“Our son started taking a class at East Side Tae Kwon Do when he was five-and-a-half. He was one of the youngest children and one of the smallest in size, yet he never felt intimidated. He feels empowered as he masters each new kick and stance, gaining self-confidence and improving his discipline. His belt advancement has given him additional self-confidence. ” - Jill

Mary Clare Bland

Mary Clare Bland founded East Side Tae Kwon Do with the goal of creating a martial arts school that was safe, clean and welcoming. She wanted to build a school that not only taught a curriculum of the highest quality but also one in which instructors understood the dynamics of the body, kids were safe, and women were welcome. Mary Clare has a Second Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and is actively training for her Third. She also has training in Shotokan Karate and an extensive yoga background. Finally, she has worked with numerous Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists and Child Psychologists to help East Side Tae Kwon Do become an industry leader in teaching kids with special needs.

Mary Clare has a background in finance and economics; she has advanced degrees in both fields. She taught economics at Indiana University and finance and statistics at the University of Gdansk. Following this she had a highly successful Wall Street career. She left the financial services industry because she always wanted to start her own company that specialized in something she loves.

 

Master Lee Scantalides

Master Lee Scantalides is a native of Newton, Massachusetts, with over 22 years of martial arts experience. At the age of 6, Master Lee began studying Uechi-Ryu Karate and achieved black belt candidacy. While studying Uechi-Ryu, Master Lee expanded his training with Small circle Japanese ju-jitsu and Hapkido.

Master Lee’s Taekwondo training started when he was 14. He completed his 1st Dan black belt test four years later at Bruce McCorry’s Martial Arts Academy, Peabody, MA. As a part of Master McCorry’s Elite Competition and Demonstration team for over 3 years, he competed and participated in public demonstrations of Taekwondo forms, board breaking, weapons and sparring techniques, at local schools, community organizations and public forums. During that time Master Lee also worked as a camp counselor and as an instructor at Bruce McCorry’s Martial Arts where he taught Taekwondo to children as young as 4 and to beginner adults as old as 62.

After graduating from high school, Master Lee continued his Martial arts training at Springfield College where he was a Rehabilitation and Disability studies major. Under the direction and training of International Champion Grandmaster Chang H. Choi, Master Lee competed at the adult black belt level at several state and national tournaments. At the age of 20, he attained his 2nd Dan black belt.

Master Lee subsequently transferred to the University of Colorado at Boulder where he majored in Kinesiology and Applied Physiology. He joined CU’s Taekwondo team where he was elected Captain. Master Lee competed at the Collegiate National’s under the training of Olympic competitor and World Champion Mr. Ian Mitchell. With the knowledge from his competition training and Kinesiology studies, Master Lee developed and implemented a specific advanced competition class for children and adults. After graduating from CU in 2003, with a degree in Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, Master Lee moved to New York to pursue a career in Personal training and Taekwondo Instruction.

In 2004 Master Lee completed his 3rd Dan test, and in January 2008 he completed his 4th Dan test under Grandmaster Richard Chun. He is currently training for his 5th Dan test. As an instructor for 12 years now, Master Lee continues to teach Taekwondo to children and adults at all levels. He resides in Astoria, Queens and in addition to teaching Taekwondo, he runs his personal training business in NYC specializing in post-rehabilitation and sports-specific training.

 

Fabiano Covas

"I have 16 years of Tae Kwon Do experience. I'm mostly interested in Olympic Tae Kwon Do. I started Tae Kwon Do at the age of 14 in Brazil with Master Fabio Goulart (1992 Pan American Games Champion and currently coach of Brazilian National Team). I trained with the Brazilian National Team from 1995 to 1999 under the supervision of Master Carlos Negrão (currently Brazilian National Team coach). I also attended many competition seminars with Master Ireno Fargas, former World Champion and Spanish Olympic Team coach.

"Although I have trained and competed with Elite athletes since I was a junior athlete, a series of injuries forced me to stop Tae Kwon Do on a competition level many times. Because of that, I started to focus on my academic and professional career. I graduated in System's Analyses from University Paulista (Sao Paulo, Brasil) in 1998; then I got a Software Engineering Specialization from University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in 1999. I came to the United States in 2000 to work on software engineering projects. I got a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Pace University and I'm currently working as a lead software engineer for a consulting firm in New York City.

"I have been training with Master Peter Bardatsos (US Nationals Team Coach) since 2001; I have had the opportunity to spar and train with many elite world class athletes throughout the years in the US (including 4 times world champion and 2 times olympic champion Steven Lopez). Now, I'm teaching classes at East Side Tae Kwon Do, sharing my experience with the students that love this beautiful art. I'm a big soccer fan. In my spare time, I love to play classic guitar."

 

Abdel Zerradi

Abdel Zerradi is originally from the city of Casablanca in Morocco. At the age of 10, Abdel began learning Tae Kwon Do with one of his native country’s most illustrious Masters in the art – 6th Dan Master M. Tahraoui. During the next four years, he followed a very strict regime designed by Master Tahraoui himself for all his students aging between 10 and 17, which combined the mastering of traditional Tae Kwon Do with military-style physical work-outs. He also got to participate in the Regional Juniors Championship in three occasions and be part of many clinics and special training camps conducted by a different Grand Masters from all around the world.

At the age of 14, Abdel moved with his parents and younger brother to the United States of America where he decided to continue his Tae Kwon Do studies under the training of Master C.H. Sung in Brooklyn, New York. He then participated in a number of local and city tournaments in board breaking, forms and sparring. Abdel was also part of Sung’s Demo Team, which performed demonstrations at many neighboring Martial Arts Schools and even a few elementary and junior high schools.

Abdel began his instructing at the early age of 17 as a red belt, but it was not until he turned 19 that he attained his 1st Dan black belt. He attained his 2nd Dan black belt at the age of 21. He then decided to put together all the knowledge he acquired over the years and all the teaching skills and techniques from over 20 different instructors, masters and grand masters and pass it on to his students. He continues to teach Tae Kwon Do to people of all ages, and is currently training for his 3rd Dan Black Belt.