LI academies build on 'Karate Kid' life lessons

When "The Karate Kid" opened earlier this month, crowds showed up to check out Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan - the stars of the new movie about a martial-arts pupil and his teacher - and their fight to beat the enemy.

But on opening weekend at the Regal Hampton Bays 5 movie theater, moviegoers got more.

On June 12 during breaks between four screenings, local community groups and area karate schools set up booths and tables in the lobby where they offered demonstrations to teach young people more about the life lessons of the film - messages about dealing with bullies and the importance of perseverance.

The movie is about "inner strength, and having the courage to make tough choices, like whether to drink and drive," said Dorothy Marino, of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which teaches about the dangers of drunken driving.

Marino's 15-year-old son, Joseph Marino, was killed in August when he was struck by a drunken driver in Hampton Bays.

"Drunk driving is not taken as seriously as it should be, and the only way to get things to change is to get stiffer penalties and to get the word out to young people before they start driving," she said.

Larry Beierle of the On Guard Self Defense Karate Academy in Shirley was accompanied by six of his young students, dressed in the traditional white pants and robes, or "gi," as they performed karate moves.

He told observers that his traditional Okinawan school of Isshinryu karate teaches values of discipline, focus, self-esteem, perseverance, indomitable spirit and the art of finding peace within oneself.

"We're trying to teach more than just fighting - things like finding inner harmony, having faith in yourself and focusing on your goals," said Beierle, a black-belt practitioner.

Matt Pieta, 12, of Riverhead, a karate student at the school, said karate has taught him "not to fight with others unless they attack me first."

Charles Cardona, 46, a teacher at the academy, said the movie "instilled the values that martial arts represents."

"The true spirit of martial arts has to do with how to avoid conflicts," he said. "Sometimes you can disarm someone by redirecting them, as opposed to using lethal force."

The DARE program, which aims to educate kids about the dangers of making the wrong choices about drugs, offered an essay contest on how to handle bullying. Six winners got free movie passes.

Terry Maccarrone of Karate USA in Westhampton Beach said his students have found the "Karate Kid" movies - this is the fifth counting the original in 1984 - to be inspiring.

"I've seen all of them, and each time one comes out we see a big surge in our school's enrollment," he said. "The kids get a lot out of these movies besides the fight scenes."

He called on parents to encourage their kids to participate in activities that will teach responsibility and give them firsthand knowledge of the values taught in "The Karate Kid."