Mukilteo Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

When walking through the halls at the YMCA, one might hear “Ich, Ni, San.” This is Shihan Jay Gravelle counting in Okinawan Japanese during the karate classes.

Shihan means “teacher of teachers,” and the title suits him. Gravelle has been at the Mukilteo YMCA for 16 years. Under his leadership, the karate program has over 100 youth members and over 30 adult members.

During this time, ten of his black belt students have been hired as instructors. He also started an intern program at the YMCA that has hired 14 of his students as assistant instructors; most of them are black belts....