Joe Grasso C.S.C.S/ Project Director |
Joe Grasso, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist
Joe Grasso, the founder of Power Bodies Personal Fitness Training, built his training facility originally out of his home to his now famous 6,000 sq. ft. facility in San Jose . Recently, ONFITNESS MAGAZINE rated Power Bodies as the #1 Personal Training Only Facility in the USA . Joe with over 40 years of weight lifting and fitness training experience, also worked over 18 years as a Law Enforcement Officer in California . His assignments in San Jose, CA. included working as a Violent Crime Team Detective (Gang Unit), several stints as a field training officer, and as a beat cop. Joe has experience with a variety of martial arts and did full contact stand-up fighting in his 20s and 30s. More importantly, Joe used this knowledge for real-life street situations Joe actually is a veteran of numerous violent confrontations, and is undefeated in street battle without needing the help of a fill unit during a combat situation. Using his hands and feet and control holds, Joe excelled in bringing violent criminals into custody safely and quickly. These same battle tested techniques combined with proper training as when to use them, prepare your child for a rewarding experience at DontBullyMyKids.com. Joe says the whole purpose of Don’tBullyMyKids.Com is to give your children the confidence, knowledge, and empowerment to thwart a bulling situation without ever having the need to resort to self defense techniques at all. |
Babak Khorrami
Head Instructor |
Babak Khorrami
Babak Khorrami, an engineer by trade with a background in biology as a pre-med school student, decided that he enjoyed Power Bodies Personal Fitness Training so much as a client for 4 years that he asked for a position as an employee. After quickly excelling as a personal fitness trainer, he was rapidly promoted to facility manager. At that position he convinced owner Joe Grasso to start a mixed martial arts self defense class at Power Bodies. Babak comes from a family well versed in martial arts and self defense, with all 3 brothers earning a black belt in some form of karate. Babak decided on studying ground fighting in Holland and later became a student at the World Renowned American Kickboxing Academy for stand-up fighting. Later he began training at Undefeated UFC Champion Frank Shamrock’s Mixed Martial Arts Facility. Babak’s balance of ground fighting, stand-up fighting, physical fitness training, and the medical field (knowing nerve centers & pressure points are incredibly valuable when defending one’s self) provide an excellent basis for teaching what works out in the street to keep your child safe. Popular with an incredible sense of humor, friendly personality, and a devotion to work, Babak is a driving force for DontBullyMyKids.Com. |
Chester Mellonius
Instructor
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Chester Mellonius
With 19 years experience in the martial arts as well as being a Gold Medal Winner of Belgium Contact Fighting and a Silver Medal Winner of European Contact Fighting, Chester is a 3rd Degree Black Belt Instructor in Pentjak Silat Manyang. This style utilizes realistic self defense techniques and is recognized the world over in international circles as one of the premier fighting styles. As a professional martial artist instructor by trade, Chester has trained thousands of children ages 3 to 17 years old. He was also a model for Tiger Claw Martial Arts Supply and is currently sought out for his expertise in tournament judging and for use as a martial arts referee. He has given numerous seminars, demonstrations, and workshops across the United States and has a relaxed style of teaching that children really love. In addition, Chester has security clearance for teaching personnel in sensitive areas and is well versed in submission holds, escapes, weapons, and ground fighting as well. |
Mike Alford
Instructor |
Mike Alford, San Jose Police Retired
Mike, a veteran of the United States Marine Corp, has 36 years of law enforcement experience, working for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, and the San Jose Police Department. In addition to numerous years as a beat cop, Mike has excelled in the area of juvenile crime working a total of 11 years in juvenile related units. Mike’s area of expertise includes working 3 years as a juvenile detective, 3 years as a child abuse detective, and 3 years as child molest detective. He also received an award from SJPD for excellence for spending two years being part of the unit that started SJPD’s Megan’s Law Unit. Mike brings a true level of juvenile experience to our staff. |
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Dr. Andre KnustGraichen
Clinical Professor
Martial Arts Master |
Dr. Andre KnustGraichen
Dr. Andre KnustGraichen, a true martial arts master who has been presented in Black Belt Magazine, happens to also be a Clinical Professor and Practicing Doctor of Chiropractic with special emphasis in neurology and nerve centers. His 20 plus years of practical medical experience allows him to share his clinical knowledge and combine aspects of the martial arts and self defense into our DontBullyMyKids.Com Program.
Known as Dr. Andre, his extensive experience has been used to teach people in all walks of life. He began his training in 1967 and he currently teaches specialized training to military personnel (Green Beret, Army Rangers, & Specialized Personal Security Details) in addition to teaching the public through seminars, workshops, and private instruction. Mastering a style called Pentjak Silat (made popular as the martial art style often referred to in Tom Clancy Novels in addition to being featured in videos and movies associated with “Special Ops” fighting methods & techniques) which emphasizes weapons training and the transition into unarmed combat and the use of everyday objects as weapons for self defense and protection.
