The family that kicks together sticks together

Sam Wegert has been able to live out every kid’s dream.

“How many teenagers,” he asked, “get to call their dad up to the front of a room and say, ‘Bow to me?’”

Within the context of karate etiquette, however, that made perfect sense. Sam,who began teaching karate when he was 16 years old, had a black belt. His father William didn’t.

Last Friday, however, William and three other Wegert kids earned black belts of their own in a combination final exam and ceremony at the Timberlake Christian School gymnasium. Sam’s nephew, Gabriel, also participated.

“It was tough,” William said. “He (Sam) didn’t make it easy on us.”

From Sam’s perspective, however, that was all out of his hands.

“Based on the AFKA (American Freestyle Karate Association) program, there are certain specific things you have to learn and perform,” he said. “It’s all very standardized. Friday was like a final exam in one way, but an instructor would never send a student into that if he didn’t think the student was ready.”

Apparently, 10-year-old William Jr., 14-year-old Abigail and 16-year-old Tim (and Dad) were ready. They all received the lowest level of the highest belt. Of course, they’re still considerably behind Sam, who is now a third-degree black belt.

Sam Wegert, now 18, is now a fully certified instructor in the Lynchburg-based AFKA program, presiding over more than 90 students at a karate center in Amherst. The head of the organization, Grand Master Lawrence Arthur, was one of his mentors.

“Our program is less about your child learning to fight others,” Arthur says on the AFKA Web site, “and more about fighting … himself. His innermost fears. Conquer them, and your child unleashes within himself a powerful, unstoppable force.”

Sam didn’t feel like a powerful, unstoppable force when he first began martial arts.

“The first two sessions,” he admitted, “I hated it. Maybe it was because I wasn’t quite getting it.”

Somehow, in the third session, it all clicked. Now, Sam not only buys into karate as a means of self-defense and physical fitness, but as a way of life.

“It teaches respect and self-discipline first of all,” he said. “If someone comes in wanting to learn how to beat up somebody, they quickly realize that’s not what this is all about.”

William Wegert, who is dean of international student programs at Liberty University, was pleasantly surprised by his son’s rapid development as an instructor.

“He’s a natural at it, really,” he said. “He’s got the personality and the enthusiasm.”

Sam began teaching when he was just 18, after galloping through an accelerated eight-month training course. (“It’s designed for four years,” he said.) His involvement had begun when his mom, Marilou, had a chance meeting with someone involved with AFKA at a library and invited him to dinner at the family’s home in Monroe. Since the Wegert kids were home-schooled, William and Marilou decided it might be good for them to learn as a family.

“When I started out, I was fine with my peers, but I couldn’t look adults in the eye,” recalled Sam. “This really gave me a lot more confidence.”

His father experienced a reverse scenario.

“Being one of the older people in the group, I was a little intimidated at first,” he said. “But I got over it.”

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