Meet Richard Alonzo: Founder of AntiBullyingCamp.com
We had the good fortune of connecting with Richard Alonzo and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Richard, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
It started with my curiosity about a controversial documentary called The Bully Project (2011), having chosen a life of working with kids and 20 years of previous experience. It followed a handful of kids in different parts of the country who were experiencing bullying and whose parents were trying to find a resolution that would keep their kids safe. Towards the finale, we’re presented with two other families, whose tragic stories were the source of all the controversy. It left a big impression on me, even after having watched it a dozen times, because similar tragedies are still occurring today, whether in the form of a school shooting or a child suicide. The Bully Project put a spotlight on the power & necessity of empathy in resolving this issue: Schools brought their communities together to host screenings, and students were given maps of their campuses to circle where they had witnessed or experienced bullying. Not surprisingly, most bullying incidents took place in the shadows or around corners where grownup vigilance was most vulnerable. So students started populating these areas and put up posters against bullying, to potentially stand up to it en masse whenever a conflict arose. It was a ’strength-in-numbers’ approach rooted in empathy & kindness, and it was fantastic to see this issue finally get the spotlight it deserves.
I felt compelled to prepare my students for this eventuality, given my audience with kids 6 days a week in after school martial arts enrichment classes, formal classes in martial arts schools, or playdate private lessons. It seemed a natural progression to my career after 20 years of teaching kids by that point. Despite finding substantial value in the empathy response, I felt skepticism about whether or not targets of bullying would come to rely solely on the empathy of others. It seemed to me to be too reliant on the hope that someone else sees what’s happening and would be willing to stand up on their behalf. How would kids otherwise learn to advocate for themselves if they’re alone? What happens when kids experience bullying away from school? Cliques tend to form in organized youth sports, for example, where a culture of superiority over opponents can get conflated where aggressiveness is rewarded.
But social aggression is a part of human nature, and kids will encounter it personally sooner or later. So if we think of social aggression like an approaching storm, then cold wet weather forecasts mean parents prep their kids with umbrellas, extra layers, and rain boots to keep them from getting sick. Likewise, if kids can learn to recognize human aggression and develop the tools and skills to not only mitigate its damage but to let others stand under their ‘umbrella,’ then resistance to bullying could become more prevalent: If introduced to these tools & skills early—and with continued practice—by the time kids reach adolescence, they may be able to build a resistance to bullying that will serve them well into their adolescent, collegiate and professional lives when social aggression can take on such devastating forms.
So I started reading more books about bullying because I knew that fighting back for the sake of fighting back can’t be the only response, although admittedly, it may feel that way sometimes. I wanted insight from experts in the field with Ph.D, MSW & LMFT after their names, to be able to incorporate different bullying prevention strategies and anti-bullying tactics with self-defense & martial arts training to create a more holistic response. This two-pronged approach to childhood bullying balances boundary setting, esteem building & self-defense with empathy, mindfulness and social emotional learning. When there is a deeper understanding of the cycle of bullying, we can understand why using the word bully as an action only word is so important. Not all social aggression between kids is bullying, and important distinctions need to be made before mistakenly branding a child as a ‘bully’ for the rest of their academic lives. Stereotypes are born of such actions, and that’s another cycle we endeavor to break. After all, bullying is a complicated issue that deserves an educated response, especiallybecause we’re dealing with children who are still developing and are thus still capable of making positive changes. As our Camp’s tagline suggests, Learning to Set Boundaries and Build Bridges is Evolutionary.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I grew up watching kung fu movies with my mom & my brother, so when high school kids started making sport out of bullying 3rd, 4th & 5th graders who were waiting to be picked up late at the school we attended, my Mom put us in martial arts classes. Thanks to our amazing teachers at Jun Chong Martial Arts Academy (https://junchongmartialarts.
I started learning how to teach as a shy 16 year old during Beginner Adult Classes at JCMAA, and when I was in college, I started teaching kids on my own in after school programs in underserved communities. My time in after school programs in communities of different socioeconomic backgrounds became my Research & Development towards a teaching method I didn’t realize I was compiling! And after completing a number of courses in Early Childhood Development, my method had grown to include fun age-appropriate ways to effectively teach martial arts to kids as young as 3.5 years old. I had no idea when I started back then that martial arts would lead to such a passionate pursuit of finding different ways to empower kids!
Having introduced martial arts at some of LA’s prominent summer camps since 2000 (Rainbow Camp out of St. Martin of Tours in Brentwood & Tocaloma Camp out of Berkeley Hall School), I no longer had the seasonal availability to continue once I opened Alonzo Martial Arts in 2010. So I started my own summer camp in 2013, eventually calling it the Upstander Kids Anti-Bullying Camp antibullyingcamp.com.
