Heidi Hourihan Kicks Her Way to the Top

Two and a half years ago, Heidi Hourihan decided to try karate after watching her son and husband participate in the sport at in Chelmsford.

“I thought that it looked like something I would definitely want to do as well. I started shortly after my husband and son did," she said.

Hourihan planned to ease into the sport, by first observing a few classes and seminars before participating herself. Jesse Dwyer, the founder of Dragon Phoenix had a different approach in mind.

“After my first week of classes, I decided to take a seminar for martial arts. Having no clue of what happens in a seminar, I just figured I could walk around and observe to see if this is something that I wanted to do. Jesse wouldn’t allow me to do that,” Hourihan said.

“It’s a scary thing to do something you’ve never done before,” said Dwyer.  “She was there; I could tell it was in her and she wanted to do it, so even though she didn’t plan on doing any martial arts that day, I gave her that extra little ‘no you are going to do it’, and she’s been at the dojo every day since.”

Looking back, Hourihan is glad that she received the push to get started.  She quickly found a love for the sport, and has dedicated a significant amount of time to working at martial arts ever since.

“Once [the Hourihan family] started going, they jumped full force into it … they  got involved really quickly, and were at the dojo five or six days a week,” Dwyer said.

Years ago, after complications during labor, Hourihan had surgery, and was told by doctors that if she didn’t get healthy she wouldn’t live see her son grow up.

“That was a pretty big wake up call for me,” she said. To get in shape, Hourihan did tae bo in her home for about five years. The sport, while similar to karate, is focused more on a cardio workout than on fighting.  When Hourihan decided to give karate a try, her life changed for the better, and she has been in incredible physical shape ever since.

“My life has changed completely. I’ve changed a lot of things about myself. I lost about 160 pounds total. Everything in my life now is just more positive than it was before,” she said.

Hourihan took her motivation to the dojo, where she now teaches several different types of classes. She is currently working toward becoming a personal trainer, and she also instructs youth classes. In addition, she runs a kickboxing class, and hopes to help Dwyer integrate a variety of diciplines at Dragon Phoenix in the future.

“She brought in outside fitness mentality to it, where we have always had a martial arts fitness mentality,” Dwyer said. “She has been a major attribute to the school.”

“I want to help people reach their fitness goals, and Jesse is allowing me to do that within the fitness program at Dragon Phoenix,” she said.

In June, Hourihan earned her first degree black belt, and soon after, she received her Sensei title. Hourihan explained that typically it would take about two more years to become a Sensai, but because she had put in the hours required to earn Sensai status, she received the honor right away.

In addition to being a motivated instructor, Hourihan is a tough fighter. Last fall, she participated in a martial arts competition, a The Best of the Best Tournament. The competition consisted of nine events including boxing, knife throwing, wrestling, and archery.  Hourhan finished in second place.

“She had to compete against all black belts, and she wasn’t a black belt at the time,” said Dwyer. “[Since Heidi started karate,] her confidence has soared. Adults need confidence too, and she’s almost fearless to try new things now.”