At Martial Arts Advantage, where students as young as 3 years old learn tae kwon do, Alice Dingle is a standout in more ways than one. The South Tampa resident who last week earned a black belt is a 72-year-old great-grandmother.
Long devoted to physical exercise, from aerobics and Pilates to free weights and golf, she was introduced to tae kwon do two years ago by one of her four sons.
"I did not know what it was all about, I did not have clue," she said of the Korean martial art similar to karate, but also employing a wide range of kicking moves.
Mark Dingle, 47, a tae kwon do black belt student at South Tampa's Martial Arts Advantage, knew it well. And he knew the workout was well suited for his active mother.
"Mom has more energy than all of us combined," Mark Dingle said recently after a tae kwon do class that included his three children, younger brother, Jimmy, and, of course, his mother.
Owner-instructor Anthony Kuntz, a sixth-degree black belt, said the martial arts school provides a family-based program. "It's more than self defense and fitness training; it's about family bonding," he said before leading the 45-minute workout for three generations of the Dingle family, and two dozen other students.
"Alice is 72 year young, our oldest student right now," Kuntz said. "She took our complimentary self-defense class and found she loved it," subsequently enrolling in women's cardio kickboxing and other classes focusing on calisthenics and improving strength and reflexes, said Kuntz, a Carrollwood resident.
"Receiving her black belt is a big deal. Receiving her black belt at age 72 is extraordinary," said Kuntz, who opened Martial Arts Advantage in 1998 at 234 E. Bearss Ave., and three years ago added the South Tampa location, 3801 S. Manhattan Ave.
Jimmy Dingle, the latest family member to get on board with tae kwon do, is on target to earn his black belt in four more months. "They talked me into it," the 38-year-old said of his mother, older brother and three nieces and nephews, Hannah, 13, Nik, 9, and Abby 7, all of whom earned black belts at the school.
"We have a really good time here," Alice Dingle said. "It's a great experience. To be with family, I think that's the key. And it's good exercise."
She is at Martial Arts Advantage five days a week. "Now this is my workout all the time," she said, though she occasionally steals time for Pilates or playing golf at the Palma Ceia Country Club, behind the home she shares with her husband, Jerry.
"None of that could compare with this," she said of martial arts. "I haven't gotten tired of it yet. "As long as I have good health I plan to stay here."
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