Mr. Antonio Ferrer started his martial arts career in 1969 at the age of fourteen in South Florida under the tutelage of sensei Peter Straughbal. After Sensei Straughbal departed to Okinawa as a Peace Core volunteer, Mr. Ferrer trained with Robert Trias, John Pachivas and Larry Pemillio in Shito-Ryu in North Miami.

In 1973 Mr. Ferrer started his training in Nisei Goju-Ryu under Sensei Herbie Thompson where he obtained his Sho Dan in 1975. Mr. Ferrer taught and trained in South Florida until 1992 when he moved to Jupiter, Florida where he continued his training in Nisei Goju-Ryu with Grand master Frank Ruiz.

Mr. Ferrer moved to Maryland in 1998 to fulfill his duties as Outside Plant Engineering Manager with AT&T for the Maryland and DC area. Mr. Ferrer now owns and teaches full time the art of Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate Do in Severn, MD under the direction of Sensei Nakamura, Canada, and Sensei Morio Higaonna of Okinawa, Japan.

Mr. Ferrer currently holds a sixth-degree Black belt in Nisei Goju and a fourth-degree in Okinawa Goju Ryu and is an accredited instructor under IOGKF and is a member of IOGKF-USA executive committee. Mr. Ferrer’s professional career includes engineering with BellSouth, Outside Plant director AT&T Local Services for Maryland and Washington DC, Outside plant director North East region for ARBROS Communications and owner of TFC Construction LLC underground utility construction and fiber optics splicing company.

In April 2007 Mr. Ferrer opened Warriors of Grace Karate Dojo in Severn, Maryland, in the Annapolis area and now teaches Okinawan Goju Ryu full time. The school is growing at a pace to be one of the largest in the area.


Jim (Gonçalo) Maia started practicing martial arts in 1987 at the age of 7 in Portugal under Sensei Mario Andrade in Shotokan Karate. In 1992, Jim initiated his training in Goju-Ryu and has been a practitioner ever since under the tutelage of Shihan Jorge Monteiro, the youngest Goju-Ryu 7th Dan in the world as well as the Portuguese Chief Instructor.

An avid karateka and an excellent athlete, Jim was a Portuguese IOGKF National Champion in Kumite, category of 75kg and placed 2nd in the 1st Irikumi Portuguese National Championship, category of 85kg.

Jim was born in 1981 at Porto, Portugal and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Porto, earning a degree in Chemical Engineering in 2004. In 2005, he moved to the USA to pursue his PhD studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Maryland. In 2007, he co-founded the Warriors of Grace Karate Dojo and teaches as a regular instructor.



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