It’s a lesson the 60-year-old retiree shares with his few-dozen pupils at a karate class every week.
“You can win a fight just defending yourself,” he said from his north-of-Tracy ranch home. “A block can hurt worse than a punch. Believe me. I know.”
The friendly, funny way “Sensei Greg” shares his school-of-hard-knocks wisdom has helped him instill confidence in many a shy youngster. Ask any one of his students — especially their parents — and they’re likely to tell you about the life-changing inspiration they find under Wright’s tutelage.
Meet, for example, Bruno Snarr, an 18-year-old who this year graduated West High School’s Space and Engineering Academy. He’s ready to pack up and leave as a U.S. Navy recruit — no small accomplishment for a once-uncoordinated boy who used to bide his time playing video games.
Snarr’s family credits Wright for their son’s readiness for the armed forces.
“Instead of an insecure and awkward child, (Snarr) has transformed into a young man who hopes to someday follow in Greg’s footsteps to teach others,” said his stepmother, Jennifer Snarr. “Five years of training … have completely changed the path and direction of my son’s life.”
Wright humbly but gratefully accepts the praise so many parents send his way.
“I don’t think of myself as a mentor,” said Wright, a father to two grown children and grandfather to six. “I just do my thing. I give my students a hard time. I tease everyone — adults, children. Doesn’t matter.”
It’s simple, he said. He teaches his students 250 blocks, forms, kicks, punches and other moves. He tells them to respect their families, to do well in school and to stay in shape.
“I just show them, I show my students what I’ve learned,” the lifelong Tracy resident said. “There’s nothing else you can teach.”
Wright took up shotokan karate 17 years ago. He loved the art of it and what it did for his peace of mind. So, he became an instructor about a decade ago — while he still held down a job at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as someone who guarded nuclear weapons when they were transported from place to place.
The Japanese martial art kept him grounded, he said. He could breathe better, sleep better, focus better — invaluable to a man who made his keep at a stressful job and who tries his hardest to forget about his few years as a Navy sailor and Vietnam veteran.
But the retiree’s demeanor does nothing to betray his stressful past. He’s a crack-up, said his wife of 40 years, RoseMarie Wright. A smile, she said, normally prefaces his comments and conversation.
“I think working with kids keeps him young, too,” she said over coffee after her husband returned from a graveyard shift at a local home improvement store — a job he keeps just because he wants to stay busy.
The active retiree said working with adults keeps him in his prime, too. Just a few weeks ago, he started a twice-weekly shotokan class for grown-ups on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the bright-pink building — Loke’s Looks at 1852 W. 11th St. Karate is something he learned later in life, and he believes it carries another dimension of value to an adult.
“I’m excited to see where this goes,” he said of his new endeavor teaching the “old dogs” a few new martial arts tricks. “They’re just like kids — we’ve all got a long way to go.”
Meet Greg Wright
Age: 60
Family: Wife, RoseMarie Wright, 60; son, Anthony Wright, 37; daughter, Lisa Cox, 34
Occupation: Retiree and part-time karate instructor
How long in Tracy: Lifelong resident
Words to live by: “Live life for life.”
• In the Spotlight is a weekly profile in Our Town. To nominate someone to be In the Spotlight or to comment on this week’s story, contact Our Town Editor Justin Lafferty at 830-4269 or jlafferty@tracypress.com.
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