Dr. Andre is also the founder of the AnakSerak System of Pentjak Silat. He is the CEO of the International Pencak Silat Federation, Pentjak Silat USA and is recognized by the Southest Asian & European Self Defense Federations. Dr. Andre has shared the stage at seminars and workshops with Daniel Inosanto, the protégé of the great Bruce Lee. His incredible experience is made available to our program as well as for our future specialized programs for adults. These unique programs will include firearm retention and disarms, knife and other bladed weapon defense, as well as self defense techniques needed for select individuals involved in Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, Specialized Security Details, in addition to Woman’s Self Defense. Look forward to an upcoming article in Black Belt Magazine featuring Dr. Andre. |
Staffing > Don't Bully Instructor Bios
Don't Bully My Kid > Endorsement > Don't Bully My Kids Instructors
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Tom Tarshis graduated from UC Berkeley and received a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan. He later received his medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is a board-certified psychiatrist who recently completed a 3-year research fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford University where his focus was on bullying and victimization in schools. Dr. Tarshis has presented information on bullying at both national and international meetings, and has published data in scientific journals on bullying and victimization. He is currently the director of the Bay Area Children's Association, a non-profit agency working with children and families with mental illness. Dr. Tarshis is also the parent of three children ranging in age from 3 to 12 years-old. His expertise and guidance provided to parents in our DontBullyMyKids.com video is needed information by many parents, as most parents don't even realize their children are being bullied at school. Dr. Tarshis tells us how to know if your child is being bullied. He also gives parents solid advice on how to prevent their children from being targets of bullies, and what to do if their child is already being bullied.
Dr. Andre KnustGraichen, a true martial arts master who has been presented in Black Belt Magazine happens to be a Clinical Professor and a Practicing Doctor of Chiropractic with a special emphasis in neurology and nerve centers. His 20+ years of practical medical experience allows him to share his clinical knowledge and combine aspects of the martial arts and self defense into the DontBullyMyKids.com Program. Knows as Dr. Andre, his extensive experience has been used to teach people in all walks of life. He began his training in 1967 and is currently teaching specialized training to military personnel (Green Berets, Army Rangers, and specialized Personal Security Details) in addition to teaching the public through seminars, workshops, and private instruction. In our DontBullyMyKids.com Video, Dr. Andre shows us common grabs a bully will do to our children and some incredibly easy counters to those grabs so our kids can free themselves and get help. He also shows us some pressure point moves to give our children an upper had on the bully. All moves taught by Dr. Andre are simple yet effective, and easy for parents to master and teach their children.
Mike Alford is a newly retired Law Enforcement Officer from Santa Clara County. He has 36 years experience and has worked for three different law enforcement agencies. His experience includes working as a beat cop, an evidence technician, a training officer, and a juvenile detective. He has spent detective years working in physical child abuse, sexual child abuse and missing persons. He also was Co-Developer of San Jose's Megan's Law Detail. This was a program to locate and track sex offenders living in the city of San Jose. It later became the model for numerous police departments throughout the nation. Mike gives parents the background behind Megan's Law and tells parents how they can use this information to better protect their children from sexual predators that may be living near by.
Mike Swain is considered to be the most successful Judo player the US has ever produced. Mike Swain is the only man from the Western Hemisphere to win a gold medal at the World Championships since its inception in 1956. The World Championships is a very prestigious tournament held only once every two years. As a World Champion, 4-time Olympian (bronze medallist in the Seoul Games) and 1996 Olympic Coach, Mike Swain has gained a phenomenal amount of valuable knowledge and experience. His video series by World Martial Arts are considered by many experts to be the finest Judo videos ever produced. Mike conducts Judo and self defense seminars and has done strength training with Mr. Grasso off and on for the last 5 years. Mike shows parents how to teach their children to fall should they be pushed in a bullying encounter and how to stand up and protect themselves without getting injured from an attack. This is very important information as many people are badly hurt or even killed from hitting their head on the ground when they fall.
Javier Mendez is a 2-Time World Kickboxing Champion. He is the founder and owner of the World Renowned American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose, California. AKA is rated as one of the top three producing mixed martial arts training facilities for champions in the world. Now Mr. Mendez focuses on training elite full contact fighters and world champions. He has a great reputation in the mixed martial arts community. Mr. Mendez is often asked to comment and appear on matters related to Mixed Martial Arts as his expertise is sought after. His knowledge and skill regarding stand up self-defense fighting techniques are sought out by many world champions due to his extreme level of expertise. Mr. Mendez, who has done strength training in the past with Mr. Grasso, appears in our DontBullyMyKids.com video showing basic self defense skills for parents to show their children. The purpose of course is for kids to protect themselves and build their own self-esteem and confidence. There is no better instructor for this than world renowned Javier Mendez!
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