Instructors

Louis Toledo
Hanshi

Founder and Chief instructor, Louis Toledo, 10^th Degree Black Belt

Hanshi (Grandmaster) Louis Toledo began his martial arts training in Brooklyn, New York in 1975 and holds multiple black belt degrees in Japanese and Okinawan karate systems.  Louis is a two-time International Association of Martial Arts (IAMA) Hall of Famer, where in both 2008 and 2009 he received the Master Martial Arts Instructor of the Year award and more recently was awarded their Lifetime Pioneer award.

In May 2010, Louis received the Who’s Who in the Martial Arts (WWMA) International Pioneer award, for decades of martial arts commitment, dedication and production of upstanding students.  He was also bestowed their respected title of Founder of the Year and was inducted into the WWMA Hall of Fame.  In 2014, WWMA awarded him the Lifetime Pioneer award, making him a four-time Hall of Fame inductee.

Louis is a former full-contact karate competitor and a United Nations Champion righter.  He founded this dojo in 2009 in Maplewood, NJ.

Master Peggy Excell

Kyoshi Peggy Excell began training in the martial arts in 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia.  She has studied various styles of martial arts through the years, such as Cuong Nhu and Moo Duk Kwan, and began training in Hanshi Toledo’s dojo, where she achieved the rank of Black Belt, in 2005.

Peggy now holds the rank of Shichidan, 7^th Degree Black Belt, and teaches classes of all ranks at MTJK.