Episode 1041 - Starting Teaching……Again
In this episode Andrew is joined by friend of the show Dennis Campo to discuss his teaching journey, and how it’s changed over the years.
Starting Teaching……Again - Episode 1041
SUMMARY
In this episode, Andrew Adams and Dennis Campo discuss Dennis's journey in martial arts teaching, from his early experiences to the challenges faced during the pandemic and his current teaching endeavors. They explore the evolution of Dennis's teaching, the impact of external circumstances, and the rekindling of his passion for martial arts education.
TAKEAWAYS
Dennis began teaching at a young age, finding joy in sharing martial arts with children.
The pandemic forced many martial arts schools to adapt, leading to virtual classes.
Dennis's teaching philosophy emphasizes empowering students and fostering community.
He experienced significant growth in his program before the pandemic hit.
The transition from teaching in a physical dojo to virtual classes was challenging but necessary.
Dennis's love for teaching was reignited through new opportunities post-pandemic.
He now teaches at a new location, focusing on the Superfoot system.
The importance of adaptability in teaching martial arts is highlighted throughout the conversation.
Dennis reflects on the impact of his teaching on students' lives over the years.
The conversation emphasizes the importance of community and connection in martial arts.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Journey of Teaching Martial Arts
09:00 Navigating the Pandemic's Impact
16:11 Reigniting the Passion for Teaching
22:34 Reflections on the Teaching Experience
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it. Don’t forget to drop them in the comment section down below!
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Andrew Adams (01:34.562)
Welcome. You're listening and watching to the next episode of whistle kick martial arts radio. And today we're going to talk about starting teaching again. What does that mean? Well, you're going to have to wait and find out until we get there. I want to make sure that you know about all of the things that whistle kick does, but even that's wrong. can't, I can't tell you everything that we do. would take too long. So I'll tell you about this. If you go to whistlekick.com, you're going to find out about a bunch of the things that we do.
You're going to find out about the apparel that we sell. Maybe you want to buy a t-shirt. Maybe you want to buy a cool hat. Maybe you want to purchase a book. Maybe you want to get a training program and learn how to be a little more flexible or a little faster or a little stronger. Maybe you want to find out about all of the events that we host throughout all throughout all of our whistle kick events we do in their country. All of that stuff you're going to find at whistlekick.com.
Now this show also has its own website, whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com. You're going to find out all of the show notes on all of the episodes that we've had 1041 as of this recording. That's what this episode is over a thousand episodes, all of the show notes you can find whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com. There is a button at the top to subscribe to our exclusive newsletter. So you will get notified when every episode comes out and maybe some behind the scenes.
fun blooper things you might get there as well. But you won't know until you sign up and get your free book. But here I'm joined by good friend of the show, Dennis Campo. Dennis, how are you today?
Dennis Campo (03:17.154)
I'm doing well, my friend. I hope you're doing likewise.
Andrew Adams (03:20.052)
Absolutely. We were just chatting a bit ago about my foot. I'm doing great. It's slowly getting better. But I'm excited that we will get to see each other soon in a few months, November.
Dennis Campo (03:32.736)
If not before, yep.
Andrew Adams (03:34.146)
Looking forward to that. But we are here to talk about teaching. And so I thought we would start at your origin story of teaching. We're not going to go into like an interview. If people want to hear more about you, obviously they can go to episode 302. You know, audience, I'd like you to think that I just knew that off the top of my head, but I had to ask Dennis.
Let's talk about you have been doing martial arts a long time. You've been teaching a long time, but let's go back to the beginning of your teaching and how that manifested and how that came about.
Dennis Campo (04:15.116)
A short thing. I began training in the South Bronx in the very early 80s, 1981. By 1985, I was a brown belt, black belt candidate. And my instructor, Curtis Ennis, asked me to take on the younger children to start teaching that program. I was 17 at the time, maybe 16. So I still had a lot of youth. So I was pretty close in age to them and could match their energy.
