THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407270144
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY MIKE KERNELS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
JEFF BATEMAN should be happy.
Nine of his karate students won gold in Roanoke's recent Commonwealth Games, another was crowned a national AAU champion and this month marks his 10th year of business in Suffolk.
Business is good. Bateman is not.
He's tired. The kind of tired bordering on burnout.
Just look at him. The color has drained from his face. Dark lines form trenches under his eyes. Looks like he's even lost a little weight.
``I'm just slam worn out,'' says Bateman, who added that he hasn't had a day off in three weeks. ``I don't how much longer I can do this.''
OK, so make that dead tired.
Maybe he wouldn't feel this way if Bateman was just an instructor at his Suffolk and Hampton schools.
But he's also a parent, psychologist, best friend, therapist, guidance counselor and anything else that isn't in the job description.
Sixteen hours a day. Five days a week. It's social and emotional overload.
It wouldn't be as bad, he says, if he had just one school. But two is too much.
And after keeping this pace for six years, maybe it's time, Bateman says, to live what he's been missing.
``I sit back in karate class thinking while I'm here, there are people at home working in their yard . . . playing with their children.''
And where is Bateman?
During the day, he's an aeronautical model technician.
He gets home long enough to feed the dog, use the bathroom, change, grab a frozen dinner and then he's gone to run one of his two schools.
Then there are tournaments on the weekends that both schools need to go to in preparation for things like the state games or the AAU nationals.
And then there is Bateman himself. As an instructor - a fifth degree black belt no less - he's got to have practice time so he can do this stuff, too.
Subtract all that, and there's no time for anything resembling a normal life.
Which was OK when Bateman was in his 20s and karate was life.
Now that he's 35, Bateman is starting to realize that he needs something else. Like, maybe, a life.
To do that would mean leaving Suffolk. And Bateman winces when thinking what that decision would mean to the people in this city and outlying areas who depend on Bateman to teach because there is no one else.
``I try to teach that anything worth having is worth working for,'' Bateman said. ``I just can't close up shop and turn around and walk away.''
Seconds later, he'll follow that with, once again, how exhausted he's become.
Only to change his mind. Only to change it back.
THE JEFF BATEMAN STORY could be a made-for-television movie.
Growing up in Hampton, Bateman had always wanted to learn karate. But his family couldn't afford lessons.
It wasn't until 1979, when Bateman was 21 and working as a produce manager at an A&P grocery store in Hampton, that he was invited to take free lessons. The invitation came from a man named Frank Hargrove, who would change Bateman's life.
Bateman competed and earned his brown belt. Things seemed to be cruising along when, one year later, Bateman broke his right leg. It took five operations to repair the torn cartilage.
His short-lived career was seemingly over.
So, Bateman funneled his youthful energy and enthusiasm into instructing.
That's what brought him to Suffolk.
After opening in the old Brooks Racquetball and Swim Club, he shuffled around from Kilby Shores Elementary to the Suffolk rescue squad building to the old post office on Main Street looking for a dojo to call home.
Last year, he found it in a small shopping plaza on West Washington.
But unlike his Hampton school, he found he wouldn't be getting the support of the city.
If there was to be karate in the land of peanuts, Bateman would have to pick up the tab, which he did.
Then his mom, whom Bateman describes as his ``best friend,'' died this past September.
Later, there would be a comeback to professional competition at age 27 that culminated in a two gold medal, one silver performance in the recent Commonwealth Games; a part in a low-budget, B-movie starring Virginia Beach kickboxer Curtis Bush; his schools producing five national champions; Bateman barely scraping by in Suffolk - but making it.
A happy ending after all?
No. There's still one more chapter that needs to be written - if the author can pen it. With a wife. Kids. A family.
A life.
But Bateman knows the limitations.
``Do I have the time?'' he asks. ``I'm barely home.
``Can I afford it? I'm supporting my karate habits. I need to change my habits.
``The way my life is going right now, I need to make a change.''
He'll have that chance in August. Bateman's lease is up.
He'll have two choices: sign on for another year or walk away and get a new lease - this one on life. Not an easy decision.
But then, Bateman's never have been. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Jeff Bateman of Bateman Karate demonstrates a move to student Ricky
Jordan during a class at his Suffolk location.
by CNB