dojo history

Founded by Sensei Andrew Faupel – January 2003

First Karate Class Held – February 4, 2003

“My mission in founding Kenkojuku Karate of South Jersey was to develop a school focused on traditional karate and martial arts instruction, to adhere to certain guiding principles in training and life, and to deliver outstanding training at excellent value. I deliver our mission while promoting and exemplifying honesty, integrity, client satisfaction and the spirit of karate-do (karate as a way of life).

Today, I find myself disheartened that so many of my contemporaries have lost their true passion and spirit for teaching karate and instead focus all of their energies on revenue generation by taking advantage of their own students.

Here is the Kenkojuku Karate difference:

OTHER KARATE SCHOOLS	KENKOJUKU KARATE OF SOUTH JERSEY
You MUST sign an annual or extended membership contract that requires your financial obligation for six months or 1-year.	NO CONTRACTS! Karate is my passion, NOT my profession! We want our students to join and stay at our dojo because they value our instruction and want to train! In addition, we know life gets in the way and we are not in the business of taking advantage of our dojo family by forcing them to pay when they are not at the dojo. With our school you are always welcome, even if you need to take a few weeks off for baseball, school or a summer vacation.
You MUST pay a registration fee of $50 – $150 before you can begin training.	We just need your name and contact information. There is NO REGISTRATION FEE for telling us who you are!
You MUST pay more (typically $20 or $30 more / month) to be eligible for inclusion in the daily “leadership program” or special “black belt club”.	A key element in our MISSION is to DEVELOP LEADERS in the dojo and our local community! We EXPECT our students to become leaders and we provide opportunities to develop leadership traits and skills, and we do not charge you more to do it!
You can ENROLL YOUR 3-YEAR OLD into our special tumbling / karate program.	Kids are amazing and have a tremendous ability to learn. However, most 3-year old children have not yet developed their fine motor skills, attention span or can even distinguish between their right hand and left. We encourage parents to SAVE YOUR MONEY and wait until your child is mature enough to better understand what they are learning. Our TINY TIGER program begins at AGE 4-1/2 and our regular youth program at AGE 6.
We GIVE patches, pins, ribbons, certificates and other awards as part of a routine and recurring recognition system to encourage kids to continue their training.	We want our kids to continue training because they love it! We do recognize success through rank promotions and acknowledge our students who demonstrate leadership in and out of the dojo. However, we emphasize that true martial arts training has nothing to do with belts, trophies, patches and ribbons. Success in karate, as in any endeavor, requires hard work and dedication. We help our students learn that respect, commitment, teamwork and development of character are far more valuable in life than an endless supply of awards.

At KKSJ, I teach traditional karate to real students who want to learn about martial arts and self-defense, and I provide my students with honesty and value. OSS!”

Andrew Faupel
President & Owner
Kenkojuku Karate of South Jersey, LLC