“Good enough is the enemy of excellence. “ This is a quote from my karate instructor Dave Laughlin. I started taking karate when I was six years old from Dave at Top Notch Karate Studio in Delaware. He always pushed me to be the best that I can be – not “just good enough.” Dave Laughlin is an outstanding instructor/mentor. He first teaches you how to focus, and then he instructs you in life lessons and on how to be an effective leader.




One of the key things Dave instructs is to be focused. For example he redirects children to the task at hand, to have focus to learn the forms. There are many steps (over 100) in some of the forms. There are over 20 different forms to learn and you need to be very focused to learn all the complicated moves associated with them.


Another one of Dave’s key focuses are life lessons. Some of these lessons are respect, integrity, concentration, perseverance, and honesty. These are all things you learn later in life. He goes over these traits almost every class. He will often give examples of living by these traits. As part of the belt promotion testing, he will ask parents and teachers about the students’ performance and behavior.

Finally, when you’re older/more experienced, he emphasizes on leadership. For example as you get older and more experienced, he wants you to help lead the class. He offers SWAT training (a class where you learn how to be an assistance teacher). You may then help teach the younger belt classes. He also wants you to be part of a demonstration team that will do performances for the public.


I believe Dave Laughlin should be nominated because; he is an outstanding mentor because not only do you get a physical workout, you learn about defending yourself, and so much more. You learn life skills and traits to be a good citizen and successful in life. One of the first things you learn as a younger student is focus. Then you learn about traits that make you more successful in life. Finally as an older student you learn to become a leader.