Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Caban.
Chris, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started working with the Dojo in 1999. I was brought in to teach esoteric martial arts along with my teacher Benjamin Salas. I was a sales representative for a local wine distributor and split my time between training and selling wine and spirits.
In 2005 I was offered a job at Knuckle Up in Sandy Springs. At the time training and career were the driving forces in my life. Travel played a large part of my training experience as well. I would take several weeks per year to travel with my JiuJitsu gi and a bag of Kali sticks.
In 2010 I was laid off from the Atlanta Brewing Co. and I moved to Guatemala to teach at the Carlson Gracie academy in Guatemala City. After my return to the States, I again joined the guys at the Dojo, this time in Dacula, to manage and ultimately take ownership of that studio.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The struggle of being an esoteric martial artist in a world of MMA or more socially acceptable arts is getting people to give your arts a try. Until the TV show “Human Weapon,” Filipino Martial Arts were largely unknown in the Atlanta Area. After the show aired more and more people were interested in FMA. Now the internet is a driving force in popularizing our arts.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our business, “the Dojo American Karate Center” is a community based Martial arts school. We offer Karate for kids and adults, we have Brazilian jiujitsu classes, we are affiliated with Professor Diego Saraiva, I also teach Filipino Martial Arts and pair with local businesses to teach Self Defense classes.
My business partner Daniel Lamb teaches the Karate classes and our JiuJitsu classes are taught by myself and Professor DJ Wages in. After many years of teaching adults, it is very rewarding to work with the youth of our community.
What sets us apart is the fact that we have been in business for over 20 years, with Daniel Lamb teaching for that entire time, being a part of a village for that long gives us a leg up in the experience category. We also have some of the most qualified instructors in the area.
What were you like growing up?
My parents started dropping me off at wrestling practice at the local high school in 4th grade. My brother was on the wrestling team at the time and they felt I needed to learn the sport to be able to defend myself against him. I was a very outgoing kid, spending my days in a canoe on the Chattahoochee River or mountain biking on the trails that line the river.
In the 1990’s I spent my days working or taking on “extream sports challenges” and my evenings in Buckhead hopping from club to club. I started training martial arts with the staff of CJ Landings before my shifts at a bartender at Bond’s Steakhouse.
In 1998 I met Benjamin Salas who taught me FMA, Brazilian JiuJitsu, Muay Thai, and Penjak Silat. From then on my spare time was filled with training.
Contact Info:
- Website: Teamdojo.com
- Phone: 7706148788
- Email: mrcaban@teamdojo.com
- Facebook: The dojo american karate
Image Credit:
Hog Mountain TnT, Jiu-JitSurfer
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