Baldwinsville, N.Y. — Among a sea of teenagers at the Team Andrello Baldwinsville dojo, one particular figure sticks out. She’s 4-foot-10, 128 pounds and 75 years old.
And over the weekend, she earned a third-degree black belt in karate.
Maria Gonzalez, the “grandmother of the dojo” as she calls herself, is known for bringing cookies into the dojo for her fellow students. But she’s no pushover. Gonzalez has been training in martial arts for more than 20 years after retiring from a 30-year career as an elementary school bilingual education teacher.
In Saturday morning’s graduation ceremony, Gonzalez completed a years-long quest to obtain a third-degree black belt. She performed a sword-fighting display, executed four takedowns in a row and broke three boards.
“It was never on my bucket list, but damn, it feels good,” Gonzalez said after receiving her belt.
Jessica Landon, one of Gonzalez’s senseis, said Gonzalez made it clear before she started training that she did not want to be given the belt simply because she signed up. She wanted to do all of the same activities as the other students, even if it took her a little longer to practice them.
At graduation, she yelled, kicked and punched just as emphatically as those 60 years younger than her.
“They’re very gentle with me. They never hurt me. Ever. I hurt them,” Gonzalez said, laughing.
Maria Gonzalez has been training in martial arts for more than 20 years after retiring from a 30-year career as an elementary school bilingual education teacher. Photo by Connor Pignatello
Born in Spanish Harlem in New York City, Gonzalez said she was always the small kid growing up and needed to learn how to stand up for herself. But martial arts was not on her radar until 2001 when the recently-retired Gonzalez saw a flyer for martial arts and signed up as a way to lose weight.
She was hooked immediately and became passionate about martial arts. She enrolled her two grandchildren in martial arts when they were 2-and-a-half years old. Ten years later, they’re both second-degree black belts.
Throughout her last eight years of training, Gonzalez has had four surgeries. First, it was her back. Then, her right knee. Then, her left. But despite Gonzalez returned to the dojo within just a few weeks of each surgery. She credits martial arts for cutting her recovery time in half.
In addition to her daily practice at the dojo, Gonzalez serves as an assistant for classes every Friday. After graduation, she intends to continue teaching classes and establish a scholarship to increase the dojo’s minority representation.
As well as teaching at the dojo, Gonzalez has also volunteered to teach self-defense lessons at a local women’s shelter and to senior citizens at her church. Gonzalez said she’s trying to encourage more seniors to learn self-defense skills, even if they’re simple moves they can do with a walker or cane.
“I wouldn’t want to find me in a dark alley, because I’d hurt you,” Gonzalez said.
Later this week, she’ll be getting her right shoulder replaced. But rest assured, she’ll be back at the dojo within a month.
“I can teach with one arm. I’ve got two legs and an arm, I don’t need to use my right arm,” Gonzalez said. “I told my doctor, ‘Two weeks I stay home and that’s it.’”