More Than Kicks And Karate Chops

MORE THAN

kicks karate chops AND

STORY: SHEILA HARRIS PHOTOS: KERRY HAYS

Sensei Carlos Chardon teaches martial arts from his home in Purdy

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WHEN people think of martial arts, Japanese Samurai often come to mind, along with Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris and the fantastic jumps, kicks and hand chops that render their victims immobile. Those images are widely popular, but the masters who teach martial arts emphasize mental and physical discipline rather than showmanship.

Sensei Carlos Chardon, who runs Chardon’s School of Self-Defense in Purdy with the assistance of his wife, Patty, takes his martial arts instruction

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very seriously and expects the same commitment from his students.

“If I ever hear of any of my students taking the techniques they learn from me outside of this studio and using them aggressively, they will be dismissed from my class,” said Carlos. “What I teach can be a deadly art, but it is an art form, not something to be used in aggression.”

Martial arts is a broad term, encompassing any type of discipline in which the hands and feet become lethal weapons, used for both self-

defense and combat. Although there are many different styles of martial arts, karate, judo and jujitsu are probably the most well known. According to history, all three of these originated with the Chinese and Japanese in the 19th Century.

Carlos, who is in superb physical condition for a man of 73, is a retired director of engineering for Fasco Industries, where he managed approximately 120 people at the three Fasco facilities at Cassville, Eldon and Ozark. But closer to his DECEMBER 2011

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heart is the fact that he is a TenthDegree Black Belt Grand Master in the Ketsuka style of martial arts.

Ketsuka is a combination of karate and jujitsu, a style taught by The Hamzy School of Self-Defense centered in Torrington, Connecticut, where Carlos earned his Grand Master title.

Carlos, whose family immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico, began studying martial arts in the form of judo at age 12 in New Haven, Connecticut.

“We were one of only five Puerto Rican families in my inner city neighborhood,” said Carlos. “I had to come up with a way of defending myself, and learning judo was a logical choice.

than a sport.

“The martial arts became, for me, a way of staying out of trouble,” explained Carlos. “There are too many distractions for young boys in urban ‘hoods, and most of them are not healthy ones. The mental discipline of the martial arts became a way for me to be a part of a group while learning to focus my mind in a positive way, something which helped me later in life.”

Carlos grew up and left that inner city neighborhood behind to go to college. He worked days and attended classes at night, earning his associate’s degree from State Technical School in Hartford and his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Hartford. He then went to work for

Hamzy, Grand Master, Carlos progressively earned his color-coded belt degrees and later the 10 titled degrees of the black belt, ranging from the first degree “Shodan” and culminating with the 10th degree “Judan,” which gives its recipient the title of Grand Master.

Because of his appreciation for the self-confidence and self-discipline acquired through martial arts, Carlos had a burning desire to give something back to the community in gratitude for what he had received. With that motive, he opened Chardon’s School of Self-Defense in Nagatucket, Connecticut, which operated as a branch of Hamzy’s. He then officially became Sensei, which means teacher in Japanese.

“

Sarah is a ferocious opponent in our sparring sessions. She’s a force to be reckoned with.

“I was a kid in a class with men in their 20s and 30s,” continued Carlos, “but I didn’t let that intimidate me. I held my own.”

Carlos, who began studying judo as a means of self-defense, soon became committed to martial arts as a method of self-discipline. He continued his training throughout high school, eventually switching from judo to the Ketsuka style, which is more of an art

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Torin Corporation, based in Connecticut, where he gradually worked his way up and achieved the director of engineering position with Fasco Industries after they purchased Torin.

After a 10-year hiatus from the martial arts during his college years, Carlos resumed his training with Hamzy’s School of Self-Defense. Under the instruction of Sensei Hassan

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Because his work with Torin, and later with Fasco, involved relocating as the job required, Carlos often had to give up his martial arts teaching in one location and begin a new school in another location. When distance permitted, his students often followed him.

A student especially close to his heart was Melissa Justice, of Waterbury, Connecticut, who earned her black

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belt degree at the age of 12. She is now a 27-year-old school teacher in Waterbury and communicates with Carlos periodically. Although she says she doesn’t necessarily use the martial arts skills she learned when she was younger, she is glad to know that she has them available to use if she should ever need them.

When Torin Corporation was purchased by Fasco Industries in 1985, Carlos commuted between Missouri and Connecticut for several years before relocating permanently to Missouri in 1995. While working with the Fasco facility in Cassville, he met, and later married, Patty Martin Hughey, who was a supervisor and senior analyst in the military division. After their marriage in 2001, Carlos moved to Purdy where Patty had a home.

Because of her exposure to Carlos’ love for the martial arts, Patty, too, became interested in training and is now a black belt herself.

The couple converted one of the large upstairs rooms of their home into a dojo, or martial arts studio, where Carlos teaches two classes, two nights a week for six months out of the year. Carlos and Patty spend the remainder of the year in Rincon, Puerto Rico, where they have a second home. Carlos first teaches a children’s class for students age 6 to 13, and later, a class for adults.

Children and adults are taught the same techniques and progress through the same consecutive degrees of belt colors.

Each class consists of approximately 30 minutes of strenuous calisthenics, involving kicks and punches, then another 30 minutes to an hour of training in the arts themselves. Twentyfive basic self-defense techniques are taught, as well as numerous katas, along with sessions of jujitsu moves and sparring, which require protective equipment to prevent injury.

Each kata is a numbered combination of moves, including kicks and punches performed in a specific sequence. It requires a high degree of concentration to memorize not only the extremely detailed sequences of moves but also the exact location on

an opponent’s body where a kick or chop is to be applied. With each progressive degree of belt color, a person must learn and remember a greater number of katas. To achieve a white belt, the first color, a person must know 15 katas. By the time they attain a black belt, they will know 50.

“The whole point of memorizing katas,” said Carlos, “is to teach the mind and body to work in unison and respond instantly to a command given.”

Most of Carlos’ students are Spanish-speaking, a fact that pleases Carlos enormously. It not only gives him an opportunity to use his fluent Spanish but gives the Hispanic students an opportunity to learn martial arts, something they probably couldn’t do with a language barrier between

them are intimidated by her. They all have a lot of respect for her skill and determination. She’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Sarah and Buck Thomas, of Monett, students who have been with Carlos since he first opened his school in Purdy, are both first-degree brown belts, studying for their blacks. Buck already has a black belt in another Japanese style of fighting but wants to earn one in the Ketsuka style as well.

Black-belt testing will require a trip to Torrington, Connecticut, where Buck and Sarah must pass a grueling test in front of a panel of judges at Hamzy’s School of Self-Defense, a task not undertaken without extensive preparation.

Carlos’ school is extremely popular

themselves and the teacher.

Of the 10 students in Carlos’ adult class, he has one female, 17-year-old Sarah Lee, of Purdy. Carlos has a soft spot for Sarah, who has been taking lessons since she began training in the children’s class at age 9.

“Sarah is a ferocious opponent in our sparring sessions,” said Carlos. “She is not intimidated by the big, muscular men she fights against. In fact, a lot of

in the community, with both children and adult classes filled to capacity.

When asked for their opinions of Sensei Chardon, student Marcelo Villa was the first to respond.

“Sensei Chardon,” he said, “is giving of himself and his time to teach us what he knows, and I really appreciate that. I have a lot of respect for him and hope to be in as great a shape as he is when I reach 73.”

For more information on Chardon’s School of Self-Defense, call Carlos at 417-442-7501.

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