Ms. Amy Cullen began her study with Bendell Karate when she was a young teen-ager, but the Colorado State University-Pueblo grad student is now a third degree black belt and a very popular instructor at our Pueblo West school. Practicing weapons forms a few years ago, Ms. Cullen accidentally stabbed herself with a Samurai sword and the razor sharp blade sliced her upper thigh all the way to the bone with the point going to the kneecap. She required many internal and external stitches, but now specializes in teaching the Samurai sword.

At 15, she competed in a Colorado Karate Association tournament in Denver and took first place, but did not join the CKA. She competed in more tournaments and actually accumulated enough points to win the Colorado State Championship, but only didn't because she had not joined the CKA. She told Master Bendell, as a teen-ager, she wanted to become a juvenile court judge someday, and is now a law student and intern with the Pueblo County DA.