About The Instructor

Born:  
Rochester NY, September 1974

Family:
Married June 2000 to Rachel Gucker
Our family lives in the city of Rochester’s 19th Ward
We have 5 children: David, Luke, Margaret, John (J.W.), and Matthew.

Vocation:           
I work for a crane manufacturer in Fishers NY, and serve as a job quoting specialist with their Inside Sales department .

Education:         
McQuaid Jesuit High School 1992
AS Business - Monroe Community College 1998
BS Pastoral/Biblical Studies – Liberty University 2002
MA Theology – Northeastern Seminary 2005

Other Interests:
Parenting & Home Schooling.
Being with the Church, and spending time cultivating those relationships.
Teaching the Bible Story and answering questions about God and his Kingdom.
Brewing Custom Ales (and ciders).
Making stuff, growing things, and building projects of all sorts.
 

Future Goals:
To open a full-scale boxing school where my children can participate
Develop a comprehensive On-Line video library so people can learn from anywhere
To find and develop instructors who want to open up clubs of their own.
 

 

20 Years of Experience in the Martial Arts

A Brief History

Eager To Learn
I really wanted to begin martial arts training at about age 10, during the 80’s Ninja craze, but it took me until age 14 to convince my parents that I was serious enough for them to let me enroll at the local Karate school. After my first class I was hooked, and have continued to train since 1989. I still have the enthusiasm of my youth, and enjoy my training more each day.

Love For Teaching
By providence, I happened to walk into a school that was, at the time, one of the top ten schools in the country (Kathy Faust's USA Karate - Great children's programs!). After training there for a number of years I came on staff in 1994 and worked my way up the ranks to become the head instructor. This experience was unbelievable. In my early 20’s I was responsible for the instruction of almost 400 students, and was afforded the opportunity to meet and train with many of the martial arts greats like: Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Chuck Norris, Dan Innosanto, and Francis Fong just to name a few. It was during this time that I realized my love for teaching.

MMA and Boxing
I left that school in 1999 to pursue my undergraduate degree in Springfield MO (the “Show Me” state). This is when I began to think outside of the traditional martial arts, and began to develop an appreciation and interest in reality based martial arts. I began to train in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and Jeet Kune Do Concepts (JKD or Bruce Lee’s philosophy), and took an instructor position at a school where I was able to study boxing, kick boxing (muay thai), submission wrestling, Kali, and wing-chun concepts.

Self-Defense
After my wife and I returned to NY, I enrolled in graduate school, and we began building what has become quite a large family. These experiences caused me to mature rather quickly and I lost interest in the "sport" versions of fighting. The desire to think about fighting outside of the ring caused me to pursue the study of Israeli - Krav Maga, Soviet - Systema, and self-defense systems of the US military.

Health and Fitness
During this time I began to notice the effects of getting older and realized that the process wasn't going to reverse itself. As a result, I have begun to study Tai Chi, Yoga, and Ayurvedic health to build on the knowledge which I had already accumulated. My goal was to learn how to re-build bodies rather than just tear them apart ;-)  To continue the effort, I earned my CPT (certified personal trainer) and have worked with the RIT lacrosse team as a strength and conditioning coach. Currently I am working on a sports nutritionist certification, and working on an instructor certification through Mark Hatmaker of Extreme Self Protection (ESP). He has a well balanced training method, and I prefer the western fighting systems. I believe he is one of the best thinkers in the field today.

Today
So where does that leave me today?...Well I see a small niche that I am eager to fill. I am persuaded that most people have thought about training at some point in their lives, but believe that they missed their chance. It is not too late to learn self defense skills, and have a great time exercising in the process. This is a private boxing club for like minded folks who want to be physically fit, and would like to be part of a fun-loving, clean-living, hard-working group of people. (Those can be hard to find these days). If that sounds like something you would be interested in, then don't be a stranger. Come in for a visit!