April 2026 Newsletter
NewsletterApril 2026•By Master Mark O’Connor
Respect • Commit • Persevere • Succeed!
The Traveling Dojo News
The Place Where Our Students & The Community Meet!
April, 2026 – Issue #3
Hi Everyone! Welcome to our latest issue of The Traveling Dojo News!
We have committed to donating a percentage of our income each year to a charitable organization that aligns with our core values. Each issue of our newsletter will start with this call to action to help us in supporting our selected organization(s). This year we are supporting The Alliance Against Seclusion & Restraint (AASR). Please consider joining us in supporting AASR!
In This Issue
- St. Patrick’s Day Success!
- Check Out Master Mark’s AASR Article
- Seasonal Programs
- Coming Soon! Redesigned Website With Student Portal
- Self-Defense For Seniors
- Martial Arts At The Youth Center
- June Belt Promotions
- Our Locations
St. Patrick’s Day Success!
🍀 THANK YOU! 🍀
We would like to thank our students Eden Moore and Daniel Clay and their families for supporting us at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade! Everyone persevered through the brutally cold and windy weather. Strength of mind and body in full swing!
Team Traveling Dojo (Katrina, Brian, Jack, Daniel, Master Mark, Arabel, Lorraine & Eden), and taking the picture was Janice!
The team in action handing out info cards and candy!
Daniel stirring up the crowd!
Master Mark’s good friends Mayor Jud Ashman and his daughter, Jenna, the event coordinator for this year’s parade!
Check Out Master Mark’s AASR Article
Master Mark was invited by Guy Stephens, the founder of The Alliance Against Seclusion & Restraint to write an article about why The Traveling Dojo decided to support AASR this year. In this vulnerable expression, Master Mark recounts his experiences with seclusion and bullying as a child, the reason he started his martial arts journey and why The Traveling Dojo is making a monthly contribution to AASR.
In this article Master Mark also discusses and shares his thoughts on how martial arts can help the neurodivergent community.
Seasonal Programs
Our inaugural youth and adult fitness winter program with the City of Gaithersburg successfully completed in March!
Spring Has Sprung!
We’re looking forward to starting our next session of classes with the city of Gaithersburg on April 21st. Classes are held every Tuesday at the Casey Community Center in Gaithersburg. Click a registration link below for details and register now for the Spring Session!
- Warriors Martial Arts – ages 11 to 15 (5:00 PM to 5:45 PM)
- Practical Self-Defense For Women – ages 16+ (6:00 PM to 6:45 PM)
- Ninjas Martial Arts – ages 6 to 10 (7:00 PM to 7:45 PM)
Next Up… Summer!
Believe it or not we are planning now for the summer session which starts June 29th. We’re adding one more day for our summer session and will be offering classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Casey Community Center in Gaithersburg.
Summer registration will be available in May with the following schedule
Note we have changed “Ninjas” to “Junior Warriors” and have changed the age groups for our martial arts sessions.
- Warriors (ages 13 to adult) – 5pm on Tuesdays or 4:15pm Wednesdays
- Practical Self-Defense (women 16+) – 6pm Tuesdays & Wednesdays
- Junior Warriors (ages 6-12) – 7pm on Tuesdays or 5:15pm Wednesdays
Already have a belt rank in Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do or Uchudo? No problem, we will accept your current rank and train you for your black belt!
Coming Soon! Redesigned Website With Student Portal
We are redesigning our website to make our content more rich, much easier to navigate, but more importantly we are adding a student portal. Our student portal will contain important resources for students, including instructional videos and our full curriculum so students will have a full understanding of the requirements for each belt.
We hope to re-launch sometime in April!
Self-Defense For Seniors
The Benjamin Gaither Senior Center in Gaithersburg, has invited us to deliver our 6-week Introduction to Self-Defense For Seniors program. In this program we cover our unique personal safety framework, statistics for assaults against seniors, legal concepts and learning lots of effective self-defense techniques that seniors can easily apply.
The program starts on May 5th. For more information about the Benjamin Gaither Senior Center or this program, contact the senior center using the button below.
Contact The Senior Center For Details
Martial Arts At The Youth Center
We are returning to the Gaithersburg Youth Center at Robertson Park on May 6th to run our Introduction To Martial Arts program for middle school students. Participants must be members of the Gaithersburg youth center. If you are interested, reach out to Master Mark or click the button below to contact the youth center to get more details.
Contact The Youth Center For Details
June Belt Promotions
Students
Save the date: June 13th, 2pm
Details to come!
Our Locations
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We hold weekly classes at 10017 Locust Drive in Damascus and weekly classes at the Casey Community Center in Gaithersburg. We also provide private & small group lessons in-home, at Master Mark’s home dojo or your place of work. Have a small group (10 or less) and want us to Come To You? Contact us and we will work with you to make it happen!
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