Derderian Academy of Martial Arts
News & Announcements
November
Welcome New Students
Andrew Sia
JKD Promotions
Level 7 Norman Davis
Level 6 Mike Norigian, Kevin Malloy
Level 5 Mike Terasenko
Level 1 Merry Peloquin
Good job everyone!
Flu Season
At the request of many of our students, I am asking anyone who is sick or not feeling well to skip classes until they feel better. This goes for all of our adult and children students. Your cooperation is most appreciated.
Toys for Tots
We will try to do a drive for this most worthy charity in December. It will likely be a inter school tournament of some kind.
More information soon.
October
Welcome New Students
JP Jablonski, Wilson Jablonski, Gerald Pace, Alexa Pace, Jeremy Tammelleo
Last month, Sifu Raffi was in Atlanta for two days taking seminars with martial arts legend Sifu Dan Inosanto. As always, it was an amazing learning experience. Sifu Raffi was there with his teacher Sifu Kevin Seaman.
Ct. JKD Seminar
Next month Sifu Raffi will be teaching a JKD seminar at Sifu Collin’s school in Connecticut on November 14.
JKD Sifus
It was announced last month at camp that Chris Thompson, Todd Scungio, and Garrett Berman were all promoted toSifu in JKD class. Well deserved, congrats guys.
September
Welcome New Students
Zak Fang, Trevor Peters, Kylie Swett,
Congratulations To these DAMA students for their recent promotions.
Green Belt
Garrett Beeley, Zach MacFarlane, Jillian Blanco
Purple Belt
Joe Santos
CAMP
The 9th NE Martial Arts Camp will be held on September 12 at the Crown Plaza in War-wick.
Sensei Raffi started this camp 9 years ago. This is an excel-lent event and all adult DAMA should try to attend. You won’t believe how much you will learn in one day!
This year Guest Instructor is UFC Joe Lauzon. It will be our best camp yet! There will also be Iaido (sword), Aikido, and much more.
Information is in the lobby of the school.
Parents
Once again, pleeeeease do not distract your child during a class. While your intentions are good, it is disruptive. Let the instructors run the class.
Parents are welcome to watch a class from the outside of the school if they want to. We ask that you do not try to coach or give instruction to your child.
JKD Assistant Instructors
It is awesome to announce that there are two new JKD assistants.
Eric Vito and Norm Davis have been DAMA members for some time. Both have senior ranks and are excellent JKD students.
They will be assisting Si Sook Todd, Chris and Sifu Raffi in their classes.
Congrats guys.
August
Welcome New Students
Joe Dimarzio, Meredith Peloquin, Ryan Fragozon, John Gardiner
Fitness Class
Information is on the display case for the Sensei Susan’s women’s fitness class. The class is going great and the people who have tried it have loved it. There are flyers with pricing information on the counter. Our paying members receive a generous discount.
Movie Night
We will be having a movie night for our Karate students on August 21. Information on the counter. Movie, popcorn, games. What else do you need? It will be a fun night.
Super Summers Seminars
Another great SSS last month. The new location was excellent. Sensei Raffi & Susan once again were teaching at the camp. Chris Thompson, Norman Davis, and Ryan Chin attended the camp as well.New England Martial Arts Camp
Next month is our own annual camp. Flyers are on the display case in the lobby of the school.
July
Welcome New Students
Joshua Cliff
July Vacation
Please make note that we are closed from Saturday July 4th to Saturday July 11 for vacation. Classes resume on Monday July 13.
NEW FITNESS CLASS
Sensei Susan is starting a womens only fitness class here at DAMA. It will meet Tuesday and Friday nights. The class will cover strength, cardio and stretching. You do not need to be in shape for this class. It will be taught at a very beginner level. For the last two weeks in July the class will be offered for FREE to all DAMA students/family or their friends. Email sderderian001@gmail for information.
Car Wash
Our annual car wash is being held on Saturday, July 11th at Town Hall Lanes. It is diago-nally across the street from DAMA. Please bring your car by for a wash. It is only $5 and we do a great job. The money goes to-wards our Competition Team and school mats.
Parents
Parents are more than welcome to watch the kids class from outside on the sidewalk. How-ever, please do not try to get your child’s attention during class. It is distracting to the students. The instructors need to run the class. Please do not coach, give advise or instructions to your child. (this is hard we know but we have to insist on this)
Congrats to Ryan Chin
One of our Black Belts, Ryan Chin tried out for the US Team for WAKO (World Association of Kickboxing Organiza-tions) and was selected as an alternate. This is a VERY prestigious karate team and Ryan just missed making the squad. They travel all over the world competing in tournaments.
June
Welcome New Students
Arion Kennedy, Scott Gaucher
“Bring Dad to Class”
On Friday, June 19 any student can bring their Dad to class with them. We will do our best to keep the chaos from getting too out of hand.
Food Bank Tournament
Thank you to everyone who came out for our second event. We raised 230 pounds of food to the RI Food Bank. This brings our total to 600 pounds!
Black Belt Graduation
On Friday, June 12 at 7:30. we will be having a Graduation Ceremony for our passing Black Belt Candidates. The ceremony is open to all friends and family of our candidates. DAMA students and their families are encouraged to attend as well. Many of you have watched these students grow up in the dojo. Lets all be part of their transition to Black Belt!
April
Welcome New Students
Nick Caprio, Joshua Davis, David Ashburn (welcome back Dave),
RI Food Bank Benefit
Thank you to all of you who were able to support our event. We collected a whole bunch of food to take to the RI Food Bank. All of our kids did great and represented our school in the best fashion. We have another competition for the Food Bank scheduled in May. We will be hosting two different schools for this one. The date will be announced very soon.
School Vacation
DAMA WILL be open during the public school vacation week. We are also open on Good Friday.
Tournament News
Last month, we had 5 students compete at the Northern RI Challenge. Brandon, Ian, Lisa and Luisa all took trophies and had plenty of competition. Ian took second in fighting and had an exciting match in the finals. Everyone watching really enjoyed the fight. Brandon took 3rd in kata in a pretty big division. Luisa took 1st in weapons, 2nd in kata and 3rd in fighting. Lisa (in her first tournament) took 2nd in fighting and 3rd in kata. Great job everyone!
January
Welcome New Students
Anthony Petronelli, Vong (Tony) Phanlak (welcome back Tony), Devon Labonte,
Rank Promotions
Aaron Higashi—Yellow Belt
Happy New Year
We wish everyone in our martial arts family a healthy and happy 2009. We hope everyone enjoyed vacation and is ready for a great year of martial arts. We have LOTS going on this year!
*********
We are NOT moving
As many of you now know, DAMA is NOT moving to a new location. Our landlord here worked with us to stay in our current location. Please be patient with the look of the school over the next month or so. We are in the process of remodeling. A BIG thank you to all of the students who, without hesitation, volunteered to help us move, paint, etc. We are happy we didn’t have to take you up on your generosity.
Waiting Room
Expanding the size of the school allows us to have a dressing room for the men (finally) and better yet, a waiting room. Please take a minute to read the back of the newsletter for the school rules and policies regarding the wait-ing room.
**********
Resolutions
Yeah, we all make them. How many of us actually keep them? Make a promise to yourself to get to class twice a week, every week.
**********
Tournament Notice
We are no longer going to host our annual tournament, the West Bay Open. Aside from the Northeast Challenge, Sensei Raffi & Susan will be coaching at any tournament that our students compete at.