And a lot of schools would call them little ninjas or little dragons, they were just our youngins, four and five year olds. And I was put in charge of them and had an absolute blast. found that, and at some point I loved martial arts without question. And I found a love for teaching as well. I found that there was something really special about taking something that I really loved and being able to share that with some children who were very eager to learn as well. And that morphed.
From that time frame into maybe my black belt in 1986 took on some more teaching responsibilities within the school Fast forward to all the way to 1997. I became the head instructor of that school So after teaching for 11 or 12 years, I took on the head instructor position for about three years and then in the year 2000 concurrent with teaching at my original school, which was the Shremont Karate Club in the South Bronx by the way
I established Wisdom Way Martial Arts in Westchester, New York to have my own dojo. Longer term, that would be the place I would teach and build it. We started very, very small. I used another gentleman's school just to teach a couple of my style classes, which was a mix of Joe Lewis, super foot, and some traditional karate in our program. I was doing that a couple of times a week.
About six months into working in both locations, my original school unfortunately closed. So I was able to expand the classes I was teaching closer to home and then eventually moved into a larger location because my classes grew at six days per week. I had an absolute blast. And I won't go through all the details of all the teaching, but eventually in 2011 moved to my third location in Pelham, New York, where I stayed until the pandemic.
Andrew Adams (06:34.404)
Yeah. So can we go back for a second? So when you, when you started teaching your own stuff, like, uh, I want to not skip over, because it was important, but you know, you were teaching at your, at the school you were training at, but when you started teaching, uh, your own stuff, you talked, you mentioned that you were teaching out of someone else's space. So talk a little bit about how that happened and how you worked it out with them.
Dennis Campo (06:37.664)
Absolutely.
Dennis Campo (07:03.609)
it worked out great because I was looking at schools that were in my area in Lower Westchester to see where I could potentially sublease some space a few days per week. And most of the schools had pretty full schedules, but there was this one smaller school, I think it was the Pelham Karate School, Pelham Karate Club was the name of it. And when I visited, I saw his schedule. He was there on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He was only open three days per week. And I said, wow, I could do and he was like Saturday afternoon.
Or maybe Saturday morning, going back 27 years, I came because I was teaching there on Monday and Wednesday, teaching in the Bronx on Tuesday and Thursday. So it worked out great. He had the space. It was more income for him. Everybody and I was teaching something radically different from what he was teaching. So we weren't we weren't stealing from each other's student base. So I taught there Mondays, Wednesdays, and I believe it was Saturday afternoons because he had a Saturday morning class. But it worked out great.
Andrew Adams (07:37.732)
you
Dennis Campo (08:03.761)
And I started with two students, my two oldest sons, Alex and Benjamin. Some of the students that I had in the Bronx would come to my school as well if they wanted extra training, and just slowly but surely built up the program. But as you can imagine, starting off a new program in a new town, there were days where I'd arrive to class and nobody showed up. Or would be just myself and my two children. So we would train for an hour or so and go home.
Andrew Adams (08:24.484)
Mm.
Dennis Campo (08:31.629)
from those first two students. Eventually, we had over 100 students in our school. It took a long time, a lot of work in the community, but it was really rewarding. I loved teaching. I remember being a Brown Belt and I wanted to teach. I wanted to give back. And I do take pride in knowing that literally thousands of lives were changed in the 20 years that I was teaching in New York. I'm very proud of that.
Andrew Adams (08:58.594)
Yeah, you know, most of the teachers that I know teach because they love passing on. I just before we got on this recording, I was teaching a drum lesson to a brand new student and his mom that both of them are learning together their very first lesson. And we talked about it and he asked, like, why do you teach him? And it's because I like to pass on that knowledge that I have and see the next generation. And I know because we've talked about it that you absolutely feel the same way. So that that's cool. Now, you were
Dennis Campo (09:10.934)
Awesome.
Andrew Adams (09:27.064)
teaching in this other location and this other school, a couple of days a week, you eventually moved out of that school to start teaching your own place. It must have been really nice though to start out without having to worry about probably the biggest worry that martial art teachers have, which is where am I going to go? Right? Where am I going to teach? So you had that. I don't want to use the word safety net because that's not, but like you, you had that worry kind of taken care of.
