Reopening after Floods, Local Business Faces Challenges

What the Monroe family really wants to do is talk about martial arts, not flood waters. Standing in the center of their studio, , at the corners of Virginia and Delaware Drives in Fort Washington, I'm surrounded by the sound of shins striking pads, fists driving into bags, and the laughter of half a dozen young children as they depart from a lesson.

Owners Sharon and Ron, who first opened the business six years ago, stand in front of me and smile as they recall the stories of their sons' successes.

22-year-old Ronnie was once internationally ranked in Tae Kwon Doe as a teenager, whisking away to foreign countries to compete at the highest levels.

"Ronnie tore a ligament in his ankle in his first fight in a German competition," Ron says, the pride slowly rising in his voice. "But he made it through four fights before losing by one point in the finals to an opponent from Egypt."

Sharon laughs, recalling how Ronnie first took an interest in martial arts.

"Ronnie was four, and he liked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," she says. "So we got him some lessons, and he was just a natural, he just took off with it."

Their younger son, Brandon, now a teenager and third degree black belt himself, followed in Ronnie's footsteps and has won several competitions of his own. However, he spreads his time through multiple disciplines, recently winning a prestigious NAGA competition in Brazilian Jui Jitsu. Brandon is striking bags with a workout partner as I interview his parents, and moves with the confidence that a lifetime of discipline instills.

They say the boys were the reason they originally opened the school, to cut down on traveling as far away as Virginia to get the best instruction. For them, the school was always more about love than business.

Unfortunately, I'm not at the school just to talk about the success of their sons. Standing in the studio, I'm also surrounded by evidence of the recent floods. Cinderblocks raise appliances and cabinets off the ground. Boxes are in various stages of unpacking. A visible line, four feet off the floor, runs the entire length of the wall, evidence of where drywall was recently replaced.

"Irene only gave us six inches, because we barricaded all the doors with sandbags and things like that, and were able to clean it up quickly," Sharon says. "We were open for two days when we got hit with the next flood, and we had no idea it was coming. Once it hit us, we had three feet of water in here. It just came rushing through Granite Galleria, bent their garage doors, and came through here like a tidal wave."

"It was a nightmare--we got totally wiped out," Ron says. "We're a small school, a family run school--we're not a mega school with big dollars, so it affected us a lot when we flooded."

The Monroe’s say that without Ron's work as a physician, there would no longer be a school.

"If he didn't work a full time job, and support the family, we wouldn't have been able to keep this going," said Sharon. "It's not even a job for me. I love working with the kids. People here are great, and I want to make sure we keep going."

The second storm the couple refers to , catching an already saturated Upper Dublin off guard after passed through just two weeks earlier. The storm also flooded and closed down Competitive Edge's neighbors; the Fort Washington just recently reopened, and Granite Galleria owner Savino Costanzo that he lost $380,000 in flood damages.

Still, the Monroe’s managed after the flooding, moving their classes to the Old Fort Washington Elementary while they worked on repairing the school.

"We lost two vans, but Progressive paid us right away and we were able to get up and running in two days at the old elementary school," Sharon said, noting that they had to hold classes on hardwood floor until new mats came in. "We just worked with whatever we had."

The Monroe's say that Competitive Edge prides itself on offering a diverse range of classes for a diverse range of students, without a high price. Instructors teach classes in boxing, kickboxing, Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Tae Kwon Doe, to students as young as four and as old as 60. Sharon and Ron both hold black belts, and promote what they say are the positive effects of martial arts.

"For younger kids, it helps with balance, hand-eye coordination, and you try to teach them about bullying, how to be safe walking down the street or in the playground," says Sharon. "Then you talk about goals and perseverance.  You start out at a white belt and work your way to black-- it's a hard trail to go. But if you stick it out, the end result is worthwhile."

Unfortunately, that seems to be the same philosophy that the Monroe’s must take with their business in the face of recurrent floods. They say they've been flooded three times in the six years since opening, and don't have much reason to think it won't happen again.

"Flooding is putting us out of business, putting others out of business,” Ron says. “Across the street, they've been empty for years. We're trying to stay, we're trying to stay here, but it's gotta stop flooding.”

The Monroe’s say they hope the township works to prevent flooding as well, but are worried that the won't come fast enough, and that any new developments could create more impermeable surfaces and more flooding.

They're optimistic, but preparing for the worst.

"My hope is that it will never happen again, but I know it will. That's why when I went out and I bought furniture, I bought furniture that was not going to get ruined in another flood," said Sharon. "We just have to watch the weather, and pray it doesn't come through again."

What are your feelings about the flooding? Have a similar story? Tell us in the comments.

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