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Amy Spring was born in Conneaut Ohio in 1988. She was
home schooled until her parents put her in high school. She graduated
from high school in 2006, and then continued her education by going to
Malone College to become a teacher and major in early education and
special ed.
Amy began studying the martial arts because her parents were
constantly trying to keep her and her two siblings active in different
activities since she was home schooled. They wanted to increase their
children’s community activities. One of these activities was martial
arts.
Amy started studying martial arts in December of 2000. She
joined with her sister, Joy Spring, about six months after her brother
and father joined. A couple of years later her mother also joined
making it a family affair. At first, Amy started off moving through
the ranks very rapidly. She had received five belts within her first
year, two of which were during a week of concentrated study at summer
karate camp.
She always looked forward to camp because it was a
time of fellowship and intense workouts. Amy started her martial arts
career very strong and it just kept on growing. Through her excitement
of martial arts training, she still never forgot to help others and to
work with her sister. This shows her true character.
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Two years after Amy joined; the martial arts underwent a lot of
changes. Her father took over the North Shore dojo in Conneaut, Ohio and
a lot of the older students went to college or moved away. However, even
though a lot of the old students had moved away, the school began to
grow slowly and steadily. A lot of changes were made for the better.
Because Amy was a higher rank, she stepped up and started helping her
dad build up the school as an assistant instructor of the dojo. This put
Amy’s own progress and belt advancement on the back burner. During the
next three years Amy devoted herself to whatever the other students
needed. Her brother joined the military and her sister got married so
they were not longer active in the school. This made it a very hard time
for Amy. But she stuck with it and looked forward to the bigger picture
of doing what was best for the overall school and what would benefit the
group in the long run.
In the Spring of 2005 Amy finally decided she was ready to continue
progressing through
the belts to try and achieve her black belt. Around Christmas of 2006
she wanted to resume competing – now as a brown belt. She had
participated in a couple tournaments during the previous years, all of
which turned out in her favor. During a tournament in November of 2005
she won three firsts and one second place which made her grand
champion of the tournament. During Amy’s prime time of competing she
participated in about five tournaments in a three month time period,
which included the taking home of another grand champion; this time
winning all first places, and received a sword as her grand champion
prize. The other tournaments she participated in did not hand out a
grand champion award. However, she still received several great
awards. After Amy had her fix of competing she decided it was time to
take the last step and focus her energy towards working on her Shodan,
first degree black belt.
Amy waited patiently for her brother to get back from Iraq because she
wanted to wait and test with her brother. Finally, after overcoming
her last barrier of breaking a brick with a palm strike, the two
Spring children were awarded their shodans together on July 31, 2007.
As an additional treat, their father received his nidan, 2nd degree
black belt on the same night. Through the years Amy (now Sensei
Spring) has learned so much. She has learned more than just techniques
in a marital arts system. She has learned to be a leader and that the
most important thing is to help others. For Amy, receiving her Shodan
was just the beginning. She looks forward to helping her dad run the
school, and her mom become a Shodan as well.
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