Welcome to my Blog...

Hello everyone. My name is Kristen Kleinsasser. I started this blog to create a place on the Web where enthusiasts could go to get information on subjects pertaining to martial arts and self-defense.

I've been involved with martial arts since college, but I got serious about it in 1999. I had taken Tae Kwon Do in college, and decided to start again, studying under Master Henkel at Kim's Tae Kwon Do in Renton, Washington. A few years later I happened to notice a karate class being held at the Northshore YMCA in Bothell, Washington, my hometown, and I started to attend these classes also. I found that training in two different styles was interesting and challenging. The different styles also have different methods of instruction, and I found that some of the habits, as opposed to the techniques, I learned in one style carried over to the other.

Today, I'm a Second Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and a First Degree Black Belt in Seido Karate. I teach Tae Kwon Do here in Bothell through the Bothell Parks Department, and in Bellevue through the City of Bellevue Parks and Recreation Department. I also teach Seido Karate at the Northshore YMCA and at the Shoreline (Seattle) YMCA, and I also teach women's self-defense classes in the area.

If you'd like to get in touch with me, you can email me at kiscoa - at - verizon -dot- net (replace ' - at ' with '@' and '-dot-' with '.').