But eventually you moved out. How did that happen and what was it like?
Dennis Campo (10:02.542)
It worked out well. I spoke to the gentleman who I was renting from and I said, hey, my program is growing. My program actually had grown to more than double his program. It's the times. He was teaching very, very nice and traditional form of Shotokan karate, which is beautiful. you know, 10 years after UFC started, folks were looking more of what I was offering, the kickboxing, the hitting the pads, the boxing gloves, just preference.
Andrew Adams (10:30.488)
Yep. Sure.
Dennis Campo (10:31.947)
So we had, I was going to move to a location across town, a larger space, and he was so supportive and really happy and proud of me. We actually went full circle when I had later on in 2011 moved to my third location. He eventually closed his shop and then was renting space for me a couple of days a week to teach in full circle. it was just great. We were able to help each other out at the beginnings and ends of our
Andrew Adams (10:52.886)
wow, that's funny.
Dennis Campo (11:01.111)
teaching careers in Pelham, New York.
Andrew Adams (11:03.288)
That is pretty cool. That is pretty cool. I wouldn't have expected that. And so now you're teaching, you you mentioned six days a week. You've got three locations. Let's think.
Dennis Campo (11:14.349)
Oh, I moved from one location to the next. I didn't have three. We expanded to larger locations.
Andrew Adams (11:17.97)
okay, okay.
Andrew Adams (11:21.412)
Oh, I see. Okay. So your third location, you've moved a couple of times, um, you know, teaching a hundred plus students, Oh, you know, in your school fast forward to the dreaded times of March, March, 2020. Let's talk about that.
Dennis Campo (11:35.543)
The pandemic.
Dennis Campo (11:40.817)
March 14, 2020, taught my last classes in Pelham. We were closing down for two weeks. Two weeks to flatten the curve and we'd be back by April 1st. That two weeks kept on growing. Now, New York was very difficult. I don't know if difficult is right word, but very strict with allowing businesses to reopen. And in a business like ours where it's in your close proximity,
There's the heavy breathing, the sweating summertime. The chances for transmitting a virus are certainly high, and I get it. We did some outdoor classes. did a lot of, we started with, I would record YouTube classes and send them, right, or work classes and share them on YouTube with my students. I did that for the first two weeks. And I said, okay, well, this is gonna be a little bit longer. We started using Instagram Live. The only reason I joined Instagram was so I could do the live classes with my students. So a little bit more interactive. I can't see them though, but.
Andrew Adams (12:28.984)
Bye.
Dennis Campo (12:35.922)
they could type in the chat. So we did that for a couple of weeks and I realized, okay, I've got to figure out how to use the Zoom stuff, which is what it's not to me at the time. And then we did Zoom classes. All in all, that took, we did that for about a year. On the one year anniversary, on March, roughly March 14th, it was a little bit after, I think it was the 17th or 18th of 2021, I decided I wasn't going to do virtual classes anymore because I didn't have a physical space to go back to. come back to that. So
Andrew Adams (12:42.02)
Mm.
Dennis Campo (13:05.74)
After a year of virtual classes, I decided to shut it down. And it was right on my... Oh, was March 20th, because it was the day before my 40th anniversary in the martial arts, March 20th, 2021. Go back about six months. So we didn't have much income. Folks were paying maybe 15 bucks a month to take the Zoom classes. But I had gone from 100 something students to maybe 20 taking those classes. So money was running out. I was able to...
Andrew Adams (13:16.461)
Mmm.
Dennis Campo (13:35.949)
to pay my rent for six months through September. So I was recording my classes from the studio, which was kind of nice. I was energized teaching from the dojo as opposed to teaching from my living room. But after six months of paying New York rents, I couldn't sustain it. So my landlord graciously let me out of my lease at the end of September, which I had a lease through July. Now, I will come clean here.
