By Neil Pierson

When Skyler Zoppi first start-ed administering black-belt tests at his True Martial Arts studio in Sammamish, he was promot-ing only one or two students per year.

The studio’s growth over the last 18 years, however, has been exponential, and the studio now holds three black-belt tests each year, with anywhere from five to 10 students participating each time.

True Martial Arts promoted seven more Taekwondo students to its black-belt ranks Nov. 13. Five of them – Chris Clark of Eastlake High School; Shruti Karanth, Declen Oberst and Arghya Kannadaguli of Skyline High; and Neel Sahay of Beaver Lake Middle School – are area students and have been training for the elite rank for at least eight years.

“It’s just a really cool deal for them, because they started when they were really young,” said Zoppi, a fourth-degree black belt who serves as the studio’s co-owner and chief instructor.

Zoppi’s parents, Thomas and

Laurel, opened their first martial arts studio in Bellevue in 1982. Thomas Zoppi spent time in Los Angeles training with Remy

Presas, a Black Belt Hall of Famer “who was basically the man who brought Arnis to the United States,” Skyler Zoppi said.

Arnis is a Filipino martial art known as a “soft style,” meaning students move or redirect forces rather than engage them head-

on. And it’s been an integral part of the curriculum for TMA stu-dents, who must learn both Arnis and the “hard style” Taekwondo to move up the ranks.

It’s pretty standard for stu-dents to take eight years or more to earn their first-degree black belt. At TMA, students can’t achieve it until they are 13.

“That’s when we feel people are mature enough to understand some of the concepts that we’re teaching, and also more physi-cally mature and able to handle themselves,” Zoppi said.

The details of the black-belt exam itself are “top-secret,” said Sahay, an eighth-grader at Beaver Lake, who began his Taekwondo training when he was 5.

“I can’t tell you what we did, but I can say that it was really, really tough,” Sahay said.

Clark, who said he eschewed traditional sports like football and baseball in favor of martial arts, was TMA’s lone student to earn a second-degree black belt this month.

“It was definitely the hardest moment of my life,” said Clark,

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community 10 l November 27, 2013 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

Contributed photo by Skyler ZoppiTrue Martial Arts promoted seven Taekwondo students to black-belt ranks in November. The students are Chris Clark, Shruti Karanth, Arghya Kannadaguli, Jeff Kenney, Declen Oberst, Neel Sahay and Luke Sala.

New black belts share pursuit of discipline, respect

By Neil Pierson

Scott Wyatt scaled back his law practice so he could focus on writing, and it seems the Sammamish resident couldn’t be more pleased about the decision.

Wyatt has worked as an attor-ney for 37 years, and much of that time was devoted to repre-senting survivors of childhood sexual trauma in civil cases against their alleged abusers.

“It was pretty heavy,” he said. “Maybe that’s why I’m so happy now. I’m free of all of that.”

Last November, Wyatt pub-lished his first novel, “Beyond the Sand Creek Bridge,” a story about Chinese immigrants helping to build railroads through Idaho during its territorial days in the 1880s.

Wyatt immediately switched gears and began working on an international political thriller set in Uzbekistan and Africa, loca-tions he’s traveled to because of his work on the Companion Flag Project, which he founded in 1999.

“It’s a project that’s designed to increase awareness of what peo-ple have in common across all borders,” Wyatt explained, “par-ticularly getting young people

to be fluent in thinking not only about their diversity, but also about their connections.”

In writing his second novel, “Dimension M,” Wyatt has inter-twined real-life elements of the project with fictional characters and the search for a missing diary of grave importance.

The book is available electron-ically through Amazon.com, and Wyatt expects paperbacks to be ready in early December.

Two of the book’s protagonists break into a school in Tashkent,

Ubzekistan, to raise a com-panion flag. They’re later believed to be the prime suspects in the disappear-ance of the diary, which is an expose on the Armenian genocide that killed more than 1 million people dur-ing World War I.

“Turkey denies that the Armenian genocide ever occurred, and they continue to deny that,” Wyatt said. “So if the contents of this diary are made public, it threatens stability of the government of Turkey and of the entire Middle East.”

The book goes into depth on the various individuals and organizations around the globe who are mobilized in order to find the diary. Some want to return it into hiding, while others seek to expose its secrets.

“Dimension M” ends with a 100-page appendix, detail-ing a companion flag debate in the fictional African country of Tashir.

“My idea was to create a story that people would find interest-ing, but at the same time, to give me an opportunity to sort of cre-ate a platform for a better under-

standing of the companion flag idea,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt is a native of the Pacific Northwest. He was born in Portland, Ore., and grew up in

Sandpoint, Idaho, before mov-ing to Seattle in 1974 to finish law school at the University of Washington.

