Not that his parents would trade him in or anything, actually our understanding is that mom is actually his mentor for practical joke school. You see April 1st is a national holiday at the Simon household and the other 364 days are practice for the big day. This past April 1st mom was busy renting white rats to stuff in dad’s favorite desk drawers (dad hates rodents) as Jordan planned a heist of all the family vehicles. Dad is generally the brunt of the fun, but he did get them back this year. He told them that Sport Karate Magazine had called him and told him that Jordan was going to be on the cover. After an hour’s worth of jubilation and celebration he informed them it was only an April fools joke. They were so mad they left him alone the rest of the day... just what he wanted. Then SKM did call that evening to inform Jordan and the mom that indeed he was going to be on the cover. Nicely arranged for his saving grace after he had gotten them off his back for most of the day.

Jordan has no remorse for his love of being a prankster. As I interviewed him riding in the car with his dad, returning from nearby Disneyland, I reminded him that in two years he’d be an adult and instead of a reaction that maybe he needed to slow down, instead he said he needed to make the best of the next two years. His other interest is amusement parks where he drags a less than enthusiastic dad. Here Jordan’s adrenaline thirst is quenched with repeated extreme rides.

Jordan’s life is one of “pushing the envelope”, as his dad relates that Jordan is driven to the edge with everything he does and will grid his way with repeated insistence to get his parents to give in to his goals.

But while this perseverance of getting what he wants may not be every parents dream of their childs behavior, this drive is what makes Jordan stands out for his astonishing achievements in karate competition. While not one to complain about a loss, he usually prevents that with his relentless drive to perfect his competition talents to begin with.

Starting out with his first world title in hard traditional weapons his staunch traditional training was evident. He’s had an excellent traditional background with Joey and Ginger Escobar’s Malibu Martial Arts and further excelled in traditional forms and creative weapons competition with his private training with Butch Togisala. A staunch traditionalist himself, Togisala won the NBL Japanese world title 5 years in a row while also winning sporadic world titles in weapons divisions.

As time went by Simon found himself experimenting more and more with contemporary long bo manipulation. Now, not a day goes by but what Simon doesn’t pick up his long bo for practice keeping him one of sport karate’s all time best junior contemporary weapons competitors in history. His manipulation with his bo attracts a crowd at any tournament with an arsenal of maneuvers that even the best envy.

His phenomenal long bo prowess has led him to an astonishing third time win of the Junior Overall Contemporary Forms World Title at the Super Grands, an accomplishment that is not likely to be repeated by anyone for a long time, if ever. Of late Simon has excelled in empty hand open forms as well. Transforming his weapons tricking to his empty hand techniques, Simon has astonished the 15-17 year old division with all the perfection and tricks necessarily to win the judges favor at the Super Grands. This has earn world titles in creative forms as well as weapons the last two years.

Besides his martial arts talents, he enjoys doing artwork and his other sports passion – baseball. He takes his baseball seriously, sometimes having to chose between a baseball game or karate tournament on the same day. He is bucking for a college scholarship through baseball but says he’d be just as happy running a karate school – no a string of them. I’m sure with dad’s business talents that could be a reality.

Whatever’s in store for his adult career that’s far from his concerns right now. After all he’s got two more years as “Dennis the Menace” and then intends to excel beyond his junior years as a number one adult competitor. Somehow I don’t doubt that he’ll accomplish it all.