All of the skills Carla Pronio Molinaro of Brandonville has mastered in the 37 years she's been studying martial arts are still nothing without a trait she was born with - a drive to compete.
"All my life I've been a competitive person," said Molinaro, 54, whom her students refer to as "Kyoshi," Japanese for "the master teacher."
"That's a bit of an understatement," said her teacher, Ron Martin, 68, of Schuylkill Haven, who she calls "Hanchi," Japanese for "senior master teacher."
This year, Molinaro will celebrate her 30th year as a martial arts teacher.
Born in Shenandoah, she is the daughter of Marian Pronio, Shenandoah, and the late Carlo Pronio, who died in 1999.
"I think she inherited her drive from her father," Martin said.
"My father was from Italy. He was old school. Everything was discipline and respect," she said.
"And done right," Martin added.
"I didn't have it easy growing up as a teenager," Molinaro said with a laugh.
She has two different colored eyes. "One green. One brown. I took after my grandfather from Italy. He had the same thing," she said Thursday.
As a teenager, she studied gymnastics and dance: "Tap, ballet and jazz, classical dance," she said.
Soon after she graduated from Shenandoah Valley High School in 1976, she rented space and started a business, "Carla's School of Versatile Dancing and Gymnastics" in Frackville.
"I took all my graduation money and started it up," she said.
She also took up karate when she was 17.
"Basically, I wanted to learn self-defense. And I was curious about competition. I love to compete," she said.
In Martin, she had an instructor who encouraged her.
"He taught me a little bit of self-defense and said 'You should really think about competing.' So I got into it and have been doing it ever since," she said.
Her dojo - formal training place for the martial arts - is filled with the proof, rows of trophies and walls covered with certificates. She's earned more than 300 trophies, has captured 21 tournament grand championships and won 17 state, national and international medals, according to her resume.
In June 2009, she earned her 7th degree black belt in Okinawan Go Ju Ryu Karate Do. In June 2012, she earned her 6th degree black belt in Okinawan Kobudo.
"And these are the two systems of martial arts that I teach," Molinaro said.
She started teaching dance and gymnastics out of a garage at 633 W. Centre St. in Shenandoah in 1981. In 1983 she started teaching martial arts there.
"I believe it was in September 1983," Molinaro's mother said Thursday night.
Today her business is known as Dancgym Sport Center and Mumei DoJo. Molinaro is the artistic director and head teacher.
She said she's taught hundreds of students over the years and currently has "more than 60."
They include Bryan Lindenmuth, 43, of Shenandoah, Joe Dziczek, 38, of Frackville, and Angelo Perri, 13, of Brandonville.
"She's tough. She's well-disciplined. There's a value to self-discipline. It can help you in many different situations. It can also teach you to stand up for yourself and take care of yourself. It can also teach you to walk away from certain situations," Dziczek said.
"I've been at the school here for seven or eight years and I think she's a very great person. She's tough. And competitive. It's good to be competitive. It teaches you. If you're competing, even if you lose, you're still going to learn something. That's what she taught us. And every time you go somewhere to compete, you learn more," Perri said.
"You see lots of dojos open up around here. You see them come and go. You don't see staying power in most. But she's got that," Lindenmuth said.
In 2000, she married Mauro Molinaro. Asked if she has any children, Carla Molinaro turned to the students working out in her dojo and said, "These are my children."
Looking ahead, Molinaro said her drive is to do the best she can for her students:
"I try to hand everything down to my students, to make them as good as they can be. They say the better the teacher, the better the student. But I think it's my job to make them better than me."
"A good teacher is someone who wants to make their students as good as them, or better," Lindenmuth said.
The symbol for her school is a bonsai tree. It's painted on the front of her school and the symbol is on patches and clothing her students wear.
"The bonsai tree needs to be nurtured and watered and cared for, just like the students. If you leave the tree alone, it gets raggy. So the teacher has to fix it," Molinaro said.