New happenings around the Dojo

About the Newly announced Mask and Capacity guidelines in Ny

We have all heard Governor Cuomo’s announcement about lifting capacity restrictions at businesses and removal of masks by now, but keep in mind that as with everything from the government, there is a LOT of fine print.

When it comes to NY businesses like ours, unless 100% of people are vaccinated, and have provided proof, then masks and social distancing are still required. Even if we asked our students to share their vaccine status, and required all of our employees to get vaccinated, we would still need to “segregate” our students into vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups, or exclude non-vaccinated people entirely, including children who are not even eligible for the vaccine.

At this time we are not comfortable requiring our employees to get vaccinated, or requiring our students to prove their vaccination status to us, or excluding any person from taking classes. Therefore, all classes at Cutting Edge Kempo will continue exactly as is until the mandated guidelines change, with both instructors and children remaining masked and socially distant.

Please be aware that the Governor’s new guidelines are interim guidelines, and not permanent policy. We also understand the confusion and that other businesses may or may not adhere to the guidelines, and that some industries have their own guidelines specifically defined by the Governor and other agencies. But our teaching foundation begins with integrity and no matter what is going on around us, we intend on keeping ours intact through these trying times.

Failure on the part of any business to follow these guidelines, including collecting proof of vaccination, continues to leave us open to massive fines, even one of which would cause us to have to close the business for good. For the foreseeable future we will be subject to unannounced inspections both from the Department of Labor and the Department of Health for Suffolk County to ensure we are following all state mandated rules and regulations. We would like to be there for all of you well past this pandemic, so please continue to be patient with us, hopefully there is a light at the end of the tunnel at this point.

For more information on the Governor’s latest announcement go here.

Thanks for supporting us now and always, see you on the mat!

New happenings around the Dojo, Sensei's Musings

Important Notice!

Leave a comment

*UPDATE: AS OF MARCH 16, 2020*

All regularly scheduled classes and one on one lessons will be suspended temporarily.

FOR THE TIME BEING, WE ARE CLOSED!

ALL CURRENT STUDENTS PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR ONLINE CLASSES AVAILABLE NOW!


March 13, 2020

We have no doubt been following the news of the spreading COVID-19, particularly in relation to how various small business are ensuring the safety of their guests and staff. With that in mind we would like to update everyone on the status of our school, classes and upcoming events.

Cutting Edge Kempo Karate maintains the highest of sanitary standards throughout our training area, and we have taken extra measures to ensure that our students and parents are not at risk to contract COVID-19. This includes strictly following the directions provided from the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC, as well as reviewing and reinforcing our safety and sanitation procedures with all staff and members.

The entire school is cleaned and sanitized every day before our classes begin. The training mat is mopped and all targets and training equipment are sterilized every day. Throughout our open hours, staff members will be sanitizing all doorknobs, desktops and other surfaces frequently touched. Our staff members are instructed to wash and sanitize their hands frequently, clean any surfaces that need disinfecting, and to stop class to send any children to go clean their hands need be as well.

Please review the following safety procedures as well:

We will be asking every student to sanitize their hands via soap and water or hand sanitizer upon entering and leaving the school.

We ask any students and parents who are not feeling well to stay home until they have fully recovered.

We will be reviewing personal hygiene habits in our classes (no face-touching, lots of 20 second hand washing, covering your mouth and nose, mindful movements near other people) We will also be operating on a minimum contact basis to prevent the spread of any potential germs, focusing on the details of technique with the least amount of personal contact possible until this threat has subsided.

We will continue to keep you posted about our classes and will remain open as long as it is safe for our members. I am also setting up a live stream so I may bring our Kempo classes online so that our students can join in on classes from the comfort of their own home! More news about this soon, we will keep in touch.

Thank you for your continued support and efforts to keep our school safe and thriving! Looking forward to seeing you in class soon,

Shihan Nick and the CEK Staff

Events, New happenings around the Dojo, School Pictures and Videos

Another one for the books

Leave a comment

Words do no justice, yet here are a few that describe what transpired between the hours of 2:00 pm and 8:30 pm Sunday August 11, 2019 and the emotions that came with. We begin with a run…a bit more than two miles to warm up, and the day was nice. Afterwards more than an hour of intensive PT then material for hours on end. All of it. By the time we get to fight, no one knows which end is up. Minds are numb. Hearts and heads are pounding. For the hundredth time each of the candidates asks themselves why. Why am I doing this? When will it end?

The pain and the exhaustion is fleeting in the grand scheme of things, the anguish of your failures are temporary and most importantly; they are necessary. They are the building blocks of our character, that which defines us. The bruises and the blood are a badge of honor. A reminder that you are not only human and fallible, but you are resilient. You are a survivor. You are:

Warriors….every one.

There are only a few people in this world who can dedicate themselves to what we do. To the lifestyle that we choose. To the brotherhood /sisterhood that we embrace. A family that sweats and bleeds for and with each other. And there are even less people who will be able to understand why we do what we do day in and day out. Until they need us.

Because the warrior’s purpose in life, although we immerse ourselves in defending against the threat of violence, is to instill and keep peace. Peace within our hearts, peace within our minds, peace in our daily interactions. But if war comes our way, and our inner and outer peace cannot quell the rising tide;

We shall be prepared.


It is my honor to be your guide on this journey. It is our mission to continue to build on the foundation of integrity and honor, failure and success, honesty and the removal of ego, confidence, discipline, work ethic, and community. All these things that are needed for success, but are being forgotten by so many. Spread the Kempo love.

With great pleasure and the utmost pride and honor, on this day; Sunday August 11, 2019, I have gladly promoted the following warriors to the rank of Shodan…the first step.


