Contact Us National Karate - Academy of Martial Arts

Barry Maxwell

Fort Myers > Barry Maxwell

Barry Maxwell

Fort Myers, Florida

1998

Masters Jeff Sidner & Dan McDonough

4th degree Black Belt

School Owner

2015

Mr. Maxwell started competing in NCKA & NASKA tournaments in 1998 at the age of 34, where he would participate with his 6 year old daughter. In 1999 he won 1st Place in Sparring at his first Diamond Nationals competition for his division.

20 years later, Diamond Nationals capped off the 2019 NASKA year with Mr. Maxwell being awarded NASKA World Top 10 award (4th in Men’s 50+ Traditional Weapons and 5th in Men’s 30+ Musical Weapons) as well as NCKA Outstanding Competitor Award (2nd Place – Men’s 40+ Traditional Empty Hand & Weapons).

The years in-between have been full of tournament judging and competitions: sparring; forms – individual, small & large teams; traditional open-hand, weapons, musical, and creative.

Mr. Maxwell says…

“I first fell in love with martial arts in the early 1970’s while living in Corning, New York. In 7th grade I had an opportunity to take classes offered at school, but it wasn’t until 1998 that I was able to begin formal training in western Wisconsin in a school system that traced its roots back to Grand Master John Worley. Four years later, at the rank of Brown Belt, I had to pause my journey, but not my love for the martial arts.

After moving to Minnesota, I found my true karate home – National Karate – where I restarted my journey at Gold Belt and worked my way up through the ranks, earning my 1st Degree Black Belt in 2015.

In 2019, Master Jeff Sidner gave me the honor of being the school director and head instructor of Hopkins National Karate. What an interesting couple of years! Great school! Great people! COVID-19! Zoom! Outdoor classes! Masks! It was a year of demonstrating what ‘flexibility’ was all about: continue building great relationships with our students even when many have never even seen the school! We were challenged and we were blessed! We even had the privilege of enrolling National Karate’s first international student (he started taking classes while living in Germany before moving to Hopkins) – you should have seen the smile on his face when his National Karate uniform arrived in Germany a few days later! I absolutely love watching our students grow, become more confident, and learn to face the challenges life gives them. We all have them. The question is, how are we going to handle them?

And now, I take my journey to Florida. I am so thankful to Master Sidner for trusting in me to run his school and mentoring me along the way. I am also so very grateful to Grand Masters Worley and Carnahan for allowing me to carry on the National Karate tradition in Florida!

MIGHT FOR RIGHT!”

*2 week trial is a one-time offer for new students only. Uniform purchase required.