I was planning to not renew my lease in July of 2021. And the reason being, you know me personally. I used to live a five minute walk from the dojo, if that, I could make it in three if I walked quickly. I living three blocks from my dojo. I now live in central Connecticut, 90 miles from the dojo. It wasn't sustainable. course, was, know, life changes. a girl, got remarried, all the things. You know Sarah. So I knew that
Andrew Adams (14:30.701)
Yep.
Dennis Campo (14:34.1)
July was going to be my swan song. So the pandemic kind of helped me. I was able to blame the pandemic instead of my own selfishness of not wanting to drive 180 miles six days a week.
Andrew Adams (14:40.868)
you
Andrew Adams (14:49.644)
Now here's the question. Let's put a pin in the pandemic for a second. Let's because you just relayed some information that I had never heard before. So let's pretend that the pandemic never happened. You were teaching at your school and you had already decided that when your lease was up in July, you were done. Were you going to be done teaching completely or just done at that location? would you have started another school?
in central Connecticut if the pandemic hadn't happened.
Dennis Campo (15:21.76)
That is, yeah, that's a great question.
I would have stopped teaching at that location. think I would have landed where I am at today. I don't think I had the desire to reopen a school and have all the work that goes. It's hard to say. My original plan, so I'll be 57 years old next month. My plan was to retire from my day job where I've been, actually last week was my 35th anniversary. I was going to retire at 55 and then teach full time.
My dojo would have become a full-time, daytime classes after school, all the things. Again, marrying Sarah, it wouldn't have been that location, but I may have still retired at 55 and looked for something in this area. I did not intend to fully retire from teaching. I can say with absolute certainty. My day job, yes, but we'll do that for a few more years now.
Andrew Adams (16:18.948)
Sure, sure.
Andrew Adams (16:23.427)
Hahaha
Dennis Campo (16:26.904)
And Jeremy, as everybody here knows, we talk frequently. there was that time frame where I wasn't teaching. And he said, my brother, something is missing from your life. He says, you need this. He was right. He was right. I thought I could stop teaching just the way the cards fell. But that was clearly a lie to myself.
Andrew Adams (16:40.684)
Mm. Sure.
Andrew Adams (16:51.852)
So let's we'll put that we'll we'll take that pin back out now. So the pandemic happened. It is what it is. There was a span of time where you you are a martial artist, you threw in through. And so I know because we're friends, you were still training, you're still working out yourself. And I know because I know the two people that I'm about to mention, you helped others like you still had and I'm putting this in air quotes, students.
Dennis Campo (17:05.195)
Always.
Andrew Adams (17:21.474)
right, that you were still working with and training and you helped both Abby Hoy and myself get ready for our super foot examination. So I know that you were still training and still working with students, though not in a formal setting. So can we talk about from like twenty twenty one when you stopped, you closed your school to about a year ago, which we'll talk about the last year soon. But like, what was that time like?
training yourself and a few select students.
Dennis Campo (17:53.292)
Sure. It was an interesting time. as some of the listeners may know, Superfoot Bill Wallace has a Wednesday evening class, Superfoot Dojo, which he also started during the pandemic. And we trained by way of Zoom with him every Wednesday. And the time has changed. And the days and times have changed over the course of time. for the last several years, it's been 8.30 on Wednesday evenings. So I was able to train with Bill weekly, whereas I would see him maybe half a dozen times a year.
So that was fantastic, a great way to keep up with my training and try to improve my super foot skills, which are not as good as my Joe Lewis fighting system skills, but we're getting there. And yes, I trained you and Abby for your super foot black belts, which was a phenomenal experience. And you guys were so amazing and quite frankly, better kickers than I am, even though I was training you. That's something to really be proud of. They all fair enough. And well, I replaced 128 days ago, but I'm kicking
Andrew Adams (18:41.742)
Right now I'm not.
Dennis Campo (18:49.917)
up to belt level now. Now, of course, that's my belt level, which I'm only 5'6", so it's not terribly high, but it's something. Now, the year before you guys tested, Matt Jones, who's one of my black belts from my original school, he and I trained together and tested for our super foot black belts. Actually, I tested with Jeremy for our third, and Matt was testing for his first super foot black belt. So that was pretty awesome. So again, there was always some kind of training and teaching going on.
