The director of the Shorin Ryu Program at John Jay is Kirk Dombrowski, and the chief instructor of the program is Brian Antonson. Both began their study of karate under American Karate Federation instructors Michael Donovan and Rick Hans, as undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame (where there is still a Shorin Ryu Dojo). After graduating from Notre Dame in 1989, Kirk moved to New York to pursue a doctorate in Anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate School. Brian moved to New York City several years later to teach English in a local high school. Together they were able to start two small karate clubs, one at City College, CUNY, and the other at LaSalle High School in the Lower East Side. These dojos produced nine black belts over several years, and many more brown and green belt ranked students as well.
Dombrowski and Antonson
Since 1995, Kirk and Brian have studied karate with several other important teachers, including Takayoshi Nagamine, the son of the founder of Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu, George Donahue of Kishaba Juku Shorin Ryu, and Eliot Zgodny, a senior Shorin Ryu instructor in the New York City area. In last four years Dombrowski has had the opportunity to training under Katsuhiko Shinzato, the senior practitioner of Kishaba Juku style Matsubayashi.
In 2002, the decision was made to move the several New York AKF clubs from their previous locations to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, where Kirk had become a full time member of the faculty. At present our group meets as part of the Recreational Athletics program at John Jay, on Wednesdays from 8-10pm, and Saturdays from 10am-12noon. The karate classes are open to anyone, regardless of whether they are a student at John Jay.
our group in 2004Our group also continues to train with other linked dojos, especially those run by Donovan, Hans, and the many other American Karate Federation dojos. We have made several tours of Midwestern Dojos, and travel yearly to the University of Iowa, where there remains a long-running Shorin Ryu dojo. All of this contact serves to introduce our students to a wide variety of karate practice all oriented around the same set of kata and the same basic curriculum. Our emphasis, here as well as in our daily classes, is the combination of wide exposure and rigorous training.
Anyone interested in participating in any of these classes should contact us via the Contact button above.
Each of various systems with which we are affiliated has its own system of rank and hierarchy. Our system of ranking tries to use the minimum number of necessary distinctions, in order to reduce a sense of competitive hierarchy and develop a sense of self-sufficient learning (without losing sight of the fact that what we are learning to do requires strong, sometimes extreme physical training). Students in the program compete against the standards of the instructor, not against each other, and within the various belt colors we do not differentiate statuses.
We use three kyu-level (before black belt) ranks. New people wear White Belts, usually for 6 months to a year. The promotion to Green Belt indicates that the student has begun to master the fundamentals of studying karate: the self discipline and self control, the stamina and the strength, as well as the basic kata and karate techniques. Students in our dojo usually remain green belts for one or two years. Promotion to Brown Belt represents a strong commitment to serious training, and a high level of accomplishment. Our Brown Belts are already accomplished fighters and have learned all of the core kata of the Shorin Ryu system. Students spend anywhere from one to three years as a Brown Belt.
Black Belt rank marks the transition from student ("deshi") to practitioner ("karateka"). It signifies full competence in the core kata of Shorin Ryu, and full possession of the necessary self-control and self-discipline to continue training on one's own, or to lead students in a class environment. And while the achievement of a Black Belt does not by any means represent the end of learning or advancement, in order to achieve a Black Belt one must already possess all the necessary material for a life time of karate study.
Black Belts (Yundansha) practicing karate and assisting in instruction at our dojo are:
Michael Zhao, Nidan
Mohammad Al-Rubaiee, Nidan
Ilya Ustilovsky, Nidan
Rob Rijos, Shodan
Merlin Brito, Shodan
Please note: The author of this site is Kirk Dombrowski, and he is solely responsible for its contents. It is intended as an educational resource only and we ask that you use it in this spirit. Where mistakes have (inevitably) been made, apologies are offered. Corrections are welcome. Professor Dombrowski can be reached via the contact button on the menu at the top of this page.
