Our Mission
The purpose of the Ronin Shotokan Karate-Do Association (RSKA) is to further the rich martial arts legacy of our instructor and founder, the late Thomas LaPuppet. In addition, our instructional classes are designed to bring affordable training in the fundamentals of Shotokan Karate to youth and adults. It is also our aim to provide training on a grass-roots level to qualify our karate students to compete on local, state and national levels in events that are sanctioned by the USA National Karate-Do Federation (USANKF) which is the current National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport of karate in the United States sanctioned by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
Our Team Profile
The competition team, which currently consists of eleven students of karate, train in addition to their regular karate classes in order to achieve the level of proficiency that is needed to compete at the levels in their division, locally, statewide and nationally. On August 3, 2016 karate was approved for inclusion to the 2020 Olympic Program opening the door for International competition as Sensei LaPuppet hoped for.
Although our classes are closely modeled after the training techniques developed by Sensei LaPuppet, competition training is a put forth by techniques developed by Sensei Bernard Colonel for the express purpose of integrating techniques learned in regular class and elements used in active sparring in the competition arena.
Ronin Shotokan looks to develop limitless, healthy, confident and successful competitors in both karate and everyday life. We motivate and hope to create a leadership mentality that will extend into the community at large.
Sponsorship
Thank you, for considering sponsorship of the Ronin Shotokan Karate Competition Team. There are several benefits to sponsor our team’s activities. The number of young people who have involved themselves in karate has increased and the general excitement for the sport received a boost in popularity when on August 3, 2016 karate was approved for inclusion to the 2020 Olympics in Japan by the International Olympic Committee.
We hope you see this organization as an opportunity to assist the community and the children and promote your services and products through a sponsorship. All sponsors will receive a receipt for tax-reporting and deduction purposes at the time of donation. We will offer a variety of sponsorship methods to suit your budget. No donation is too small. Every dollar raised goes into the club to help enrich the experience of the athletes.
By sponsoring you can position your organization with an attractive demographic. All our athletes are between the ages of 6 – 25 and spend an average of $300 to $500 per year on sporting goods, athletic purchases and tournament fees. Many of our youth’s family members live in the neighborhood and regularly attend our meets. In addition, members often invite friends and other acquaintances from school, out of town guests and other venues. This provides a useful avenue for all categories of advertising opportunities.
There are several ways to support the team:
- Team Sponsorships
- LaPuppet Event Participation for Sponsors
- Donate Products/services to the team for practice and tournament day use
- Donate Products/services to the team for raffles during tournaments
- Provide volunteer support at tournaments.
Merchandise and Monetary Donations
We also accept products and monetary donations to help assist with the day to day operations of our organization*. Our team maintains a strong presence at tournaments throughout the City and State. This provides a win-win, the team receives funds and your product receives exposure to 100 – 250 competing elite athletes as well as 200 – 500 spectators per tournament attended. Our team attends at least three tournaments a season in addition to our own nationally qualifying tournament, the LaPuppet Classic.
- Travel & Lodging for regional and National Tournaments
- Regional and Championship Entry Fees
- Practice Equipment
- Concession Stand Fare
- Game Day Therapy (cold packs, heat packs, bandages, etc.)
- Any other items, including product exclusivity or any needs you may have, can be discussed with our director, Cedric Barksdale, roninkaratedo@gmail.com
Sponsorship Levels
Bronze level $500 – $999
Logo recognition and link on Ronin Shotokan website and Facebook Page
Company announced and recognized at The Annual Thomas LaPuppet Memorial Classic (At the beginning of the Tournament)
Silver level $1000 – $1499
If you would like to contribute in another way not listed here please contact us.