artial arts master Ron Balas appears to be at least 15 years younger than his 84, and has the mental fortitude of someone half that age. While other men of his longevity may be enjoying a lazy retirement, Balas is coordinating large-scale gatherings of fellow-martial arts practitioners or traveling to far-flung corners of the world to teach combat-defense training skills to soldiers and civilians. Incorporate this latest work with a half-century of teaching his own internationally recognized martial-arts style to students young and old, and you have a person dedicated to a passion beyond himself. “A true martial artist views his or her art as a philosophy, not a hobby,” says Balas, who has been associated with the Beachwood recreation department since 1988. “When choosing to learn about martial arts, you begin learning things about yourself.” A lifetime of training and teaching has earned Balas a tenth-degree black belt, the highest you can achieve in martial arts, and membership into six world halls of fame. Among his peers, he is known as sōke, or “grand master,” for becoming the founder of his own martial arts system. In 2010, he received a lifetime achievement award from the World Karate Union, The World Head of Family Sokeship Council and the World Taekwando International Federation in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia, for practicing the art for more than 50 years. Circle of Masters is one of Balas’s newer ventures. The two-day martial arts seminar, held in September at Beachwood High School, hosted 23 masters along with 80 black-belt students. Local public officials, including Beachwood Mayor Merle S. Gorden, were in attendance as well. The program gave globally known instructors an opportunity to share the movements and practices characteristic of their respective styles, says Balas. Hands-on lessons taught attendees disarming drills, close-quarters tactical techniques, cultural practices and other skills. Balas is in his third year of running Circle of Masters alongside fellow-grandmaster Dennis Janes. Each year has brought new success and popularity, a trend he expects to continue moving ahead. “We’ve reinvented the program and brought it to new levels,” he says. Proceeds from this year’s event were given to Awesome Heroes (www.awesome-heroes.com), a nonprofit veterans’ organization that provides counseling, education and physical activities to war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Balas’s martial arts mastery began when he served in the army during the Korean War. He trained in various forms, including combat self-defense, bringing those burgeoning skills back to the U.S. in 1952. Along with learning jujitsu at various military bases scattered throughout the south, Balas joined an informal karate club at Fenn College, now Cleveland State University. There he was introduced to shotokan, a traditional form of karate. This style, coupled with what he was gleaning from jujitsu and basic self-defense, sparked what was to become a decades-long martial-arts career. “I began to integrate the values of both learning and teaching,” says Balas, who lives by the motto, “Learn all one can, teach all you can” By the mid-1960s, Balas was instructing pupils at a Cleveland Heights YMCA. Starting with a nucleus of three students, he shared his own unique approach to martial arts, a program that incorporated a panoply of disciplines from judo to modern armed forces self-defense instruction. He called it Taishindoh, a name derived from the concepts of “tai” (head), “shin” (heart and body) and “doh” (way or path). Within three years, Balas was accommodating up to 150 students weekly. A decade later, his training techniques had spread to law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Army Special Forces, also becoming popular in physical-ed- M ucation classes and after-school programs. Today, Balas offers classes for wannabe martial artists from age 3 and up. Younger children are taught courtesy, balance techniques and basic physical fitness, while older participants learn self-defense tactics and traditional Asian fighting forms. Balas estimates his program has graduated about 35,000 students, including 200 black belts, many of whom harnessed Taishindoh’s spiritually strengthening techniques to succeed as physicians, attorneys, educators and even a Presbyterian minister. He counts Mayor Gorden and Beachwood city council president Fred Goodman as honorary black belts in the program. Mayor Gorden thanked Balas for his years of service to Beachwood. “As a grandmaster sōke, a rare honor limited to very few, Ron is an extraordinary example of self-discipline and positive attitude,” he says. Goodman’s adult son, Dan, was under Balas’s tutelage 30 years ago, earning a black belt at age 13. While self-defense and physical wellbeing are the obvious benefits of Taishindoh, young Dan was lucky to have an instructor who was sensitive to his students’ needs, notes the council official. “Ron doesn’t teach martial arts so (his pupils) can smack people around,” Goodman says. “He’s instilling morals and values.” Balas still gets calls and emails from former participants who believe the practice literally saved their lives: One story involving a military policeman’s disarming an assailant showed the longtime instructor what a difference his teachings have made. See Balas on Page 10 Grand Master Ron Balas proudly wears his World International Black Belt Hall of Fame ring. December 2014 n Beachwood Buzz 9