Sensei Cindy Spear, of the Tao Karate Club, will be issuing a challenge to BRCTV 7 viewers during the 4 th annual telethon on Saturday, August 25.

Sensei Spear, who was promoted to fourth-degree black belt on June 16 of this year, will beat her personal best by breaking a stack of seven two-and-a-half-inch bricks (donated by Poole Brothers) concrete patio blocks, IF seven pledges of $50 - or a total amount of $350 - is pledged between 8 and 9 p.m.

As each pledge of $50 is received at telethon "command central," the Sensei, or station manager Rick Prose will add a brick.

The viewing audience will decided whether Sensei Spear breaks five bricks or seven bricks at 9 p.m.

"Lee Arnot contacted me about doing the telethon again," said Spear. "Breaking bricks to build pledges just seemed like a good way to raise money for Channel 7 and it was an equally good personal challenge, plus, "seven for 7" is fun."

Prior to her brick-breaking finale, Sensei Spear will be presenting 70 of the 100 moves in the Tao Ju Kata, the core of the Tao system created by Tao Karate Club founder Shihan Jeff Wood.

Shihan Wood instructs at the Hallowell Doju and has been Spear's instructor since she began her training in 1983.

"I went to a home demonstration at a friend's house on New Year's Day and I was hooked," recalled Spear. "I was 17 years old, living on Southport Island, looking for something to do."

The study of martial arts that began as "something to do" has become a true passion for Spear.

This September marks her 16 th year teaching her offshoot of the Tao Karate Club at the Boothbay Region YMCA. Some of Sensei Spear's black belt graduates over those years include Aaron Blake, Barry Sherman, Hal Pierce and Kitty Boyd.

This November, Sensei will hold the sixth annual Inner-School Tournament at the Boothbay Region YMCA.

Spear has been restructuring the Tao Karate Club. "We are restructuring to allow all students to work together. The younger students will benefit from working with the higher ranks," Spear said.

"It's not written in stone; we are working towards allowing maximum time for training for students at all levels. Higher ranks (black belts) will gain teaching experience and younger students will be exposed to a learning by example model," explained Spear.

In addition to classes in Boothbay, Spear has a branch of the Tao Karate Club at the Wiscasset Community Center, where she has been instructing students, aged four and up, since April of 1994.

Spear's personal training includes attending Sensei classes monthly and black belt classes' bi-weekly.

In competitions and tournaments, Sensei Spear consistently places first or second in kata (form) and weapons.

In fact, she is so fond of her weapons that she is considering bringing some along to Channel 7's studio Saturday night.

"If I do, I'll probably just talk about them, there really isn't enough room for a demonstration, and - " said Spear with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, "if something happened - like a sword should go flying, and found its way to Rick, I wouldn't know his lines!"

For more information on the Tao Karate Club, contact Sensei Spear at 633-3496.

To be a part of "Seven for 7," be watching the fourth annual, 24-hour telethon beginning at 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 25, and call in a pledge.