaching me drive and perseverance, and by providing friendships that are encouraging, supportive, and wonderful. It has given me relationships and skills that have been life changing. PMA has made my world bigger and better and brighter. PMA makes this already great city feel bigger and better and brighter by sharing its passion and dedication and knowledge with us, and I’m so glad that it gets to keep doing that, here and now, in this bigger and better and brighter location right in the beating heart of Oak Ridge.