And then last year I trained Karen for her super black boat. She had just posted it was exactly a year ago.
Andrew Adams (19:23.576)
Yep. And, and in case people are wondering, that's the Karen whose episode came out three days ago on Monday. So, now let's fast forward to about a year ago or so. I don't know the exact date, but you are now teaching again, but it's very different from when you opened your school. So what's your teaching look like now? And how did that come about?
Dennis Campo (19:30.793)
Right. Exactly.
Dennis Campo (19:52.94)
So Darryl Beloschisky, who's also a friend of the show and has been on quite a few episodes, including his own. me, I don't remember his number, but he had his interview as well. He's teaching 12 minutes from my house. And we had met actually through a whistle kick through a free training day. We were teaching together and I took his class. He took my class, loved his stuff. he's actually a direct student of O Sensei Shimabukuro, who's Joe Lewis's teacher.
and Superfoot Bill Wallace's teacher. So he's a contemporary of my two main instructors. Joe has passed on, crazy to say, 13 years ago, but still I consider him one of my great teachers. So here's a gentleman that by chance met through Whistlekick, who's a direct student of my teacher's instructor. And he was always very interested in the Superfoot system and asked me if I'd be willing to help kick off a program at his dojo.
I was delighted to have that opportunity. So in addition to teaching privately, was doing seminars at different locations. And fortunately, having the chance to teach at a free training day connected me with Darrell. So it was actually one year ago, right about now, that we kicked off the program there. And it's still a modest program. have anywhere between four and eight students per class. It's modest.
It's been a first year, so it's starting to pick up and grow now. But we are making some strides, and we're actually hosting Superfoot Black Belt testing in September, September 20th, actually. we already have Superfoot Training Center, but now we'll be a regional testing center as well, which is pretty exciting. Darrell has embraced the Superfoot system. There's certainly, you can always draw the similarities to the
sport style to the traditional style. If you can't see those connections, you got to need to look a little bit closer because they're so apparent. And himself and his daughter are taking the classes with me and they're just phenomenal kickers and martial artists. And it's really inspiring. Now, of course, we're talking about me teaching. So, you know, I'm teaching superfoot and being true to the system and preparing for testing. But you know I'm throwing some Joe Lewis fighting system stuff in there. You have to.
Dennis Campo (22:18.475)
Well, from testing, have to spar for three rounds. So you've got to have some head movement. You've got to have some other stuff. And we, fortunately, have two good legs, which I learned my first superfoot black belt test in 2007. I did everything on the left-hand side. And then Graham Estewall says, OK, switch sides. I didn't know you could both sides. So I learned that one the hard way.
Andrew Adams (22:20.77)
Yeah, sure,
Andrew Adams (22:44.548)
So here's a question. The teaching that you're doing now. So you started out teaching in another location, someone else's school, but it was yours, right? It was your program. You're teaching your own stuff, renting, essentially, know, subletting a space from someone else. So...
Dennis Campo (22:57.279)
Right.
Dennis Campo (23:03.691)
I work for the school. way back. gosh.
Andrew Adams (23:06.668)
No, no, no. I meant way back. Yep. So when you first started, like you were subletting the space from him, you're doing your own thing. You can do whatever you want in class. Right. and then you went out on your own and you're teaching your own thing in your own space. You can do whatever you want now. You are teaching, but it's not like it was before. It is different, right? You are. So what, how is that working? Like how.
And I'm not asking you to get into the financial details, but like you're working for Daryl.
Dennis Campo (23:43.563)
Correct.
Andrew Adams (23:44.204)
Which is different from when you first started out teaching subletting. So like, how does that feel? mean, it's just, it inherently has to be different.
