March 20, 2024 – Students of all ages showed off their skills at the ribbon cutting event for the new location of Guido’s Martial Arts Academy, at 955 Shaw Avenue.
Co-owners Justa and Mike Guido put on a big show for current and future students featuring a blend of martial arts and self-defense displays, set to exciting music.
The demonstration included kick-boxing, karate, weapons, and even brick-breaking. The academy teaches a mix of martial arts styles, while emphasizing balance, coordination, and life skills.
“Kata is basically just some choreographed fighting sequences against imaginary attackers,” Mike Guido said to the audience during the demonstration, “Sometimes you might look at kata and it’s more challenging to do an hour of kata than it is to do an hour of sparring… it’s like doing squats for an hour, almost.”
Guido’s Martial Arts Academy has been serving the community for over 7 years. “Our mission is to empower and educate the people of our community to live their best life through martial arts instruction,” says Mike Guido,” [martial arts is] the vehicle which we use to teach children quality of life skills like respect, integrity, discipline, setting goals… we help them unlock their true potential.”
During the martial arts demonstration “unlock your true potential” was echoed several times, as students and instructors of all ages performed choreographed segments of the skills they are learning from Guido.
Mike Guido says it’s all about elevating kids through their everyday lives, helping them achieve more in sports, in school, or “it could be elevating them to make sure they’re doing the right things in life.”
Some students at the event had special patches on their sleeves. “We call it TNT, ‘Teachers in Training,” Guido says, “we teach them how to be good leaders in the community. We’ve got about 37 members of our TNT program, from ages 10 to 50.” These leaders assist and help teach classes at the academy, and Guido says that it helps better the quality of instruction in the martial arts overall.
The new facility features three training floors, a parent lounge, audience seating, and state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment to help Guido’s Martial Arts Academy continue to empower children and adults to be well physically and mentally.