David A. Schmitt, was born and raised in Minnesota.  David originally joined Shotokan Karate in 1978 while studying at B.Y.U. under senior members Tom and Fred House.  After twenty years of absence he returned to practice in 2006 joining the Minneapolis Shotokan Karate Dojo.  In 2009 David earned his Shodan (1st degree) rank and requested permission from Tsutomu Ohshima to lead the Minneapolis Shotokan Karate Dojo.

 

Travis Kolendowicz was born and raised in Minnesota.  Having been introduced to Shotokan Karate through ASKF in the 1980’s, and trying other less traditional dojos, I looked for years since the mid 1990’s until 2012 when I again found traditional Shotokan Karate, this time through SKA.  I decided this is the place for me after having experienced other martial arts styles and learning Shotokan through ASKF as well as SKA.  In SKA I was instructed by Dave Schmitt of the Minneapolis dojo and Peter Mikhail of the Twin Cities dojo.  Several years ago the Minneapolis and Twin Cities dojo were one combined dojo.  I earned Shodan rank (1st degree black belt) in June 2018.