Northeast Karate and Kickboxing

NorthEast Karate and Kickboxing is located in Downtown Westerly Rhode Island. They also have branch dojos located in West Warwick and Coventry Rhode Island. But for the purpose of this article I will focus on the Westerly Rhode Island dojo since this is where my experience lays. All dojos are headed and over seen by Kyoshi Cheech Luzzi.

Northeast Karate offers classes in traditional Shorin-ryu Karate. These classes are offered to students of all ages from youth to adults. They are a part of the shorin-ryu organization. They offer Muay Thai Kickboxing. They also offer additional classes in physical fitness, ju-jitsu, and Krav Maga. They are authorized to belt in Karate and Muay thai and will hopefully soon start belting in Krav Maga. There are classes for the very young with Little Ninja and Little Dragon classes.

One of the major factor my family chose this school over other dojos was the flexible schedule. Almost all level of classes are offered daily. Learners are required to attend a minimum of two classes per week. These classes should consist of both an "A and a B" day. During A days karate students practice traditional kata and during B days they practice self-defense and sparring. On both days every class contains a huge amount of physical fitness, stretching and bag drills. A typical class last for 45 minutes. The class routines consists of approximately 5 minutes warm up, 10 minutes of fitness, 5 minutes of stretching, 10 minutes of bag drills, 10 minutes of kata or self defense drills, then 5 minutes of push-ups and abs.

Like many karate dojos, the company would like you to sign a contract. When you sign a contract you become part of the 'black belt club.' When a member signs up for the black belt club the learner receives red Gi and is allowed to participate in the black belt club extra activities. This consists of an additional 15 minutes after class of more advanced training. This additional training may include knife,gun,or club defense. Signing up also allows the learner to participate in the advanced karate weapons class on Saturday morning. Many karate schools will not allow students to train in weapons such as Sai, Kamas or Bo until they reach the rank of black belt, but that is not the case with NorthEast Karate.

The cost may seem expensive. It is approximately $100 per month. Add this to the initial cost of buying sparring equipment and exercise clothes; it can really hurt your pocket book. However, Northeast karate has a family cap program. If three people in your family sign up, others can join for free. This is how I got involved, I had three daughters participating, while I was watching them and getting fat. So I started to study Karate and Muay Thai kickboxing at no additional cost.

The karate studio always puts on extra curricula activities throughout the month. Sometimes they will have quest instructors that teach ju-jitsu or other martial arts. Every month they host a free black belt seminar that teaches a different weapon or different forms. Routinely they have Star Wars night where kids watch Star Wars fight scenes and reenact them. They also have a free teen nights where they teach karate and have various activities.

The staff always amazes me with their youthfulness and professionalism. There are some staff members that are only 18 years old, yet they can successfully manage a class of 30 five year olds. They make it a point to learn you by first name immediately and who your children are. They are very personable yet professional.

I highly recommend Northeast karate for anyone in the Rhode Island area that wants to try martial arts. It is well worth the time and money.