Raffi & Susan Derderian's Instructors

These are the superb people either myself or my wife and I have trained with or studied under. We could not ask for a better pool of instructors to aid us in our journey to become the best martial arts instructors we can be.

                                                                                                                                                                      Sensei Raffi Derderian

Sensei George Mattson-One of Karate's true pioneers. Sensei Mattson was the FIRST person to bring Uechi-ryu Karate to America. He was one of the first people in this country to even be teaching Karate. One of the few legitimate 9th degree Black Belts in this country, Sensei Mattson still has the passion for teaching as a brand new instructor. Sensei Mattson is President of the International Uechi Karate Federation. IUKF has affiliated schools all over the world.

Sensei Mike Campos - Mr. Campos is the founder and head of the Zen Do Kai Association. He has an amazing martial arts and military background. He is Sensei Raffi's mentor in our Shinko-ryu Kempo program. Mr. Campos also runs a fantastic martial arts summer camp, Super Summers Seminars.

Sifu Kevin Seaman-Sifu Kevin is the person who is responsible for Raffi Derderian to become interested in martial arts cross training. Sifu Kevin is one of the few to achieve the level of FULL Instructor in Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali under the legendary Dan Inosanto. Sifu Kevin is also an instructor of Thai Boxing under Master Chai and is an instructor of Wing Chun under Francis Fong. He has competed in Full Contact Stickfighting in the Philippines as well as Boxing, Kickboxing, and Thai Boxing.

Words can not begin to express the quality of person in Kevin Seaman. He is an encyclopedia of martial arts knowledge and never hesitates to share it. Sifu Kevin educates his students in martial arts and in life by motivating them with his fine example of how a person should live his life.

Shihan Don Rodrigues-Shihan Don is an 9th degree Black Belt and founder of Oki-ryu Kenpo. He has been teaching Kenpo in RI longer than just about everybody. Shihan Don received Black Belt ranks from two of his teachers, the late Prof. Nick Cerio and Master Ed Parker.  He has also been promoted to 9th degree Black Belt from Kenpo pioneer and legend Master George Pesare.

Shihan Don, along with his wife World Champion Christine Rodrigues, own and operate The Don Rodrigues Karate Academy in Warwick, RI. They also promote the Ocean State Grand Nationals, one of the biggest karate tournaments in the country.

Guro W. Hock Hochheim-Black Belt Magazine Hall of Famer Hock Hochheim is the Founder of the Hochheim Group (formerly The Scientific Fighting Congress).  Hock travels virtually every weekend all over the world teaching his bare bones and highly effective system of weapons and empty handed fighting. Hock is a 3rd degree Black Belt under Master Ernesto Presas and a 2nd degree under the late Prof. Remy Presas. He has also trained extensively in many other systems as well.

Master Larry Tatum-Sifu Raffi met and trained with Mr. Tatum in 2003 at the Zen-do-Kai camp and since then has been working with him long distance via his video series and Mr. Tatum's East Coast seminars. . Mr. Tatum is a true legend in the Kenpo community and his skills are beyond description. He is a person of quiet and  humble disposition and exemplifies the spirit of how a martial artist should act.

Sifu Raffi trains regularly with all of his instructors. Our academy has a entire wall of pictures Sifu has been fortunate enough to train or take seminars from. Guro Dan Inosanto, Sifu Larry Hartsell, Sifu Steve Grody, the late Prof. Remy Presas, Sifu Francis Fong, and Master Chai to name a few.  Sifu makes it a point to travel and train with these world class instructors whenever it is possible.