Seated cross-legged on the floor in their crisp white uniforms, about 120 school-aged students begin their after-school training at Aim and Focus Karate. The quiet room soon explodes into loud chants as the students count in Korean as part of their warm up for tang soo do, a Korean martial art similar to tae kwon do, owner and master instructor Ben Johnson said. “I describe it to people as a stand-up karate type of martial art: We kick; we punch; we block. It’s not a grappling style,” he said. Johnson, who is also a fifth-degree black belt, started Aim and Focus Karate in 2000 while he was still working at IBM Corp. He began running the business full time in 2002. “We pride ourselves on not being a belt factory,” he said. “You can’t just come for two years and walk out with a black belt. You have to earn it and you have to earn it the old-fashioned way, and that is training in your uniform in class [and] learning the material.” Aim and Focus offers an after-school program and summer camps. The business picks up students from eight Round Rock ISD schools, including Forest North, Laurel Mountain, Live Oak and Pond Springs elementary schools. Besides learning tang soo do, Johnson said children gain other skills, including self-esteem, self-confidence and discipline. He said he helps them understand these skills are transferable to learning manners or behaving well in school. “One of the things we do in everything is lead by example,” Johnson said. “Even though I’m a fifth-degree black belt and I teach the classes, I don’t expect them to do anything I wouldn’t do. If I want them to say, ‘Yes, sir’ to me, then I say, ‘Yes, sir’ to them.” Evening classes are structured by belt rank instead of age, although classes may split into groups because the facility has two training floors, he said. “That way parents can train with their children,” he said. “… Teaching children is about their memory. They’ll do anything I ask them to do. The issue is can they remember the sequences. Teaching adults, they remember what they’re supposed to do. The problem is can they get their bodies to do it. It’s a flexibility thing; it’s an age thing.” The after-school program is $250 per month for new students and $225 per month for returning students with discounts for siblings. Summer camps run June 6-Aug. 19 and are $175 for existing students and $200 for new students per week. Evening classes are $95 a month for the first student in a family and $75 a month for the second student. Aim and Focus also offers women’s self-defense courses, and Johnson is also a licensed instructor for license to carry handgun courses.