New Location

I really want to send a big, big "THANK YOU" to all of the students and families that have made our expansion possible! We were in Pound Ridge in a 900 sq. ft. facility for 13 years. Thanks to you all we are now in Vista, South Salem in a beautiful over 2,000 sq. ft. facility that has been welcomed and appreciated by all. Our success truly is measured by our supporters. You all know how hard we work to really be part of the village that it takes to raise a child. Thank you all once again! Here is our new address: 910 Oakridge Common South Salem, NY 10590 in the Ridge Club Building If you are looking for us on Map Quest or GPS please use the address across the street from us witch is: 380 Smithridge Rd. Our address is unfortunately not recognized by many mapping systems.

Parents Give Karate Belts

Last night we had a belt promotion for our little ones. Our Tiny tigers who are between the ages of 3 and 5. Everything went very well. The kids were great, the parents were proud, and I was extremely proud!

Just before the test I was thinking about when my children were Tiny Tigers and I awarded them their very first earned or tested for belt. I can not explain how happy and proud I felt just by being the one to award the new well earned belt to my child (children). I thought that every parent should expirience this feeling at least once. This promted me to change the belt ceremony just a bit. At the end of the ceremony I handed out the certificates (which are cool to have but the kids do not care for them half as much as they care about getting their new belt) and the parents each handed out the new belts to their child.

This turned out to be awesome! Every child got their new belt from one of their parents along with a hug and a kiss. What a scene this was! I felt quite emotional and we just created a wonderful atmosphere.

I just want to give out a big "THANK YOU," to all of our members and their families for making belt promotions such a big deal and so special. I have friends that own martial arts schools and some of them promote their students within their regularly scheduled class. I know that this makes things very convienient for students, instructors, and parents. I know because I used to do this.

We now try to always make it a special event and schedule belt promotions at special times other than during the students regular classes. Although a bit inconvienient at times, this has been working very well and reminds us all of how important of an event it really is when we are all being promoted to a new level and continue on our path of growth in the journey we call the "Martial Arts."

Hello,

It has been a long time since I posted here. It seems sometimes that with all that is going on it just gets harder and harder to post here, and on facebook, and the web site, and deal with emails.

I want to send out a big "Thank You" to my wife, Frances Cuartas. Without her all of the multimedia for Family Dragon Karate would not be possible. What a great job she is doing and continues to come up with a geat newsletter every month (if you are not recieving our news letter and would like to subscribe send us an email at andresfdk@optimum.net).

Also, today is Frances' Birthday. Happy Birthday Fran!

Here we are almost half way into February and we have already been so active this year. We had our very first night out with our adult students at Jeff's Cuisine in Norwalk, CT, celebrated Chinese New year next door to the studio at Asia Hamachi, had four new students become Jr. Black Belts, and 9 others get promoted further into their Jr. Black Belts, started a new session of Elite Team training (Chinese Broad Sword), and this Friday we will be hosting our Valentine's Parent's night out!

Next month we will be promoting 6 other students further into their Jr. Black belts and one to an adult Black Belt. We will also be going to our first tournament of the year. This one will be a Kempo tournametent that we attended last year and did a great job, scored many trophies and medals, and had a lot of fun. For the adults we will be having a dinner and movie night at Jeff's Cuisine.

Family Dragon Karate Rocks! We are so excited to continue to serve and work with such wonderful people!

Happy New Year Postcard

Make a Smilebox collage

Laosi

I need to send a big thank you to my assistant instructors. Here at the school we call them Laosi (la-o-shur). This is the name for teacher in Chinese. In Pound Ridge we have two very talented and trusted Laosi. They are Chacho Guenancia and Nicholas Giori. Both young men are far beyond their years in wisdom and, of course, excellent martial artist. Even though we try to keep our classes from getting too crowded, these guys would have no problem teaching a class of any given size. The kids love them and the adults respect them. They certainly live by the martial arts code of ethics and I cannot be any prouder. I have had other assistants in the past but I must give these two gentlemen a big hand for their effort, hard work, and meaning that they put into all they do! They truly are a pleasure to have around.

