Martial Arts: Schools

Martial Arts have been an enormous part of my life. I share my experience with images and prose. I hope you enjoy reading these stories them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

This is a long term project that I estimate is half completed.

Now that many years have passed since I began this project, it seems unlikely that I will ever finish, so ... please send me your ideas, whether they be additions, corrections, or suggestions to me at: my-first-name [at-sign] hellers [dot] ws. One of the nicest aspects of this project is that I've gotten in touch with old friends, met new people, and even connected together people I did not know.

These are some of the martial arts schools that have touched my life. Most of these schools have had many more instructors than I've listed; I've listed the ones I know or know about or interacted with.

Instructors: Phil Zaneteas - Danny Mearns - Anne Berlin - and many others I don not know.

Established: March 1975 by Bob Dvorkin

Originally named the Community Tae Kwon Do Club, class was initially held at the Poughkeepsie JCC on Sunday mornings in the exercise room. Enrollment expanded, and we moved to the auditorium for a while with two classes a week, on Sundays and Tuesdays. We outgrew that room as well, and occupied the gym for many years on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. A kids class was added as well as an advanced class (purple belt and up) where Bob developed both techniques and teaching methods. Somewhere along the way the club was relabeled Community Martial Arts, foreshadowing an ever expansive program.

In 1986 class moved to a studio at the old Arlington Firehouse on Main Street in Poughkeepsie. About two years later, the club left the WTKDA, and the ETKDU was formed.

Instructors (main class): Bob Dvorkin - Dan Fitzgerald - George Robinson - Chuck Brotman - Danny Iasbarrone
Instructors (kids' class): John Jackson - Sandy Hildibrand - Ralph Schwartz - Marian Schwartz

Established: Fall 1979 by Jon Daurio
Instructors: Jon Daurio (79-82) - Tom Krelewski (82-83) - Mark Spaulding (83-87) - Irwin Jungreis (85-00?) - Peter Everett (85-04?)

Instructors: K.C. Park - Duk Sung Son - Mike Teck

location: Poughkeepsie JCC
Instructors: Fred Margolis

Instructors: K. H. Kim - Puht Dek (lead instructor for many years)

Instructors: Anne Berlin

Instructors: Michelle Brotman - Mark Solomon - Chuck Brotman

Instructors: Steve Heller - Cynthia Dwork - Jill Goldstein - Mike Even - Poh Lim - Gene Cohen - Chris Dennis - Ian Taylor - Ron Gans - Stan Hunter

The Mountain View club was established in 1980 by Rod Preble (then a green belt) and Steve Kusmer (then a purple belt) as a non-profit organization, which is rare outside of academia. The club was later taught by Bob Hodges, Alice Bedoyan, Cynthia Dwork, Mike Conboy, and others. The club became home to a number of other Boston area refugees, including Jay Cohan, Dave Gray, Dave Mayes and others.

Instructors: Giles Hopkins - Gordon Bradley - Pat Bradley

Instructors: Cal Russell - Pete Michaelson - Joe Polistina

Instructors: Mark Miller - Dave Schulman

tournaments, martial arts leads to marital arts

Instructors: Dong Hoon Kim - Gerry Bates

U Mass Goju-Ryu Karate-Do

Instructors: Kimo Wall - Giles Hopkins

The "seniors" in the front are: Giles Hopkins, club founder Kimo Wall, Master Matayoshi-shinpo, and someone I can't identify. The young girls are Giles' daughters: Phoebe and Emily.

Instructors: Duk Sung Son