Dennis Campo (23:57.003)
100 % it's different. I'm not cleaning the windows and mopping the floors anymore like I did my dojo before and after classes. I write my lesson plans and I go and I teach. And I've got students who are really motivated. These are students who are all fairly high level in Shunryu, but they want to learn the super foot system. These are very motivated students who want to train hard and it's an incredibly rewarding experience. I mean, have a hard time not smiling. I teach
Mondays and Wednesdays for 40 minutes. have a hard time not smiling for those full 40 minutes. Just having an absolute blast. So yeah, I'm working for somebody else and I have to teach this specific program, but it's material that I really believe in and want to share with other people. And as a super black belt, you know, it's just, it's absolutely fun. And it never, and while the system is really two punches and three kicks at the core, there's so much more to it, the strategies and so forth.
Andrew Adams (24:46.627)
Yeah.
Dennis Campo (24:55.43)
as simple as it is, it never gets old, because there's always a different spin that you can put on it. And then sprinkle in a little bit of Joe stuff, and it really completes the package. I'm having an absolute blast. You would think, because I'm not running the show now and not my own boss, that it could be more difficult. I find I'm having the best time teaching today in 2025 that I've had in my entire, gosh.
Do I want to save almost 40 years career of teaching? that's scary. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (25:26.52)
Yeah. So, so you, which answers the question that I was going to ask next, which was, is this reigniting the, the want to open your own school again? Right? Cause you're getting back into it, you know, like have your own place, but it sounds like it's not.
Dennis Campo (25:46.685)
It's definitely reignited my love for teaching and my deep love for martial arts. I mean, it never went away, but it certainly has made the fire burn brighter in terms of wanting to open my own school again. I'm not feeling that right now. Now, I can't tell you five years from now that that's where I'll be at. I'll be retired from my day job. I'll have some time on my hands. We'll see. But that's in my current plan. I don't foresee that. In my five-year plan, I don't see that right now. But of course,
everything's subject to change.
Andrew Adams (26:18.156)
Yeah, neither of us can predict the future. They taught it in school, but I was absent that day.
Dennis Campo (26:24.458)
There it is.
Andrew Adams (26:28.158)
is there anything that we're missing or anything else that you want to make sure that we bring up? I mean, it's, there's so many different aspects to like your story in terms of teaching and then closing and then opening and, know, like, what do we missed?
Dennis Campo (26:44.456)
I don't think we've missed any. I think we've covered the whole story. It's been an interesting ride. Nothing I could have predicted back in 1985. I can't say, teaching martial arts, it's challenging. And I think most of us enjoy martial arts because of the challenge and that individual challenge. And if we're true martial artists, our charge is to roll with those punches, to learn from the experiences and build upon them.
And most importantly as instructors is to make sure the next generation is more empowered than we were. And if we can do that, we will sleep really well every night.
Andrew Adams (27:23.396)
Well said, well said. Excellent. Dennis, thank you so much for being here and sharing your story with all of us. Hopefully people got something out of it. I know I certainly did.
Dennis Campo (27:35.53)
Oh, it's an honor and just want to make sure I realize this, we have the same haircut. But really, was an honor. I thank you for your time as well.
Andrew Adams (27:44.708)
So for you guys listening or watching does anything Dennis said today does it relate with with you and your training and when you're teaching if so Let us know in the comments on YouTube You can go there and let us know if you need to you can certainly send me an email andrew at whistlekick.com If you are on YouTube and you know what even if you're not watching this on YouTube go to YouTube Subscribe to our channel. It really helps out our algorithm all of those little
computer zeros and ones, they want to see that people are engaged with the stuff that we do. So like this episode, subscribe, hit the notification bell. All of that stuff really makes a difference. And if anything we said today resonated, share this, share this episode with a friend. It costs nothing for you to tell people about the show and get them on board with hearing about what it is that we do. Whistlecock.
the whistlekick.com for all the stuff that we do. Whistlekick martial arts radio for the show and all of the show notes and extra photos and the exclusive newsletter you can get by hitting the subscribe button. And if you would like to help support us financially, we would certainly appreciate any of generosity you throw our way. Patreon.com forward slash whistle kick is where you can go to help support the show financially.
Thank you so much, Dennis, for being here. We appreciate you very much.
Dennis Campo (29:12.446)
My pleasure, my friend.
Andrew Adams (29:13.836)
And until next time, train hard, smile, and have a great day.