Sophie Keeley doesn't get any special treatment in karate classes taught by her uncle Jake Erling, a black belt karate instructor called Mr. Jake by his martial arts students. While it might be tempting for him to go easy on his pint-sized 5-year-old niece, that's not the case. "He makes me do some hard stuff," Sophie said. Her favorite move? "Round kicks."

The work has paid off: Sophie, who lives in Wayzata, recently earned a purple belt in karate (her third belt) at My Gym Children's Fitness Center in Eden Prairie, where she takes weekly classes from Erling. Every studio has a different color order for belts; for Erling's students, the order is white, gold, purple, orange, green, red, brown, black.

"The biggest thing I teach them is confidence and discipline," said Erling, 33, who received his black belt at 15 and started teaching children and adults in 2003. To earn a belt, students must demonstrate self-discipline and the ability to kick, block and punch at each level.

"He's like a rock star to all the kids," said Susan Martinez, Sophie's grandmother and a black belt. "He's strict, but they know he cares about them."

Sophie is just the latest member of her family to practice martial arts. In addition to her uncle and grandmother, Sophie's mother, Amber Keeley, and her aunt Noelle Erling have also been trained in American Karate. Amber has a red belt and Noelle is currently studying for her second-degree black belt.

When Jake Erling was Sophie's age, he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and was urged to engage in physical activity. "We told him he could pick any sport he wanted to do," Martinez said. "We were all fans of Bruce Lee, so Jake picked karate."

Although Erling enjoyed the sport, he eventually started to lose interest, so in order to get him back into his workout regimen when he was 12, Martinez told him she would take karate classes, too. Before long, Martinez was training daily and began pursuing her own black belt, which she received in 1991.

Amber Keeley's motivation for studying karate was very different from that of her younger brother. At age 15, she was attacked while riding her bike through a park near the family home in Brooklyn Park.

"I kicked and screamed and fought back," Amber said. "The very next day, Noelle and I started taking karate."

As the mother of two girls -- 2-year-old Shelby isn't ready for lessons yet -- Amber appreciates the self-defense benefits of the martial arts.

"One of the goals of karate is that you never need to use it," she said. "Instead, you have the confidence and diplomacy to help get yourself out of a difficult situation."

In addition to his classes at My Gym, Erling also teaches karate and sparring at Out on a Limb Dance Company and School in St. Paul, where Keeley is the director.

"I didn't want to start training Sophie until she was 4 years old," he said. "I thought she was going to choose ballet instead of karate anyway."

That wasn't a dilemma for Sophie -- she takes both and has a part, along with her mother, in Out on a Limb's upcoming production of "Aladdin" at O'Shaughnessy Auditorium in St. Paul. She is also ready to start working on her next belt -- orange -- but is very proud to wear the purple.

"She likes to call herself 'the best karate-er,'" Keeley said with a laugh.

Julie Pfitzinger is a West St. Paul freelance writer. Got an idea for the Your Family page? E-mail us at tellus@startribune.com with "Your Family" in the subject line.