Strength, balance, power, agility, weight loss, flexibility, focus, discipline, self protection, self empowerment, respect, stress reduction, and fun are some of the benefits derived from martial arts training, says Rick Tucci, co-founder and director of Princeton Academy of Martial Arts. After many years of training and traveling he opened the 6,”000 square foot facility on Farber Road in West Windsor in 1987.
There is an open house scheduled for Saturday, March 7, from 1 to 3 p.m to celebrate its 22nd anniversary. “It’s a quirky thing but we are a hidden jewel,” he says. “We are known more internationally than locally.” Tucci, who travels often, teaches seminars throughout Europe and the U.S. He also has people who represent him around the world. “We have ongoing events and demonstrations,” he says. “People come here to do seminars and weekend training events.”
A complete training center for the study of martial arts, PAMA offers a wide range of systems for individuals with or without previous experience. “One would have to travel to Los Angeles to train at this level,” says Tucci, who produces martial arts industry shows for corporations, health fairs, and teaches police groups and military personnel.
Classes at the academy are for age groups 6 to 9, 9 to 14, and adults. “It’s good for self confidence and discipline in the younger groups,” he says. “Kids are so used to so many things happening at once that it is difficult for them to focus.”
Born and raised in Ewing, Tucci graduated from Ewing High School, and became an apprentice custom furniture maker at Liberty Village when it was an artisan village similar to Williamsburg, Virginia. He learned about Chippendale, Queen Anne, and Jacobean as he worked to reproduce 18th century pieces. “It was artistic and interesting to work with wood to create pieces of furniture people couldn’t find to suite their needs,” he says.
Meanwhile his martial arts skills were growing. He began studying karate when he was 11 and during his high school years he became interested in boxing. His next door neighbor, a professional boxer, taught Tucci and his two brothers about boxing (in the Ali vs. Fraser years). When the Kung Fu movie era began he became enamored and began studying in New York. “The more I got involved the more I kept training,” he says. “The Bruce Lee film threw me over the top and I was out on the train to Seattle to study.” He was 19.
He later studied in Europe with a good friend of Bruce Lee, and then he taught in Philadelphia for nine years. When he was training a few wealthy families in Princeton, he attended bodyguard school and was a bodyguard for one year for a “well-known family in Princeton” in 1985 to ’86.
The studio was co-founded with Tucci’s late wife, Amy, who died in July. For many years she was one of only three women certified as a full instructor of Bruce Lee’s Art of Jeet Kune Do. Her obituary described her as “an inspiration and mentor to many women not only in the physical aspects of the martial arts but the spiritual and mental aspects as well.” She also created the women’s self-defense classes at PAMA.
The open house presentations include ongoing adult and children’s martial arts demonstrations from around the globe including Jeet Kun Do, Indonesian Pentjak Silat, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), Filipino Kali/Eskrima, Boxe Francais Savate (France), and mixed martial arts.
Meet Tucci and his trained staff of instructors. Coupons for free lessons and classes, drawings, and refreshments will be available. A women’s self defense workshop will be presented at 3 p.m. Free.
Open House, Princeton Academy of Martial Arts, 14 Farber Road, West Windsor. Saturday, March 7, 1 to 3 p.m. Adult and children’s martial arts demonstrations from around the globe. Women’s self defense workshop begins at 3 p.m. Refreshments. Free. 609-452-2208. www.pamausa.com.
