Michael Demers

Kudan (9th Degree Black Belt)

My adventures in Karate goes way back in 1984 when I hired Jim Gaw. It was the beginning of my start ting my business way back, and Jim always said to me “you live a stressful lifestyle, you should come to a class at Buzz Durkin’s Karate School I think you’ll fit in and relieve yourself from all the stress.”

And it grew from there!

As years past , I’ll never forget when Buzz asked me to chat with him about his dream about opening his state of the art karate school in Atkinson, NH. He was very nervous. And I encouraged him with all my heart, and the journey began. I offered my experience with the banks and made some suggestions.

Karate has been part of my life and helped me to be humble every day of my life, it has made me a better person to except all the challenges. Most importantly I’ll never forget when the school opened, and the building was attacked. Nothing major, it was just some kids with pellet guns, but stressful none-the-less. I said to Durkin don’t take it personally, it’s just the cost of doing business, as I had experiences way worse in my career. I know he never forget those words that I shared with him.

And here we go 2025 still sharing my heart and being kind to others.

And sharing love!

The most important thing to share at class is not how talented you are, it’s how to give back to our fellow students and teach them and guide them for peace and to share. It doesn’t matter what rank you are we’re all in this together.