When 11-year-old Kaleb Bolte received his black belt last year, his family of three became a family of black belts.
Kaleb said he remembers when he first saw the building sign for Prime Martial Arts at age 4.
“We drove by on the highway and saw the sign up front and thought it would be good. So we came around, and the guy that originally owned it, thought it’d be fun,” Kaleb said.
Since then, his family has spent about four nights a week on the mat for the past seven years. The Boltes became so involved with the martial arts school that Tonya Bolte, his mother, took over ownership of the school this past December.
She credits her son for getting the family involved in taekwondo.
“It’s going well. I mean, I was the head instructor prior to that. I’ve been training here for over six years. My son, actually, is the reason why we became a part of this,” Tonya Bolte said.
Kaleb was a part of the “founding 50,” which was the school’s first 50 students when it opened seven years ago. Until 2017, the school was named Prime Martial Arts and rebranded to the name Forge and has been growing since.
The school now has 75 students that range in age from 3 to adults.
Tonya Bolte said she wants the community to know taekwondo is not just a sport for kids.
“Age is just a number,” she said. “I mean, I’ve got friends in the taekwondo world that are 60s and 70s that train and compete.”
Karl Bolte, Tonya’s husband, began practicing taekwondo at 35. He said that after seeing his son enjoy the sport and his wife join six months later, it did not take much convincing to join his family on the mat.
“I don’t know, kind of got hooked. It’s easy to get hooked on it,” Karl Bolte said. “Going to tournaments, having fun, trying to compete for world titles.”
Last summer, the Boltes attended the world championship in Denver held by the National Martial Arts Alliance, the organization affiliated with Forge.
The Boltes said they enjoy going to tournaments. For Kaleb, this means he gets to compete against other black belts his age and make friends.
“Like everyone in my ring I already knew because I’d already competed against most of them,” he said.
In the future, he wants to earn his second-degree black belt, but also wants to try other sports.
Although Kaleb does not spend as much time on the mat as prior years, his parents said they will continue to instruct for their love of the sport and the impact it has made on their lives.
“I don’t like talking that much. But you know, I have no problem going out on the mat and taking a group of kids and teaching them, you know, proper foot technique, and I really like sparring,” Karl Bolte said.
Tonya Bolte said teaching students and helping them develop in martial arts is one of the reasons she became a head instructor.
“Just watching them grow and develop their self-character and their life skills and everything is the most rewarding part,” she said. “I mean, you can completely take the taekwondo out of it and just watching them grow individually.”
Forge Martial Arts will hold its first tournament May 21 in Eudora, welcoming martial arts centers from Emporia and Lawrence as well as from Missouri.
The Boltes said they are excited to host the tournament and have begun preparing.
“It’s going to be good, get to bring people in and show them more of our students that don’t travel for tournaments. We’ll be able to get them in there and let them see what tournaments are all about,” Karl Bolte said.
Tonya Bolte has begun making arrangements for mats, medals and a schedule of the tournament.
The Boltes began this martial arts adventure over seven years ago as a family of three, but their family has now grown to include all of their students.
“We are very family oriented. I love that I am a part of their lives,” Tonya Bolte said.
Reach reporter Hannah Nystrom at [email protected]