Shodan Michael Gagliardi – Time in training 10 Years, 1 month

Shodan Anne Cavanaugh – Time in training 10 Years

Shodan Alex Mulhall – Time in training 10 Years, 8 months

Shodan Bradley Altman – Time in training 12 Years, 4 months

Shodan Abhinav Yadav – Time in training 6 Years, 11 months

Honor your rank, associates, fellow rank holding brothers and sisters, as well as yourself. May your rank forever uphold the standards set forth by Cutting Edge Kempo Karate as we continue to strive for unity and proficiency in the arts.

A special thank you to Grandmaster Rich Fescina for proctoring our exam, without you, we would not be doing what we are doing, at the level you have always demanded. We will never fold to the ideology that some things are ‘just too hard’ for the people of today. We will always uphold the standards and practices that you demanded of me. If necessary we will be the last bastion of hope in a society that seems to be losing it’s way.

We will keep the flame alive.

So here we are. Another group of dedicated brothers and sisters. Another generation of hope. Another bunch of bumps and bruises and broken bodies. Another band of folks who have earned something that not everyone can. Another pile of bodies that need to;

Get back on the mat.

Events, New happenings around the Dojo, Press Room / Media

Join us for a FREE anti bullying seminar

Leave a comment

Click here to sign up

Come on down to 975 Main Street in Holbrook on Sunday November 18th at 2:30 PM, BRING A FRIEND and get the world’s first look at

Cutting Edge Kindness - More than just an "Anti-Bullying" program

As many of our current students and parents already know, I have been working studiously with world renowned psychologists, motivational, and educational speakers in order to hone my skills working with those who struggle with being bullied. There is no “one size fits all” answer to the issues facing our children, but there are skills and techniques that you can practice, which will teach you how to be mentally RESILIENT and IN CONTROL of your own self-image and emotions and therefore STOP MEAN PEOPLE DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS! 

That’s where Cutting Edge Kindness comes in!

Our approach with Cutting Edge Kindness is to deal with the moments, months, weeks, days BEFORE a physical confrontation occurs. And the benefits go far beyond stopping the mean, hateful people in your life…the world can be a better place if we all use these skills as often as we can.

We can end the torment that so many of today’s youth suffers through, without violence. We can learn to be STRONG yet KIND without being weak, and lead by example. Cutting Edge Kindness is an adjunct to our Cutting Edge Kempo Karate program, where we speak about and promote all these ideas while focusing mainly on the physical attributes of resilience, practicing self defense techniques, and getting our bodies in better shape. Although these physical techniques are a large part of our curriculum, I have come to notice that there could be MORE.

That is why I began mentoring under people who are already out there making a difference by teaching and demonstrating psychological techniques to help people remain strong in the face of adversity. By combining the physical strengths our students presently gain through their training at Cutting Edge Kempo Karate with the proven psychological techniques that I have learned from my mentors, I am building so much more than an anti-bullying program. I am proud to introduce Cutting Edge Kindness, currently in its infancy, a program designed to let everyone of all ages know that they can persevere. They can survive. They can

BE STRONG.

BE COOL.

and

BE KIND.

Join us for a sneak peak of our upcoming program and engage in this FREE motivational speech and see how well these skills can be applied in this fun, interactive event. Sign up spots are limited, so click the link below to get on the list for our first event, which is FREE to everyone in the surrounding communities, and open to all ages!

More to come…stay tuned.

Click here to sign up

Visit Cutting Edge Kindness

Events

…and our annual Cutting Edge Kempo College Scholarship Award goes to…..

Leave a comment

Congratulations Nidan Ashley Fuchs!

All your hard work and dedication has paid off. As you embark on this new chapter in your life, your Cutting Edge Kempo Karate family is right there with you every step of the way!

Nidan Ashley is enjoying a month long backpacking trip through Alaska at the moment, an epic undertaking that would make any outdoors person jealous. Then upon her return it’s already prep time to begin her new schooling adventure!

Our students excel at everything they put their minds to, and become members of society that we can all be proud of, making great strides and accomplishments through hard work and dedication.

Don’t forget to get in and visit us on those breaks in between sessions and Holidays, practice vigilantly, find training partners to keep your skills sharp, and most importantly after all the hard school work is done…

…Get back on the mat.

New happenings around the Dojo, School Closings / Snow Days

Join us for the Parade / Closed for the weekend

Leave a comment

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE INFO

THE DOJO WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE WEEKEND, and RE-OPEN ON TUESDAY!

It’s that time of year again! (Hopefully mother nature is kind to us this year) Time to show your school spirit and march with us in the Holbrook Memorial Day Parade! Wear your dojo t shirts and meet us at the dojo by 10 am on Monday May 28, from there we will walk down to Holbrook Plaza (Momma’s Restaurant) to meet with the parade coordinator.

We will march south along Main Street to the corner of Furrows Road, west on Furrows Road to Grundy Avenue, and then south on Grundy Avenue to the Holbrook Vietnam Monument on the corner of Grundy and Terry Road where there will be a brief remembrance ceremony.  The parade of march is approximately 1.15 miles and takes approximately 25-30 minutes.  The ceremony begins at approximately 11:30 a.m.

And last but not least we will be not only unveiling our ANNUAL LIMITED EDITION T SHIRT DESIGN, we will be giving one away for FREE to one lucky parade participant! Get there early and get your chance to WIN ONE OF THESE AWESOME T SHIRTS, and get ’em while they last – because when they are gone, they are gone for good!

We look forward to seeing you all there for the parade and thank you in advance for your continued support!

Self defense for all ages