Learning to Live Like Martial Artists

Torie Rovere doesn’t care how high or how hard her students kick and punch.

“I like to think it’s about being well rounded – mind, body and spirit,” the head instructor and manager of the said.

Rovere has been studying the martial arts since she was 4 years old not because she wanted to become Bruce Lee, or enter the world of Mixed Martial Arts, but because she was lucky - lucky to find something she had a passion for at an early age.

“I got bullied as a kid, and anytime I had a bad day, I came in here and just escaped,” she said. “Without it, I’m not sure where I’d be.”

Her excitement shows. After calling a group of young students to attention, she gets down on the mat and shows them exactly what they need to do before having them work on the moves themselves. Throughout the course of the exercise, she gets down more than a few times to instruct, encourage, and even joke with the students.

“The best thing is to be able to pass down what I know. It’s almost as good as when I first learned it,” she said.

That excitement, energy and dedication to create smart, confident, well rounded martial artists is behind everything the Satori Academy does, and Rovere is just one example of the people that work there.

“We teach great martial arts and have career instructors, people who want to do this for a career,” she owner Nancy Walzog. “They’re well trained, college graduate martial arts instructors. That’s what sets it apart from others. We do this for our career, and it’s our passion.”

Walzog purchased and took over the school in 2008 after being a student there herself. As a mom and instructor she knows the importance of focusing on the students as people, rather than just teaching them some basic skills to master.

“We do all the punches and kicks, but our main focus is self control, discipline, control and confidence,” said Rovere. “You learn how to defend yourself and not only how to be a martial artist, but to live like a martial artist.”

The first Satori Academy was opened in California in 1978 by Dave Kovar with the philosophy that he give students positive life skills through martial arts. Eventually the school grew, and after being a student at the East Brunswick dojo for several years, Walzog decided the opportunity was perfect to begin the next stage of her professional life.

Before buying the academy from Kovar, Walzog was an award-winning film and television producer who worked with Discovery, TLC, HBO, Animal Planet and more. She was the producer of the Academy Award winning documentary “Kim Gimp,” and won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children’s Series for “Assignment Discover” and “Greatest inventions with Bill Nye.” But even all that success couldn’t keep her from following her love – the martial arts.

“In was in television and had a successful television production company. I’d done that for 20 years. For me it was just time for a change and it just became a hard business,” she said. “An opportunity came up to purchase these schools (she also owns a school in Edison), they’d been around for five years, and I’d been in the martial arts as a student and then as a volunteer instructor.”

Since becoming the owner of Satori, Walzog has worked hard to not only teach martial arts, but to become a strong member of the community. The academy runs charity fundraisers throughout the year and typically makes donations to various community groups.

The academy is currently holding a shoe drive as part of the charity, Soles4Souls, and hopes to send about 1,000 gently used shoes to the Nashville, Tenn., group.

Satori Academy of Martial Arts is located at 251 Route 18 in East Brunswick, next to Soccer Stadium. Call to schedule a free, introductory class instructed by a certified black-belt teacher. They can be reached at 732-651-0123.