He and his wife, Rochelle, have four children and five grandchildren. They’ve lived in Sammamish since 2009.

Wyatt said the past year has brought him into “full writing mode.” He began the framework for “Beyond the Sand Creek Bridge” in 1982, but didn’t finish it for three decades because of the demands of a busy law career and raising a family.

The second novel came together much more quickly, and Wyatt is already in the process of a third book, tentatively titled “Thompson Road.” It’s the story of two families who lived in the same home during different time

BOOK SIGNINGSammamish resident

Scott Wyatt will be signing copies of his new novel, “Dimension M,” from 2-4 p.m. Dec. 14 at SoulFood Coffee House, 15748 Redmond Way in Redmond.

Author adds a new ‘Dimension’ to his repertoire

Scott Wyatt

‘Dimension M’ is an international political thriller written by Scott Wyatt, a Sammamish resident and self-published author.

See BOOK, Page 11

See BELTS, Page 11

SPORTS 12 l November 27, 2013 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

12

By Justin LesterThe Seattle Times

When Camas faced the most adversity it had all season, coach Jon Eagle called on his son.

Eagle put the ball in his son Zach’s hands over and over Nov. 23, and Zach Eagle came through

with 243 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns against Eastlake.

The senior led visiting Camas to a 47-28 victory and its third consecutive trip to the state semi-finals.

“He’s a coach on the field, and I’m very proud of him,” Jon said

of Zach, who scored one of his touchdowns on a 15-yard fumble return. “Sometimes you get to be the dad, and sometimes you have to be the coach. I got to be the dad tonight.”

Eastlake’s 19-point defeat was the closest any opponent has come to Class 4A No. 1 Camas

(12-0) this season. The Wolves (9-3) trailed by five points late in the third quarter and finished with 570 total yards to Camas’ 532.

“They gave us a heck of a game,” Zach Eagle said. “We had to fight and be focused for all four quarters.”

Wolves quarterback Blue Thomas had a big game, complet-ing 26 of 47 throws for 329 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown toss to Joe Longcore in the third quarter. Thomas also threw two interceptions.

Contributed photo by Dave SheffelsEastlake’s Austin Hooker (2) finds a hole during the Wolves’ 48-27 defeat to the Camas Papermakers Nov. 23 in the Class 4A state football quarterfinals.

Eastlake falls short against No. 1 Camas

Photo courtesy of Julie OlsonThe Eastlake High School boys cross country team, running under the moniker Sammamish Wolfpack XC, finished first in the varsity division 5-kilometer race at the Nov. 16 Nike Northwest Regional meet in Boise, Idaho. Eastlake’s girls finished fourth in their division. Pictured left to right: Dylan Pruitt, Caleb Olson, Adamson Bryant, Nathan Pixler, Jack Lauzon, Kyle Suver and Shane Cornfield. The girls team was fourth with 143 points.

Others can’t keep up with Wolfpack

Contributed photo by Dave SheffelsEastlake’s Mitchell Augenstein and Ryan Meinhardt (19) wrap up Josh Mattox of Camas during the teams’ state quarterfinal football game Nov. 23.

By Neil Pierson

If KingCo Conference baseball fans are looking for a player that resembles Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw, they might find their match in Skyline High southpaw Drew Lunde.

Last season, Lunde was the staff ace for Skyline, which won the KingCo Crown Division title and finished with a 17-7 record. His stat line was impressive – a 1.73 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings, and an opponents’ batting average of .138.

It may come as no surprise that Lunde’s big-league role model is Kershaw, a three-time all-star and two-time National League Cy Young Award winner.

Collegiate programs have been taking notice of Lunde’s gifts for a while, and the Skyline senior had competing scholarship offers from programs like Gonzaga, Washington and Oregon State.

But Lunde turned down those offers and signed with Washington State Nov. 13, the first day of the NCAA’s early

signing period for athletes in the Class of 2014.

“Wazzu was my first choice,” Lunde said last week while sport-ing a crimson shirt with a white Cougar head logo, “and when they offered me, I just needed to get to know the coaches and stuff to make sure I was getting myself in a good situation.

“When they offered me (a scholarship), I went over two weeks after, met with the coach-es and had dinner with them … and I was hooked. It was awe-some.”

“Drew is a complete bulldog on the mound,” WSU pitching coach Gregg Swenson said in a news release. “He is a two-sport star who brings his football mentality to the diamond. He pitches with a great feel for the game and has led all his teams to great heights during his prep career.”

While Lunde has turned in some spectacular perfor-mances in a Skyline uniform – a

Skyline’s Lunde inks baseball offer

See OFFER, Page 13

See FOORBALL, Page 13