Welcome to the Academy of Okinawan Karate
Three Convenient Locations - One Great School!
8875 N. Knoxville
Northpoint Shopping Center
Peoria, Illinois
(309) 692-2499
949 Jackson Plaza 225 N. Main Street
(Between KFC and Krogers) (One Block North of Courthouse)
Morton, Illinois Eureka, Illinois
(309) 263-2112 (309) 692-2499
When people think about Peoria Karate, they think of the Academy of Okinawan Karate. The Director of the Academy of Okinawan Karate, Joseph Walker, took control of the Academy of Okinawan Karate in 1979. Since that time, we have grown to become the largest Peoria karate school. We have also become one of the most honored Karate schools in Peoria, Central Illinois, and the Midwest. The A.O.K. has won numerous awards, including being chosen one of the top 200 Martial Arts Schools in North America (at the time, there were 18,000 in the U.S. alone). In 1998, the A.O.K. opened its first satellite school in Eureka, Illinois; and in December of 2005, the A.O.K. opened its newest school in Morton, Illinois.
Without a philosophy of personal development, Martial Arts would be little more than street fighting. At the A.O.K., we teach and emphasize a series of basic life skills that challenge our students throughout not only their Martial Arts training, but also their every day lives. Our Tiny Tigers (Age 6 and under class) and Youth class (6-15) students are taught to be respectful and polite toward parents, siblings, teachers, and elders. They are also taught the importance of doing their best in school. In addition, stranger awareness is taught in all our Children�s Karate classes.
Our Teenage and Adult students are taught to set challenging, yet achievable goals and that hard work does have its rewards. Through our Martial Arts Program, our students become more confident and develop an attitude of self-reliance. This increase in confidence enables them to better cope with issues of peer pressure and helps them make correct choices.
Our primary philosophies are embodied in our student creed:
I will conduct myself in a manner which will reflect credit upon my self and society.
I shall be loyal to my school and to the art it teaches.
I shall be honest and exercise integrity, with the purpose of developing cooperation and trust with my fellow
students and my teachers.
I shall exercise restraint in the use of my Karate knowledge, employing it only in fair competition and in the
defense of my life, my family, and my country.
We believe in the above creed and it embodies the philosophy for which we stand. However, this is not a boot camp, the Japanese Army, a Zen Buddhist Temple, nor a Shinto Shrine. We strive for discipline without humiliation and character development without oriental religious trappings. Personal growth is the goal to which we all aspire and continue to pursue.
"The Ultimate goal of the Art of Karate is not victory or defeat, but rather in the perfection of the character of its participants."
- Gichin Funikoshi, Father of Modern Karate
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