Who's Behind the Counter: Matt Roberts and Rachael Theriault at American Kenpo Karate

Co-owners of Reisterstown’s American Kenpo Karate Studio, Matt Roberts and his fiancé Rachael Theriault have no problem with spending plenty of time together on the average day.

A big reason why is their mutual dedication toward providing kids and adults alike a surplus of ways to stay active, set goals and better themselves physically and mentally.

As a result, their gym is one of the biggest of its kind—in popularity and sheer size—on the East Coast.

The duo sat down with Patch to talk about their individual passions, the enjoyment they get out of seeing kids accomplish their goals, life outside of the gym and much more.

Patch: What do you like about working in Reisterstown?

Roberts: It’s a great community. We’re very active in the community, in general. A good population of course and we do a lot of kids’ programs and stuff like that so we get a lot of kids in the area.

What got you into martial arts and working with both kids and adults?

Roberts: I started martial arts when I was a kid and kind of just fell into it 17 years ago. I had the opportunity to take a school over and just grew it from there.

Theriault: I handle all the behind the scenes stuff and I’m way into the fitness realm for the adult program. My background is fitness, not martial arts.

Roberts: She teaches the majority of the kickboxing classes during the week. She’s kind of the fitness coordinator.

What is your guys’ dynamic? How do you work well together?

Roberts: It’s good. At times it can be hectic, but overall it’s good. We get to work together every day.

Theriault: It’s good to work with somebody that you trust and it always function in that full realm because we are the backboards, we are always here overseeing everything that’s being done, knowing everything that’s coming in and out the door … We’re here 24-7.

What made you want to start this kind of place and offer this service to the community?

Roberts: Well, we offer a lot of different programs here. Kids programs, summer camps, after school and martial arts [programs]. We’re big into the fitness realm and we found that it’s definitely needed in the Reisterstown area as an alternative to a normal gym. People come in and get great classes and if they want to take it to the next level or if they wanted to learn to box—pretty much anything anyone’s looking for. That’s why this particular side is called the “No Limits” gym because there are no limits to what you can do here. Jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, pretty much anything.

Theriault: I became his partner, pretty much, because I got tired of working fulltime as a nurse and I’m huge into fitness. Now, I get to not only be the nurse at the summer camp program and after school program but also get to teach the fitness programs as well. 

Emphasizing fitness is so big among kids right now because everyone’s sitting around watching TV and on the computer. How helpful is a place like this to get kids active and moving around?

Theriualt: I think it’s attractive to teens because it’s not just, let’s go to the gym and use the treadmill. Kids want to box and it’s in a group atmosphere so they think it’s fun …Teens are a hard group [to get motivated], but it’s in a day and age that it’s huge. The kids need [exercise] more now—obesity in America is at an all-time high. We go to games and see everyone on the sideline and on the court and it’s devastating, it’s sad. And P.E., they’ve cut that back in schools and now half of it is a written curriculum.

For a kid that starts here at a young age, what life lessons are they learning and what are they getting out of this that’s going to stick with them their whole life?

Roberts: We have a leadership program where they actually start learning from white belt all the way through to black belt. Some of the things they learn are dedication and work ethic. They start helping out teaching and doing odd jobs around the studio. It’s teaching them good values and putting them back into the community. We do a lot of community service hours and stuff like that for them at school. We stay active in the community with everything.

What is the most satisfying thing to you about working here and interacting with kids and adults and helping them out?

Theriualt: For me, the adults, seeing their lifestyle changes and being the one to push them and help them get on the right foot. And some of the kids, seeing them with huge behavioral problems and thinking there’s no end in sight and then two to three years later, just them totally turning it around and being an outstanding student, it’s huge. You don’t think it’s possible until you see it.

Roberts: Helping them accomplish whatever their goal may be. Seeing them accomplishing their goals at every belt level—if they’re in a belted program. Every time they earn a belt they’ve  accomplished a goal, and just seeing the smiles on their faces. Also, just helping them out in school. It’s kind of ironic how it all works out. Martial arts really, really does help individuals in school with better focus and getting better grades, and behavioral problems. You always hear that, but when you’re actually involved with it on a day-to-day basis you actually see it and it’s amazing.

What are some things you guys do outside of here for leisure? Outside of the martial arts-fitness realm, what do you do for fun?

Roberts: We’re big time skiers and we’re bikers.

Theriualt: We both ride motorcycles and we love to scuba dive. A lot of expensive hobbies!

Roberts: Anything that’s thrilling, we do. We go to Utah every year and we do all the out-of-bounds stuff and all the fun stuff.