Early September Update

Written by Chris Thursday, 08 September 2011 16:02

Hi All,

I hope that Hurricane Irene treated you all OK.  Other than the loss of power for a few days, MSDC came through unscathed.  Here are a few announcements for you for early September:

1)  There will be no morning & afternoon classes this Friday, September 9^th, as I will be in Naples, Florida.  Many of you know Mr. Trent Lewis (another of our friends in the Harris International Grappling Association)—he was promoted a few years ago to Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Master Joe Moreira.  Well, Trent has asked to go through Mr. Roy Harris’ black belt exam as well, so I’ll be heading down to Florida to serve as one of Trent’s testing partners.  Friday evening classes (as well as all Saturday classes) will be held as usual.

2)  The AMMA kids program is up and running for the Fall!  Welcome to all the new and returning students in our Heroes (ages 7-12) and Mighty Heroes (ages 4-6) programs.  The AMMA (Adaptive Movement Martial Arts) program is a fantastic curriculum based on the Jeet Kune Do self-defense skills taught in our adults programs, and if you haven’t seen any of the classes yet, they are really fun and exciting.

3)  Speaking of the Kids program, we’ll be having a FREE workshop on Saturday, October 8^th, from 2:00 – 3:30pm on “Halloween Safety”.  This free workshop is open to the public, for kids of all ages!  We invite any and all youngsters to come down and learn how to make their holiday a safe one.

4)  Jeet Kune Do Essentials classes this month are focusing on learning some basic methods of defending against an attack with a firearm.  I’m working out the final details, but it looks like we’ll also be hosting a handgun safety workshop at the end of the month.  This will be open to any MSDC students, and all participants will earn a certificate of completion (this is the same certification required by the state of Connecticut in order to apply for a License to Carry).  Stay tuned for details on this workshop!

5)  MSDC’s own Ralph Purificato, Jr will be making his amateur MMA debut next week – he’ll be fighting in Rahway, New Jersey on Saturday, 9/17.  I encourage you to come down and cheer him on in his fight!  Ralph also has some tickets for sale, if you’d like ringside seats.  If you see Ralph between now and then, wish him luck in his fight (and also congratulate him—Ralph and Christina just got engaged earlier this week!).

6)  Congratulations are also due to all our students who tested and were promoted to their next stripe in the BJJ White to Blue Class!  I am SUPER impressed with the hard work that I saw from this crew.  Congratulations to Cory, Roberto, Jeff, Jack, Ryan, and Lena on their promotions this month!

7)  Welcome back to our prodigal college students!  With the start of the school year, it’s great to see you guys coming back through the door.  I hope you all had a great summer, and I’m looking forward to all the good training we have in store for you this year.

8)  Lastly, I'd like to take a moment to express my appreciation to all the folks who have been helping out at MSDC, whether by teaching classes, working on projects, cleaning up after we lost the roof, and more.  Please know that I am deeply grateful for the time and energy that you put into our space, and our community.  Many, many thanks to you all for the kindness you contribute.

~Chris