Martial Arts Journey

I started training in my first martial art in High School, where I wrestled for four years and another year in college. I started wrestling not because I knew how but because the coach asked me to. It was not about me; even then, it has about the team. He wanted depth, and I complied. I learned teamwork, hard work, failure, and success during the time on his mat. I also learned how to fence, with a sword, during High School.

"Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning." – Benjamin Disraeli

I started training in oriental martial arts in 1975 at Denison University in Shorin Ryu, an Okinawan Martial art founded in 1933 and taught at Derision in karate club. During this time, we fought, bled, and fought some more. In three years I learned 3 kicks, 3 forms, and how to hit really hard.

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." – Bruce Lee

My family and I started training in 1989 in the Cheezic Federation of Tang Soo Do in Putnam CT, following my 3 year old daughter back into the art. Master Cheezic, who was taken by Covid-19 in 2021, was the founder of one of the oldest Tang Soo Do federations in the world, and one of the first to train women and people who had physical challenges. My wife, Anne McCoy, my daughter, Barbi McCoy, and myself trained in Tang Soo do, and continue to do so today. Grand Master Cheezic is responsible for many of the McCoy's Action Karate cultural artifacts that still remain today, including:

"It's more than just karate." - Robert Cheezic

In my family's training, he is most remembered for returning my wife's testing fee for master belt, saying to her that her contribution was far in excess of the fee. He further taught us that our students were the central feature of the martial arts, echoing what one of my life mentors, Greg Silva, had taught me.

"It's not about you. It's about them." - Greg Silva

My wife, Anne McCoy, is a 7th Degree Black Belt, having trained in Tang Soo Do, Ed Parker Kenpo, Judo, Tai Chi, and Krav Maga. My daughter is a 6th Degree Black Belt, having training in Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, and Ed Parker Kenpo. Finally, I am a 6th Degree Black Belt, having trained in Tang Soo Do, Shorin Ryu, Ed Parker Kenpo, Krav Maga, Fencing, Boxing, and wrestling. We, as a family, have been teaching martial arts since 1994, and individually since 1992.

"It's the bullies who are afraid, are the ones that do all the fighting. It's not the secure kids that get out there and fight. It's the insecure kids." - Chuck Norris

With all that we have done, as a family, in the Martial Arts, we would have gotten nowhere at all if it were not for the more than 20,000 students we have had.

We teach the benefits of martial arts to ordinary people, as they advance to the rank of Black Belt, each and every one of them achieving more than we ever did. They face the challenges of modern life all the while contributing to other peoples lives, in the leadership and citizenship traditions of the MAK culture.

We have been teaching leadership to students from age 5 to 65 since our founding, and have never ceased to be impressed by the empathy, love, power, technique, care, concern, and ability of our students. It truly is more than just karate. It is a life style in a business that gets to help their students change the very world they live in for the better.

Tang Soo, my friends and students. You have given my family more than we could ever give you, and we have watched you change the world.

If you are looking for pricing and scheduling for self-defense, tai chi, or senior seminars, call 508.832.4110 and ask for Anne, our CEO, or fill out the form below, and we will contact you.