Jeff MacDonald

I’ve been interested in the martial arts since high school but it seemed to me that all the karate schools were headed by Chuck Norris or Billy Jack wannabes, or were focused on winning tournaments. It wasn’t until I met Tracy Rose in the winter of 1986/1987 that I found the “meat and potatoes” style, and instructor, that I’d been looking for.

I studied under Sensei Rose after hours, where we worked, for about a year. We both changed jobs at roughly the same time and I began studying under Tracy’s teacher, Buzz Durkin, at the old Salem NH dojo. It was at the Salem/Atkinson dojo that I was afforded the opportunity to teach the Saturday morning adult white belt class that became the seed for this book.

I studied with Sensei Durkin for 11 years or so when I took a job in Boston which made getting to the dojo on a regular basis problematic. In the meantime, my wife, Erika, and I had enrolled our eldest child at Mike Rozumek’s in Pepperell MA, and it was there, during a parent appreciation month, that Erika began her study of Uechi-ryu.

Another job change, this time closer to home, allowed me to resume regular Uechi practice. In 2004, Neil Stone opened his dojo in Brookline NH and our family has called Sensei Stone’s dojo “home” ever since.

In addition to traditional Uechi-ryu karate, I’m also interested in other traditional pastimes such as wood workin’, fly fishin’, banjo frailin’, and boat sailin’.