Yoshukai Spirit Kicks On

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When he first opened his martial arts studio in Pacific Palisades 43 years ago, Gerry Blanck’s catchphrase was “Keep Kicking!”  Despite losing his apartment and his dojo in the Palisades Fire last month, that mantra has not changed for the community’s most beloved sensei.

Blanck is temporarily keeping business going at MuDo Integrated Martial Art on Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica, but his long-term goal is to return to the town he has grown to love over four decades.      

“We’re planning to go back to the Palisades,” Blanck vowed. “Yes, we’re going to rebuild it. We have hope. It might take a while, but we’re going to try for that.”    

On February 1 two of Blanck’s most dedicated students embodied the undying spirit of Yoshukai Karate, the discipline their instructor so passionately teaches, by combining to collect six medals at the International Martial Arts Council Winter Nationals in Las Vegas.

Ten-year-old green belt Eden Savoian had nearly everything that she owned go up in smoke when her Castellammare home burned down. She bravely chose to represent her dojo and town anyway, although she had to borrow a gi, a belt and nunchucks (her accessory of choice) to use at the competition. Savoian performed like the rising star she is and left the Gold Coast Casino convention room with bronze medals in Traditional Forms and Traditional Weapons around her neck.

“Losing all the stuff I had before made me want to work even harder to get more,” said Savoian, who has been Blanck’s pupil for a year and a half.   

“I did it for my classmates— my 180 friends who lost their houses,” said Savoian, who is now living near the elementary school she attends in Calabasas. “Everything will turn around again.”

Savoian not only earned medals for herself but arranged for duplicate trophies and medals for her fellow Blanck pupils. She was also third in Forms as a blue belt in October at the IMAC Open in Los Angeles and she performed a kata at the annual Ho!Ho!Ho! in December at Simon Meadow.   

Blanck, who found a place to live at Sixth and Broadway, not far from MuDo, admitted that he was hesitant about letting Savoian competing so soon after the fire: “I didn’t want her to go and not win and be disappointed,” he said. “But now I’m happy she did!”   

Blanck was able to return to the Palisades on Jan. 9, two days after the fire started, only to find his dojo on Marquez Avenue— and all of the other stores on the block—reduced to ashes. He had relocated there from his previous location in the Village in February of 2022.    

“It’s terrible, 15 of my senseis lost their homes and one of my young black belts Ben Zamel and his family lost like four properties in Tahitian Terrace,” Blanck said. “One of my very first students Tamar Springer and her parents lost their homes. People from my hometown in Florida wanted me to move back there, but I won’t.”         

Joining Savoian in Las Vegas was 50-something “karate mom” and fellow green belt Gracy Llana, whose adult division was later that afternoon. She added four medals to her ever-expanding personal collection—three golds and one silver, but her most gratifying reward was a hug from Savoian.

Since Llana started taking kickboxing lessons at Blanck’s studio in April of 2023 and later expanded to karate under the tutelage of Springer, she has never left a competition without hardware. She usually goes to competitions alone but was happy to have her dojo-mate to coach and cheer on in Las Vegas.

“The Yoshukai spirit is in our hearts and it’s a ripple effect,” Llana said. “Tamar mentored me and now I’m mentoring Eden.”

Llana coinsidered moving to the Palisades in November but ultimately decided the timing was not right.

Now, she is dedicated to helping Blanck rebuild and decorating the  dojo with more trophies and medals.

Llana marched in the Palisades Fourth of July Parade last summer alongside Blanck and many fellow students and won gold medals in  both Kata and Sparring at the Elite Karate Cup in Santa Ana lastt May.

A month later she captured three golds in the Adult Novice Division at the USA World Championships, also hed in Las Vegas. She is already established as one of the best female martial artists in the 50+ division in the country.