Dr. Marc Bochner, DPT
Soke-Dai of Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu
Marc Bochner started his martial arts career at the age of eight, under the tutelage of Professor Richard Petronelli in the system of Koba-Ryu. Under Professor Petronelli, Bochner learned the fundamental kicks, forms, punches and stances that are prevalent in all traditional karate based systems.
At the age of eleven, Bochner followed Petronelli to his Vee Arnis Jitsu School, where the focus shifted from traditional karate to a more effective and realistic form of self-defense, taught to Professor Petronelli by Professor Florendo Visitacion. After five years of dedicated training, Bochner earned a black belt in Jiu Jitsu under Petronelli and Sifu Albert Borino. At the age of thirteen, Bochner started to assist in teaching the children’s classes. Three years later, at the age of sixteen, Bochner started to assist in teaching the majority of the adult classes alongside Shihan Bruce DiTraglia and Professor Petronelli.
On November 9, 1999, Bochner was the personal Uki (person who gets demonstrated upon) for Professor Petronelli when he successfully tested in front of the Head Founders and Head Family Board of Directors. In this examination, Professor Petronelli presented his reality based self-defense curriculum and thus validated his own system of Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu. As a result of this approval, Professor Petronelli was now known as the Soke (Founder of a System) of Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu. For all his years of dedicated training, Bochner was named Soke-Dai of the system (one who teaches in place of a Soke) and became one of the youngest people to ever hold that title.
In March of 2001, the Cranston Herald published a news article about Bochner and the adaptive art of Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu. The article describes how Bochner modified the system so that Brian Baccaire, a man with Spina Bifida, could effectively defend himself.
In the summer of 2001, Soke-Dai Bochner assisted the Rhode Island Justice Program as one of the local instructors who participated in the Kick Drugs Out Of Delinquency Program for inner city children. In this program, Bochner and other martial artists demonstrated and explained the mentality behind martial arts to these youths.
Bochner is the designer of the “Nucleus” crash course which teaches instinctive reactions and defenses against common street attacks. Bochner’s creation of the Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu youth curriculum provides children and teenagers with the proper knowledge of how to realistically defend themselves and prevent possible abduction.
In March of 2004, Soke-Dai Bochner tested and passed his 5th degree black belt test. (An excerpt from this test can be found at www.KuntaoJiuJitsu.com.)
In May 2006, Soke-Dai Bochner received his Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science from the University of Rhode Island. He continued his education at the graduate level at the University, earning his Doctorate in Physical Therapy in the summer of 2009.
In March of 2007, Soke-Dai Bochner produced the official Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu Six DVD Training Set; Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu: Your DVD Guide to Realistic Self-Defense and Street Survival. These are the only DVDs showing the effective techniques within the art of Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu. In September of 2007, the 2nd edition of Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu: Your Guide to Realistic Self-Defense and Street Survival was published. In September of 2009, Soke-Dai Bochner released the 2nd edition of his second book Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu: Immediate Survival. Bochner’s article on Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu and its formula for realistic self-defense training was featured in the April 2010 issue of Black Belt Magazine. In 2011, Bochner published a third book geared toward children entitled Realistic Self-Defense For Parents, Children, and Adolescents.
Soke-Dai Bochner has held self-defense and rape prevention seminars at the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, Salve Regina University, Bentley University, and Providence College. He is the co-founder of the University of Rhode Island Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu club and is currently the head instructor at the Academy of Kuntao Jiu-Jitsu in Rhode Island.