Chacho (Charles) Guenancia. Chacho has been my student for almost 10years now! I remember him as a young child just a bundle of joy. I always looked forward to teaching him as I knew he enjoyed and always appreciated the instruction.
One of my fondest memories of him was years ago when he tested for his Jr. Black Belt. He was sick as a dog! But nothing, and I mean nothing was going to stop that kid from becoming a Jr. Black Belt! He proved his tenacity and perseverance that day. The true martial arts spirit. I felt so bad at the after party. We had food and beverages for all who passed their exam and we even had the local newspaper come out and interview some of the kids that tested. Chacho couldn't hang around because he felt so sick.
This tenacity follows him everywhere. I see it in the way he studies and the way that hi is a great son, brother, instructor, student, and friend.
Thank you Chacho and you deserve all of life's good fortune!

Nicholas Giori. Nicholas came to us from the Milford school and has had a great attitude from the beginning. Great student! Always involved in all kinds of activities. The guy keeps himself busy! Everyone that meets him just can't get enough of him. His future is definitely in the teaching business. He is a people person and enjoys the company of both adults and children.
Unlike Chacho, Nick has had many different martial arts instructors. Sensei Jay, in Milford, is his current instructor and on occasion I am also. He really enjoys taking class with both Jay and I and both truly feel blessed to have him in our company. Nick can always be trusted to lead a group to higher ground.
Thank you Nick and you deserve all of life's good fortune!

Training with family

I was just thinking about some of the families that train with us at both locations. We really have had the pleasure of working with some awesome people. Not many of us think of family when we hear the word "TEAM". You may think of your favorite baseball or football team. Not your family. I tend to think differently.

My favorite team is definitely my family. I think of all the little steps my team takes that later on help to become big steps. For example, my son, Cristian, is 17 months old and is already successfully using the "potty." He got to do this amazing task with help and support of his mommy, daddy, and older sister. Cristian wants to do everything his big sister Isabella does. Mommy and daddy make sure that Isabella is working on positive constructive things like reading, singing, playing nicely, speaking well with others, practicing her karate, etc. and she knows what an influence she is on her brother and tries to be a good example.

Isabella just turned four today - "Happy Birthday Princess!" You should see how proud her brother is of her. They actually practice karate together and not on each other. They know the positives of martial arts so far. They know that karate on people is a no no. I can't tell you what a team we are at home and when we go out. We look for each other's comfort and support.
I see this comfort and support everyday from other teams in my school everyday.

A family that trains together stays together! Whatever your team does together do it with passion, no matter what it is. I, of course, use karate classes as an example but it can be any sport or recreation. You can be a part of it even if you are not physically involved.
If you are one of our students, or a family member of one of our students, we thank you for your support and know that we have been watching.

How I Got Here

Hi, this is my first post.

I have been a student of the martial arts since the age of 14. I am now 34yrs. old. As far as I can remember, my interests in martial arts began back at age 4 with my mother having studied kung-fu in her native Colombia - I think it's mostly her fault. My older brother - who is 11yrs. my senior - also studied martial arts in Colombia for a while. I'm gonna have to blame him also for my infatuations in the martial arts. Oh, and my dad used to take us to see kung-fu movies every weekend in the city. I'm going to have to put some blame on him too.

Both my parents, my older brother, and I were born in Colombia. My two younger brothers were born in the United States.

At age 14 I got my first paying job and was able to afford karate lessons for myself and my two younger brothers. I was so excited to finally be able to take real classes. Before that it was just my imagination and trying to recreate scenes and training from all the kung-fu movies that were stored in my crazy memory vault (check out: The 36 Chambers, Chinese Super Ninjas, Five Deadly Venoms, Shaolin vs. Ninja(Not for kids to watch). Here are some good ones for kids: The Karate Kid and all of the 3 Ninjas movies).

I began in a style called Goju Karate under sensei Kevin Suggs. At the time he was a 3rd degree black belt and had also studied Wing Chung kung fu. He was a great instructor and I recommend looking him up if you are interested in Goju Karate. My younger brother, Yhalid, took a few classes and decided it was not for him. My youngest brother, Hector stuck with it along side me. That is until I realized the classes were nothing like the movies I had enjoyed all those years prior to beginning my formal martial arts training. Hector and I hung in there for about a year.

During that time a friend of mine invited me to take class with him at his Kempo Karate studio. I enjoyed the class but wasn't ready to quit taking Goju to start up Kempo. I wanted to finish what I started - you know, get my black belt. But then, immediately following my lesson this little Japanese kid wearing a green belt showed up for a private lesson and started warming up. He did a form that mimicked a crane! This got me interested! Flashback to kung-fu movies! Wow! I have to learn that! All of these thoughts were going through my head. Dude, stop what your doing and join this school if you are going to learn animal movement! That's what kept going through my head. So what came next - I joined of course! Yeah man, that same day! Was even late for work.

