You may pay online, drop payment by the Homeschool Resource Center or mail to Tampa Bay HEAT, 1011 Knowles Rd. Brandon, 33511. MORE: We are excited to host Paladin Karate to the Homeschool Resource Center! They are a Christian program. Paladin is often called 'karate' because any more most people know what that means: fighting with the hands and feet. This is an all-inclusive, all age-group, all ranks together setting with boys and girls, men and women, white thru black belt mixture involving training in forms or kata, one-step sparring, free sparring, bag-work, board-breaking, rolls and falls, throws and take-downs, escapes and evasions, weapons disarms, improvised weapons, and role-playing self-defense scenarios for spontaneous training. Instructor Bio: Jon Touchton was a Tampa street cop for over 25 years and has taught martial arts (karate) and self-defense for 28. He is a 4th-degree black belt in American Karate (explained above) mixed with learning in Krav Maga and jujitsu and the experience that has come from a number of real fights while working as a police officer. I went to high school and college in Pensacola where I tutored math from lower grades to college-level while getting a B.S. in physics and a B.A. and Masters in history. From there I went into the CIA where I worked undercover for some years across the globe. It was in Washington, D.C. that I first began to study the martial arts. Following that service, I came to Tampa to teach karate professionally which I did for some years before joining TPD. I worked for 9 years on the midnight shift in high crime areas, from which I carry the physical scars of my real-life encounters with killers and thugs, including a bullet in my shoulder and the scars of having had staples in my head twice. I balanced my career in such ways that enhanced and benefited my family. I have two grown stepsons and a young adult son of my own, also a black-belt. My son is a wedding videographer and film-maker, and my wife is a retired Christian school pre-school teacher. Paladin Karate is a passion and I believe can be a great outreach and good thing for those seeking eclectic karate training, straight-up and effective and often simple self-defense and personal-protection skills, a good after-school program for kids, a platform for learning sensible self-defense and personal-protection for those in the corporate world, or simply a good family-oriented activity to do together while also offering tough and realistic self-defense training for all ages. --Jon Touchton | 