Meet the staff at Mountain Martial Arts

Okinawa Goju Ryu Kenkyu Kai

Mr. Kapel is the owner/teacher at Mountain Martial Arts, Est 1998. He has over 35 years of experience training and teaching the fighting art of Goju Ryu Karate Do. Mark started his journey along the way late in 1981 in The House Of Karate on Staten Island. The style taught there was Shinto Goju Ryu. Shihan Chris DeBaise developed the style which was a blend of Urban Goju and Goju Kai. The owner of that dojo was George Smith (Sensei Smitty) and the Chief instructor during the 90’s was Glenn Cunningham Sensei. However, during the 1990’s our training shifted toward Okinawa Goju Ryu and in 1998 we traveled to Okinawa to train with Eiichi Miyazato Sensei in his Jundokan dojo.

In 1998 Sensei Mark opened Mountain Martial Arts in Monroe Twp, NJ and has been training and teaching Okinawa Goju Ryu nearly everyday since then.

We are honored to be an Official representative (Shibu-cho dojo) and student of Masaji Taira~Hanshi and The Okinawa Goju ryu Kenkyu Kai. In addition to being a teacher, Sensei Kapel has also taught, organized and hosted many tournaments and seminars with some of the most talented Goju Ryu practitioners anywhere.

Sensei Kapel regularly teaches seminars specializing in kata/bunkai and is available to travel to your dojo to teach.

Senpai Billy has been coming to Mountain Martial Arts since the age of 10. His unique understanding of Kata, Kihon and Bunkai with his ability to relate to the kids make him the perfect guide for your child’s Martial Arts development.

Senpai Bill Lester is the General Manager of Mountain Martial Arts.