Going independant

[DavidCC]

The day I thought would never come is finally here. After many years of association, and many weeks of soul searching, my teacher, Shawn Steiner, has decided to leave the organization headed by Christopher Geary and run his school under his own name. I therefore present “The Steiner Academy of Martial Arts”.

Sensei Steiner was one of Christopher Geary’s first black belts, and has stuck with him through many years, some good and some quite bad. We mean no ill will towards Prf. Geary and his students, but it just became impossible to ignore the facts – Sensei Steiner was succeeding in spite of his association with Prof. Geary, not because of it. A handful of incidents, causing friction with students and parents at our location and his own, clearly demonstrated the Christopher Geary did not have the best interests of the students at heart, which is Shawn Steiner’s core value. And so it became impossible for us to continue the association with him.

I should have an official statement from Sensei Steiner later today, but I wanted to announce this great news here at kenpotalk as early as I could. We are very excited, it feels like a sunny morning after a night of storms.

Sensei Shawn Steiner can be contacted at shawnsteiner@gmail.com

-David

[stickarts]

Congrats and best wishes!
I have been independent for 15 years and it can work just fine!
Thanks for the info!!

[Flying Crane]

That's a big decision. All the best to you folks.

[Kacey]

Best of luck to you. In 1994 my sahbum and a group of other seniors left their previous association, and gave us all the offer to come with them or stay. I left with them because I felt it was in the best interests of my students - and so far, I've had no reason to believe I made a bad decision. Hopefully, things will go as well for you.

[terryl965]

David being independent is a big step it worked for me agout twelve years ago and I am sure it will work out for you gentlemen as well. Best of Luck to you.

[arnisador]

Good luck! This seems to happen to many of us sooner or later.

[bluemtn]

Best wishes to you all, and I'm sure it'll work out well.

[bowser666]

Being independant certainly has its advantages. No more BS politics :) YEEHAA!!

[JTKenpo]

The day I thought would never come is finally here. After many years of association, and many weeks of soul searching, my teacher, Shawn Steiner, has decided to leave the organization headed by Christopher Geary and run his school under his own name. I therefore present “The Steiner Academy of Martial Arts”.

Sensei Steiner was one of Christopher Geary’s first black belts, and has stuck with him through many years, some good and some quite bad. We mean no ill will towards Prf. Geary and his students, but it just became impossible to ignore the facts – Sensei Steiner was succeeding in spite of his association with Prof. Geary, not because of it. A handful of incidents, causing friction with students and parents at our location and his own, clearly demonstrated the Christopher Geary did not have the best interests of the students at heart, which is Shawn Steiner’s core value. And so it became impossible for us to continue the association with him.

I should have an official statement from Sensei Steiner later today, but I wanted to announce this great news here at kenpotalk as early as I could. We are very excited, it feels like a sunny morning after a night of storms.

Sensei Shawn Steiner can be contacted at shawnsteiner@gmail.com

-David

Good luck. I can't say that I am very surprised, although you may do things slightly to very different at times the values that you seem to represent just didn't match what seems to be coming from the other side of that particular organization.

[kidswarrior]

Best of luck! I've had some ugly experiences with past organizations/schools myself, and understand the dilemma it must have put you in. Hope things smooth out now.

[DavidCC]

Thanks! and you have described one of the main reason Shawn did this.

[marlon]

best of luck to you all. It is a big decision that, when domne for the right reasons(as seems to be the case here) often requires courage. Who will your instructor be training with and learning from now? Just out of curiosity.

Respectfully,
Marlon

[Ninjamom]

Congratulations, and best wishes!!

[14 Kempo]

All I can say is congratulations. I'm sure it will prove to be a positive move.

[Danjo]

Good call. Best of luck.

[Matt]

The day I thought would never come is finally here. After many years of association, and many weeks of soul searching, my teacher, Shawn Steiner, has decided to leave the organization headed by Christopher Geary and run his school under his own name. I therefore present “The Steiner Academy of Martial Arts”.

Sensei Steiner was one of Christopher Geary’s first black belts, and has stuck with him through many years, some good and some quite bad. We mean no ill will towards Prf. Geary and his students, but it just became impossible to ignore the facts – Sensei Steiner was succeeding in spite of his association with Prof. Geary, not because of it. A handful of incidents, causing friction with students and parents at our location and his own, clearly demonstrated the Christopher Geary did not have the best interests of the students at heart, which is Shawn Steiner’s core value. And so it became impossible for us to continue the association with him.

I should have an official statement from Sensei Steiner later today, but I wanted to announce this great news here at kenpotalk as early as I could. We are very excited, it feels like a sunny morning after a night of storms.

Sensei Shawn Steiner can be contacted at shawnsteiner@gmail.com

-David

I think he has made a good decision. I hope it works out well.

[Pacificshore]

best of luck to you all. It is a big decision that, when domne for the right reasons(as seems to be the case here) often requires courage. Who will your instructor be training with and learning from now? Just out of curiosity.

Respectfully,
Marlon
That is probably one of the biggest advantage with breaking free....not only for political reasons, but to be able to train, learn, and teach from/with others that might have not been the case over the years. Good luck for years to come! :)

[tshadowchaser]

My best to you and him on this move. It is never easy to leave your parent organization and go it on you’re your. The hart makes it a two sided sword as one side has the respect and dedication the former school while the other side needs /wants that separation for many reasons.

[Danjo]

That is probably one of the biggest advantage with breaking free....not only for political reasons, but to be able to train, learn, and teach from/with others that might have not been the case over the years. Good luck for years to come! :)

Plus, from what I've seen, I don't think that most could learn very much from Geary. He is WAY better off on his own.

[DavidCC]

best of luck to you all. It is a big decision that, when domne for the right reasons(as seems to be the case here) often requires courage. Who will your instructor be training with and learning from now? Just out of curiosity.

Respectfully,
Marlon

Unfortuantely, the best answer is: the same people he's been learing from for years. Which says a lot about why we left...

I don't know if we will be looking to get deeper into Shaolin Kempo. I can't speak for Shawn but I do know we have developed good relationships with people in both Okinawan and American Kenpo, and some other styles... that is a topic we want to approach very carefully as you can imagine.

[almost a ghost]

I was wondering when people would start leaving him.

[DavidCC]

Actually, we are not the first. The guy teaching Nick Cerio Kenpo here in Omaha got his shodan from Geary, ran a school for him, then left and was adopted by the NCK organization. That was about 99 or so, before I was around.