The Wright Kicks is a karate teaching studio in Hurricane. It opened its doors early in 2015. Weekly classes are offered working with kids, adolescents, and adults. They provide testing for belts about every three months. Melani Wright, owner and black belt, heads up the team of four instructors.
The experience
Classes range in size from one to ten students. Classes start by bowing in, doing some warm-up exercises, and stretching. This is followed by the fun stuff. Classes alternate practicing technique, forms, and drills with games that help coordination and reflexes. The classes last 45 minutes. They end with bowing out and giving each student a knuckle bump.
The method
Melani Wright, the owner of The Wright Kicks, describes the origin of the method used at The Wright Kicks.
“Karate is a martial art that makes use of hands, feet, etc. to fight and defend yourself as opposed to using manufactured weapons, ” she said. “Weapons are used in karate, but are not the only tool we have. There are many styles of karate from many parts of the world. The one I teach, Tang Soo Do, comes from the traditional Korean style. Modern Korea is more known for Tae Kwan Do which was developed for competitions rather than real life self defense. I am also incorporating elements of other martial arts as I find things that are helpful for teaching my students how to defend themselves in whatever situation they may be in.”
The side effects of studying karate are an increase in physical fitness, better balance, coordination, reaction time, increased confidence, and a fun group of people to spend time with. Add that to the ability to defend yourself and you’ve got a win win situation.”
Melani’s story
Melani’s karate journey began about 12 years ago when her daughter started taking Tang Soo Do classes. She would go and watch the class and soon she wanted to learn as well. Her first teacher was Alania Lindsey. She taught Melani for a few years but moved away. She then took classes from Andy and Melissa Malcolm for about a year, but it got too expensive to drive to St. George every week. So she looked into a school in Hurricane, Bobby Lawrence Karate, and started attending there.
“This was a new style of karate so I had to begin again at white belt,” said Melani. “I attended there for several years and reached green belt level but then the owner and teacher had to move. Sound familiar? I had been without a teacher for quite some time when Alania moved back to Hurricane and we met and started talking about karate. I told her that the local community center was looking for teachers and soon she was teaching there and I was her assistant. I was finally able to get my black belt just before Alania moved again and I started teaching in her place at the community center in Hurricane. That was the year 2012. I taught there until January of 2015 when I opened my own school, The Wright Kicks, at it’s current location.”
Client viewpoints of The Wright Kicks
Tamera Shamo, who has four children enrolled, explains her view of the karate sessions.
“I had my oldest daughter in sports like soccer, soft ball, and Lacrosse,” said Shamo. “While lacrosse wasn’t as bad as soccer and soft ball I learned to hate sports. Some of the players, their parents, and the coaches are the worst sports and it makes it super negative for everyone. I can’t stand the comments people from my ward (that I thought I knew) make during games. I just started not sitting by anyone during games, and then just not going at all. I feel bad not supporting my child though so for my younger kids I have looked for activities that they can do that are just about them improving on themselves and not competing or beating another person or team.” Shamo added, “Self defense is a good idea for anyone. I am actually hoping that this need never pans out though.”
“We became interested in Karate as a way to help our child learn self defense,” said Donna Mangelson. “It has benefited Lucas in so many ways. Originally we signed up so he could learn self defense, however, it has turned into something more. He has learned discipline and respect. It is amazing to watch his progress.”
Just the details
The Wright Kicks welcome students from 5 to 105 years old. Business hours are Mondays and Tuesdays from 4 to 5 p.m. and Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m. They can be reached by phone at (435) 817-3428, or by email at karatejustforkicks@gmail.com. The school is behind JB’s Restaurant and Subway in the shopping center located on State Street in Hurricane. The address is 525 West State Street.
