Rodney Peoples shows off his students and their trophies won Jan. 12 in the Tracy Winter Classic karate tournament, including five for first place in various divisions. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch

On Jan. 12, local martial arts instructor Rodney Peoples took seven of his karate students to a tournament in Tracy and the group returned with 11 trophies, including five for first place performances.

Award winners were:

- Anthony Estrada took first place in "New Competitors Fighting" and second place in "Fighting."

- Leticia Estrada won first place in "New Competitors Fighting" and third place in "Fighting."

- Tyler Hayward took third place in "Forms" and third place in "Fighting."

- Jessica Ladd won first place in "Forms."

- Thomas Ladd took second place in "Forms."

- Cameron Peoples finished in first place in "Forms."

- Daniel Schow took first place in "Fighting" and second place in "Forms."

This is the largest group of students that "Instructor" or "Sensei" Peoples has had attend a tournament since he began offering free karate lessons to the community about two years ago. Not surprisingly, it was the largest collection of awards his school has brought back home as well.

Since January 2006, Peoples has been offering karate lessons as an outreach program through the church he attends, Sutter Creek Church of the Nazarene on Ridge Road. The martial arts master has a fourth-degree black belt in Ko Sutemi Karate - a traditional Japanese martial art that incorporates Jujitsu techniques as well.

A karate practitioner for more than 37 years, Peoples simply wants to give back to the community the virtues he gained through karate: focus, fairness, discipline and loyalty.

Peoples offers the classes free of charge to community members. The classes are given on Thursday nights. The course for children 10 years old and under starts at 6 p.m. and runs for 30 minutes. All others train 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the same night.

If he can find the right facility, Peoples is also considering offering karate instruction in the Pine Grove area in the future.

Tracy's Jan. 12 competition, dubbed "The Winter Classic" is one of several karate tournaments that are open to all styles and put on by the Golden State Karate Association. The next competition Peoples plans on taking his students to will be another GSKA tournament, planned for Feb. 9 in Sacramento.