‘Physically and mentally amazing’ - Despite personal injury, Tate Green running successful Circuit Martial Arts & Fitness

Tate Green began the process of purchasing Circuit Martial Arts & Fitness in 2018. Earlier this year, she made her final payment, and the 26-year-old  continues to build on the programs at the facility on Holly Boulevard behind Sunshine Foods.

She managed the facility prior to her 2018 purchase, so she clearly knew the ropes heading into such a venture.

Being one of the few female owners in a male-dominated martial arts field is impressive enough, but to understand what Green went through to achieve her current success is nothing less than inspiring.

After Green made the decision to purchase the facility from her brother, Rob, in 2018, little did she know that she was in for two terribly trying years. 

She was hit by an impaired driver in October of 2019 causing significant physical injuries. She was in a Sioux Falls hospital for three months. Having just purchased Circuit, it made for difficult times.

“Yes. Both physically and mentally,” she said when asked if it was tough trying to run the business at that time. “When I was finally starting to get my senses back together, I was holding instructor meetings from a hospital bed and making sure people were getting stuff done.”

Seeing Green lead classes at Circuit now, you’d never know she underwent such trauma. She said she still has physical ailments and that she will never be 100 percent fully back to the way she was prior to the accident.

But that disability, albeit nearly impossible to see, is what drives Green to keep moving forward.

“I work hard to make sure that my limitations don’t get the better of me and I can still give as much effort as possible,” she said. “Of course, I do have bad days from time-to-time but I’ve got a great team that helps me out when I do have those bad days, but thankfully I don’t have too many of them.”

Part of that team is her mother, Cindi. She works at the desk at Circuit while Tate is on the mat teaching martial arts. It’s a balance that is working as Tate still sees a chiropractor once per month and works in on-and-off physical therapy sessions.

Overcoming the 2019 accident would seemingly put anyone in a position of confidence moving forward. But then, 2020 surfaced and COVID-19 hit with a wallop, especially in the fitness facility industry.

Unable to gather in large crowds, Circuit, and every other workout facility in the country, had to get creative to stay afloat.

“It was an interesting time. Online classes don’t work the best,” Tate said. “We definitely took a hit, but we’re back to where we were before. Actually, before the accident and before all the COVID stuff happened, I think we’re probably doing better than before all that.”

Owning her own business was something Tate said she was interested in from an early age. Her mother owned her own business, and Tate said watching her create her own schedule and being able to identify time for work and time for her children was inspiring.

And Brandon was always the place she wanted to do it.

“It seemed nice being able to do that,” Tate said about watching her mother as a child. “Brandon has been great. It’s where I grew up. I know the community and I love it here. The community has been very kind to me with the accident and with some of the events we’ve done through Circuit.”

Her recovery from the 2019 accident and the ability to overcome 2020’s pandemic has been an impressive stretch. No one notices more than Cindi, who watches her daughter lead martial arts classes for dozens of children at a time.

“To see where she was after the accident, many people did not feel she would walk out of the hospital. The injuries were so severe,” Cindi said. “To come back the way she has and the strength she has both physically and mentally is amazing.”