At Lotus Martial Arts Academy, Gabe Harrington is known as "ajarn," a word that means mentor or professor in Thai. The title isn't bestowed lightly. More than just a respectful form of address, it signifies that its bearer has paid his dues.
And Harrington certainly has. With decades of training in Lotus self-defense, an approach that combines muay Thai, kenpo-karate, judo and aikido into one hybrid art, he's worked his way up to a fifth-degree black belt. He's fought on the competitive kickboxing circuit and also earned his instructor certification for stick- and knife-based combat. For many years, he also taught classes alongside his father, Roy Harrington, who established Lotus Martial Arts in 1979.
But one of his most difficult — and most rewarding — fights was to revitalize the academy after his father retired in late 2023.
"It's just been kind of an interesting journey. Obviously, in the back of my mind, I always kind of knew that at some interval in life, I probably would step into this path that I've been on now. But it happened at a time when I probably was least expecting it," Harrington says.
With the departure of its founder, the fate of Lotus was suddenly in question. Attendance had fallen to just four students. The programs with community partners were dormant. Classes that had been put on hold during COVID still hadn't been resumed.
"It was the passing of a torch, but it was also just breathing life back into an art, into a program that has been in the community for so many years. I took it very personally to jump in with both feet and say, 'OK, I'm going to grab the reins and breathe some life back into our academy.'"
Harrington quickly set about reintroducing the academy's Thai boxing and muay Thai programs. He revived the classes for younger children. He rekindled relationships with families of former Lotus students. He revamped the website and started sharing videos and posts about the academy on social media.
"The old-school ways of doing things are no longer as effective as they once were. It was a step-by-step, brick-by-brick process, just one month after the other getting us back to where we needed to get to," he says.
As this Best Of win would suggest, Harrington's efforts have paid off. In a little over a year, the student count has grown to around 60. There are several new instructors, new self-defense courses for women, and he's seeing increased interest in the academy's namesake, Lotus martial arts.
There's still plenty of work to do before Harrington can realize his goal of creating "a holistic center for all things body, mind and spirit." But by committing himself to rejuvenating one of the Northwest's longest-running open martial arts academies, and the only one specializing in the Lotus system, he believes it's an important way of honoring his father's legacy.
"I take a lot of pride in what I've been able to do over the last year, but I also don't take all the credit. What we've done is certainly an overall reflection of the lifetime commitment that my Dad made to the school and to the [Lotus] art."
2nd PLACE: Sikjitsu MMA
3rd PLACE: Warhorse Karate • Jiu Jitsu
