John Haral, Chief Instructor
--  I started
training as early as 1973 in Queens, New York City. The emergence
of martial arts was big back then and clubs were surfacing everywhere.
To the novice they all seemed good and originality was never thought of.
I joined a Shotokan dojo and trained there until June 1977. In August that
same year I joined the Air Force and put karate on hold to focus on my
military training. I still worked out when I got the chance to do so, but
not in a formal karate environment. I was assigned at Randolph Air
Force Base, San Antonio Texas and as work permitted, I worked out at the
gym practicing kata and training with others who were practicing other
styles of karate.
January of 1980, while at the base gym, a karate class was being
taught in one of the exercise rooms and they were practicing something
I was familiar with, Shotokan. After the class finished, I talked with
the instructor, Mr. Velez. Mr. Velez was teaching the style
of JKA-Shotokan and mentioned that he is a direct student from the lineage
of Mr. Nishiyama and Mr. Nakayama. I joined the club, Randolph JKA
Karate Club, and continued my trainining in a formal environment. Here
is where I was first introduced to Mr. Nishiyama’s organizations, AAKF
and ITKF.
In the summer of 1982, I moved to San Marcos, Texas, where I attended
Southwest Texas State University. While there, I taught karate at the recreation
center under the guidance of Mr. Velez and still traveled to San Antonio
to work out at the main dojo. I continued my training with Mr. Velez
and in March of 1985, I got assigned to RAF Upper Heyford, United Kingdom.
While there I joined and trained with Mr. Enoeda’s organization, the Karate
Union of Great Britain, (KUGB) until
my departure and return back to San Antonio in January 1989 where I joined
up again with Mr. Velez and Mr. Nishiyama's organizations. I retired
from the Air force in 1999, made San Antonio my second home and started
teaching Aviation Technology at a local College as an Assistant Professor.
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