The instructor was a real young looking guy named Corey Paternoster. He actually offered me a job as an assistant instructor once I became a blue belt. By then I was in College and was just grateful to now be involved in the martial arts full time. I actually went to an instructor's college for martial arts under Grand Master Stephen DeMasco and Master Brian Hanson. It was cool. The instructors were great to learn from and was offered the job of actually running a school in Hartsdale, NY. I jumped on the opportunity since I was at the time attending college at Mercy in Dobbs Ferry, NY. I thought, "near school, hours worked, why not." I thought this was a dream come true. Running a karate school, cool stuff!

Well, things were not so cool. It turns out that the school had been up and going for about a year and a half and had already gone through about three instructors and they were trying to get rid of the guy that was currently there for dishonesty and unethical behavior. The school had never turned a profit and was located behind a building on a one way street, so no one knew it was there. Once all the students saw me and found out their previous instructor was being "relocated" it wasn't a good scene. I didn't feel wanted or very appreciated. But who could blame the students, change is tough. Especially after having already gone through 2 instructors before that. What made me so special?

Anyway, I began the job and in 4 months time almost tripled the amount of students at that location. Things were good, I loved all of my students, what fun! YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? The company was relocating me to CT, and closing down the Hartsdale location! I couldn't believe it! I felt so bad for all of those students. We had such good relationships. I didn't even want to go. Students were asking me to stay and open my own school and not deal with the company I was working for. Maybe I should have listened. I didn't have the money, I hadn't even finished college, and I felt that I should be loyal to my master instructor.

So with great regret I began teaching up in Trumbull, CT. What a big change! That school was so busy that there was already an office assistant there. Again, I fell in love with the people but the travel was killing me and my grades. I just had to get my bachelor degree. If I did I would be the very first in my family to do so. My dad never made it past 3rd grade. He was from a very poor family and needed to work even as a child to help out his family. My mom wasn't from such a poor family but still college was out of the question. My older brother made it into college but pursued other options after about a year. For me this was very important to be the first and set an example. I was always a good student and put forth my best effort in all of my studies whether they be martial arts related or not.

After a few months I left and contacted a friend who was associated with the company but owned his own franchise location, Manny Esmeraldo. His school was in CT, but much closer to where I lived. It was cool. We got along great, worked together, worked out together. Good times and I continued my college education and my Kempo studies under the same masters - you know because I never really left the company.

The year was 1999. I had been dating the same girl since high school and her father passed away from stomach cancer in February. October of the same year, my mother passed away from cancer also. Sorry Prince, or artist formerly known as, or Prince again, but we didn't "party like its 1999." I didn't go to work much that year. I didn't even attend my college graduation. I spent as much time as I could tending to my mother at bedside. I can't tell you how many doctors and specialists I contacted to try and find a cure or treatment. I had a copy of her files that were mailed, emailed, and faxed to just about everywhere. No luck. October came all too quickly. In November I decided to get together with a tattoo artist and come up with a memorial tattoo in my mother's memory. I wear it with pride. It is the only one on my body so far.

2000, what a year!
My dad, two younger brothers and I moved up to Stratford, CT. I never even heard of the town until my dad just wanted to move. I guess he just needed a change. Well, I wasn't gonna leave the old man, god knows how he was gonna make it through in a new town without mom.

A great opportunity came around in May of that year. Some one in Pound Ridge, NY owned a Kenpo Karate school and was about to close his doors, but then looked us up and offered to sell us the school. Manny and I took up the opportunity and went in 50/50. I, of course, would be the one running the place. We took over in June. As twice before, I was taking the place of another instructor. Not too many happy faces. It seemed like I just showed up one day and everybody was like, "Who is this guy and where is my old instructor." It seemed as if no one was forewarned. Oh, and I had to change the schedule around due to other programs and commitments that I had. This was really a last minute deal. Needless to say, we lost a lot of students in the beginning.

Persistence and hard work pays off. Less than a year later I bought my partner's share of the school and was engaged to my high school sweetheart. Now I have another school in Milford, CT and we are teaching our own blended style of martial arts. Our business is called Family Dragon Karate, LLC. You can check us out at http://www.familydragonkarate.com/.