The short version: new martial-arts school has  opened in the neighborhood. Ages 4 and up. Looks pretty good, and if we were in the wagering trade, we’d bet that they give good classes, they’re going to do well, and in the course of that, make a good contribution to our community.

It’s been my experience, for the most part, that certain enterprises have to be a labor of love to sustain themselves, and sometimes profitability (or economic survival) pull against the core work. It’s true of dance companies, theater companies, dog breeders (doing better breeding require more exogamy, and higher costs). It’s often true of martial-arts schools, and many, perhaps most, but certainly not all, martial-arts schools’ quality goes down when the marketing intensity goes up.

I spent the better part of two decades in a dojo in manhattan where the student population never hit 200. The school is gone, but the relationships still exist (and there’s some training, in Japan, in New York, the Caribbean, elsewhere) but not on  six-day a week basis. Senseis  ((Sensei – pronounced SENSE-say – is the japanese term for “teacher, ” and the same characters are used in several Chinese dialects. Here’s a better explanation excerpted from Wikipedia’s entry for “sensei:” “Japanese title used to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers, CPA and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority.^[1] The word is also used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill: accomplished novelists, sweepstakers, musicians, and artists for example are addressed in this way. The Japanese expression of sensei shares the same characters as the Chinese word, pronounced xi?nsh?ng in Mandarin. Xiansheng is a courtesy title for a man of respected stature. It can also be attached to a man’s name to mean “gentleman” or, more commonly, “mister”. Prior to the development of the modern vernacular, xiansheng was used to address teachers of both genders; this has fallen out of usage in Standard Mandarin, though it is retained in some southern Chinese dialects such as Cantonese, Hokkien and Hakka where it still has the meaning “teacher” or “doctor”. In Japanese, sensei is still used to address people of both genders. It is likely both the current Southern Chinese and Japanese usages are more reflective of its Middle Chinese etymology.”)) Serge Sognonvi and Carmen Sognonvi, the husband and wife proprietors of Urban Martial Arts, which I think is probably an exception to the rule. They know how to use the Net, how to make people aware of their  existence, and they’ve got an interesting blog as well. There are some thoughtful posts about bullying which might be of great use to parents, teachers -and great benefit to school-age children.

Their open demonstration/trial class is this Friday evening; here are the details:

FREE MMA Training Workshop
Friday, July 16, 2010 from 7-8 pm
Urban Martial Arts
965 Coney Island Ave (near Newkirk Ave) in Brooklyn, NY 11230

More from their announcement:

In this lively, action-packed seminar, you’ll learn:

• Why you don’t have to be bigger or stronger than your opponent to defend yourself effectively
• How to render your attacker utterly defenseless with a deadly chokehold he won’t be able to escape
• How to leverage speed and technique to unleash maximum power in your strikes… no matter your size or skill level
• How to defend yourself against your opponent’s flurry of fast punches with a blindingly fast takedown (he won’t even see it coming!)

Reservations are required as space is limited, so click here to register online TODAY so you can reserve your spot!