Sifu Jerry Martin was born on May 7th, 1968 in Manhattan, New York. He used to bug his parents all the time to get him into a “karate” class. He felt insecure in general and wanted to learn how to fight. Jerry's father would take his sister and him to China Town in Boston quite often and he would see all of the Asian decorations and martial arts schools. This only fueled his desire. It was also about this time that Kung Fu theatre was very popular on weekend TV. So, Jerry was primed and ready by the time he actually started as a student.
Jerry's first experience with martial arts was when he was 10 years old. He had joined a “school” in the basement of a gentleman’s house that lived in his town. His name was Charlie Caccmicci and the style he taught was Kenpo Karate. Jerry's step-father used to joke that with a name like that; he probably had to learn Karate! The classes were small and mixed with adults and it was very tough. It was exactly what Jerry needed at that insecure time as it gave him a sense of self-confidence. Jerry also discovered that instead of learning martial arts to fight, he could learn it to avoid conflict; a very valuable lesson. Jerry trained there for 3 years in all and he says he will never forget that experience for as long as he lives. Jerry tried a few other schools in his neighborhood after that but didn’t stick with anything because he was starting to thin
k he knew everything; a common ailment of youth.
After high school, he entered the Army Reserve as an Infantryman in order to earn money for college. After graduating from Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training, he was assigned to a Company in Brockton Mass as an M60 Gunner. He had really gotten into great shape in the military and didn’t want to lose it, so he started thinking about getting back into the martial arts.
There was a school that happened to be across the street from where his girlfriend at the time worked and he stopped in one day after visiting her. He was blown away by the intensity of the instructor that came out to meet him and he knew he had found a home. The style was Chung Moo Quan and he trained there for about four years.
Sifu Martin wandered around after that trying to figure out if the martial arts were really for him. He tried Tae Kwon Doe with Jae Hun Kim by Fenway Park for awhile and dabbled in Judo and Aikido here and there.
Then, in 2001, he found out his old instructor from CMQ had left the system and contacted him. He was now in Arizona, running several schools and learning from a whole slew of new Masters. He put him in touch with Sifu Tom Adams in Needham, Mass and stopped in to try out a lesson. The date was 12/29/01 and he was hooked right away. He just knew that he would someday have a school of his own. The style was Kung Fu, specifically Hung Ga.
After earning his Red Sash, Sifu Martin and his wife decided to leave Mass and move to New York to be closer to her family and open a school there. He continued his training with Sifu Adams long distance and earned his first degree Black Sash on 5/14/04, second degree on 4/7/06 and third degree in April of 2009.
It was very scary moving away from the safety of all he had known to take a shot at having his own school. Within 2 weeks of being in NY he had his first student and started teaching him at the park. When it got cold, they went inside to the racquet ball room at the YMCA. In January of 2004 he eventually found a spot that was cheap enough and started building his student body. The school has since moved to a better and larger location and the school keeps getting bigger all the time.
Once Sifu Martin was in NY, he found other people to learn from. He started working with a Krav Maga practitioner as well as a Brazilian Ju Jitsu teacher. He also started studying Chuan Fa (Chinese Boxing), Pencak Silat and Arnis with Sifu Guro Dan Donzella. He studied Northern Wu Taiji under David Dolbear. Both of these teachers were also Liu Seong Kung Fu practitioners who both earned their Orange Sashes from Sifu Gary Galvin. Sifu Martin is currently studying Hung Ga Kung Fu exclusively under Sifu Sharif Bey, a Fourth Generation student from Wong Fei Hung. Sifu Bey is a student of Sigung Yee Chee Wai. The Lineage is as follows; Wong Fei Hung, Tang Fong, Yeung Ling, Yee Chee Wai, Sharif Bey. It took Sifu Martin many years of martial arts training in many different disciplines to find Sifu Bey. He feels that all of that previous training has prepared him not only to learn Authentic Shaolin Kung Fu very rapidly on a deeper level but to also apreciate it for the real treasure that both the information, his teacher and lineage are.
