If you were born in or after 1984 you haven’t lived in a world without the Karate Kid. Before that date, Karate wasn’t always a fixture of youth activity in U.S. But, believe it or not, it was in Crowley, Louisiana! Way back in the 1970’s, thanks to Acadiana Karate . Sensai Stacey Knight Mejia from Acadiana Karate Today, Stacey Knight Mejia and her husband Pablo run Acadiana Karate at a space in Lafayette. Pablo originally took over the business in 1978 and expanded it from its home in Crowley. Acadiana Karate offers instruction in mixed martial arts with methods based in a variety of disciplines: Judo, Tai Kwan Do, Jujitsu, Akido, Kung Fu and American Shotokan. Besides the local shift from Crowley to Lafayette, one nationwide change over the last two decades is the number of women training and competing in martial arts. Today, around 30 or 40% of Stacey’s students are women and girls. Stacey is a lawyer by training, but left the legal profession to make a career out of karate.