By Alex Robinson
After nine months without its own home, the Bayside Tiger Schulmann’s has reopened in a new location on Northern Boulevard.
The martial arts school cleared out of its space on Bell Boulevard and 39th Avenue back in December, and had been using the United Methodist Church on Bell Boulevard to conduct its classes.
The new facility, at 215-15 Northern Blvd., offers a larger space for the school, which teaches seven classes a day.
“It’s just a better space for us,” said owner and head instructor Bryan Gotthoffer. “It’s bigger and the flow is better.”
The school has been in Bayside for almost 20 years and has three instructors, including Golden Gloves Champion Julio Arce.
It offers lessons in mixed martial arts, which is a combination of kick boxing and submission grappling for students 5 years and older.
The main pillars of the school’s program are self-discipline, self-defense and confidence, Gotthoffer said.
“The key to having a successful life is to be able to keep with something and finish it,” he said. “We talk about discipline all the time with our students so they know what it is to set a goal and achieve it. We also help them overcome the obstacles until they don’t need our help any more, so that they can apply that self-discipline to everything else they do in life.”
The martial arts teacher said self-discipline and the defense techniques the school teaches children lead to confidence.
“Confident kids are happy kids and when kids are happy, parents are happy,” he said. “We’ve seen amazing changes in our students. Kids have come in shy, overweight and not confident and we get great results.”
Tiger Schulmann is not just a learning experience for children though, Gotthoffer said, as it also provides a great workout for adults.
“You have an instructor to push you, so it’s not like the gym. The gym gets boring,” he said. “Most people who come to us say, ‘I got tired of the gym.’ It’s a fun and effective workout and it only takes an hour and at the same time, you’re learning how to defend yourself, which is something everyone should know. In the gym you’re not learning anything other than to lift weights. That doesn’t help you in the real world.”
Gotthoffer first joined Tiger Schulmann 25 years ago as a white belt before becoming an instructor. He opened his first gym in New Jersey before jumping at the opportunity to start a school in Bayside.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
