Page 51 - PC Living Jan-Feb 2017

PARTNERS IN BUSINESS & LIFEBARBARA & JIMMY CROLEYI am 62 and I still compete in tournaments. Four of our students received the grand champion title in their division at the last tournament.Barbara Croley: Matter of fact, Jimmy took grand champion as well at the tournament.Barbara Croley: In the beginning, I thought I was never going to catch a black belt. Never was going to run a dojo and I ran a dojo for two years. It was good.I enjoy staying in shape. I'm 57 and I think I'm pretty strong for a 57-year old woman. Without karate, I wouldn't have as much muscle tone and stay strong and have con dence in myself. I can take care of myself.PC Living: How many children have you taught throughout the years? Jimmy Croley: Let’s see... I have been teaching for 44 years.Barbara Croley: I'd say even if only counting 100 students a year, we had about 5,000 over the years. We see many of the kids that were 5 and 6 years old in our class and we see them now grown, with families of their own. They will askus, "Don't you remember us from your class?" We remember them. I remember them. They are just doing good. All of our current students get AB honor roll. We check report cards. We make sure they're doing good outside of this dojo.PC Living: Who does what in your training classes? How do you divide responsibilities?Barbara Croley: Jimmy does all the books. He registers all the attendance and he keeps the books. He takes all the payments. I am pretty much the discipliner. The mean one. (laughs)PC Living: You are the one everyone's scared of?Barbara Croley: Yeah, Jimmy is a softy. They're all scared of me. I have a nickname; the torturer. One of the kids named me the torturer. We do stretching. At least 15, 20 minutes of stretching and exercise to warm up, and you get all kinds of complaints about it... I tell the kids, "I’ve got 40 years on y'all and I'm over here still doing great." Other than keeping everyone in line, I'm the organizer of the Christmas banquets, the sleepovers, the summer camp, the winter camp. I'm pretty much the organizer.Jimmy Croley: Oh, back in the day, we traveled all over the United States.Barbara Croley: We've been to St. Louis, we've been to Texas, we've been to Fort Worth and, of course, places like Dothan, Birmingham, and Pensacola... Jimmy ranked all over the United States, and he and our son stayed number one for about 10 years. There are many tournaments every year. The schedule comes out in January. Our own Panama City tournament will be the second week in September. It will be the 30th year anniversary of the Panama City tournament.PC Living: Your training with the children looks very impressive and skilled. Do you have certain strategies or techniques when you work with the children? What do you do if a kid absolutely doesn't seem to be good at this sport?Barbara Croley: Well, it all depends on the child. Every child is di erent. Once I learn what gets to them, then I'm in there with them. We sometimes have kids with learning disabilities.Jimmy Croley: Several years ago, we had our rst special needs student and she was always excited to come to our training and never missed a class. Her motherwww.PanamaCityLiving.com • January - February 2017 • 51