According to one study on childhood bullying, most children disapprove of bullying behavior but don’t intervene for fear of becoming a target themselves. Sure, knowing how to fight back can help to disrupt a bullying incident. But to break the cycle of bullying in a child so that they don’t just find a more suitable victim requires empathy, kindness and social & emotional learning. This is what helps define what an Upstander Kid can be. Two quotes epitomize our approach:
“Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. It is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice. It is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free.” -Shane Claiborne
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Viktor E. Frankl
Unlike our previous location in Santa Monica where Colorado Center Park provided the perfect environment to do a variety of different indoor and outdoor activities, our new space in Westchester lacks the convenient outdoor space that our previous environs afforded us. So this year, we’re planning a return to the outdoors, adding a few new exciting activities, and depending on weekly enrollment, perhaps even a field trip or two.
Beyond martial arts, our approach has been to help kids build a resistance to bullying by building up their self esteem and introducing them to new activities to become passionate about. Socialization at school often centers around play, and learning different indoor & outdoor games and being introduced to other types of activities to help make kids’ experiences on the playground more universal and their socialization less problematic. In the last 10 years, we’ve introduced kids to soccer, lacrosse, football, basketball & golf as well as different martial arts related games. Kids first learn how to defend themselves without striking, but since bullying can occur off campus as well, we teach the basics of a few different other martial arts so that kids have options when responding to physical aggressiveness. To balance out their experience at camp, alternative new activities have included Science, Arts & Crafts, Improv, hip hop, BollyPop Dance bollypopla.com and Mindfulness Meditation & Yoga. Some activities are enrollment dependent and subject to change without notice.
Fast forward to the era of Social Distancing, and suddenly lessons about Personal Space and Boundary Setting take on a different meaning. The goal of Upstander Kids Anti-Bullying Camp is to give kids basic tools to make social life less treacherous while teaching them to develop a resistance to bullying by using effective communication skills, responsible social skills & basic self defense. Two years ago, all of humanity emerged from a pandemic shutdown, and there was a lot of uncertainty around how humans of every age would interact with one another. With kids in particular, what would re-introduction to in-person learning look like? What about the inevitability of physical contact among them after sheltering in place for so long? How would the state of kids’ mental health affect their interactions with one another?
Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? Thanks to a 2nd place finish in ActivityHero’s Best of 2023 Business Grant contest, we’re grateful to be able to provide a scholarship and mental health benefit to a child whose humble beginnings might not otherwise allow them to experience this kind of empowerment against childhood bullying.
Spectrum News 1 did a piece on our anti-bullying efforts in 2021 that gives a great preview of not only our camp experience, but our formal classes too, from both parent and child: https://spectrumnews1.
Bullying doesn’t take a summer break, so if last year your child was looking forward to going to a particular Camp, but this year they’re anxious about returning, there’s a fair possibility that they may have experienced bullying there. So even if your child is already booked for the summer, a free introductory class at Alonzo Martial Arts can give them a few tools & skills to help keep them safe at whatever summer camp you have planned for them. A good win/win opportunity is a great way to kick off the summer!
Upstander Kids Anti-Bullying Camp opens June 12th, 2023 and runs until August 18th. Online registration is available at https://antibullyingcamp.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
That’s a great question because LA has so much to offer! One can easily go snowboarding in the morning in Big Bear and catch waves or play beach volleyball by the afternoon. But if my best friend were visiting for a week and they were already familiar with the more touristy destinations, I’d want to take them to catch the byproduct of our rainy season with a hike to Escondidio Falls or the Los Liones Trail to the Parker Mesa Overlook. After that, a burger at Father’s Office or Happy Hour at Upper West would be in order.
Brunch at Lunetta All Day would precede Stand Up Paddle Boarding in the calm waters of Marina del Rey followed by a spa day at Burke Williams or a massage at Massage in LA. Maybe coffee at Urth Caffe would be necessary before dinner at Charcoal, then a show at the Venice West.
A nice break after days of physical activities could be a lazy day at the beach, a picnic at Will Rogers State Park, or a day at the Getty or the Broad. We’d finish the day with a tasting at Hi-Lo Liquor Market before dinner at etta or Hatchet Hall in Culver City, sushi at Sakura Japanese Restaurant on Centinela or Aki in West LA.
A short afternoon hike at Runyon Canyon is a good way to build up an appetite for a pregame at OyBar in Studio City before catching a show at the Hollywood Bowl. But before they left, catching the sunset at the beach to toast their company and our good times would be a must!
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout a former student’s efforts. Osiris Booque strives to create intergenerational healing through traditional wellness modalities. He is currently the youngest Black Male 900 hr C-IAYT as well as a 500 hr RYT, Health & Wellness Advisor & D.E.I Consultant and works with Google, Hulu, Ikea, Grimshaw Architects, L.A. Care & Sanctuary Astrology. In 2022 the International Association of Yoga Therapists selected Osiris’ work as one of the top 5 Global Impact Projects. He is the Executive director of Flow for Black Lives. Flow serves the People of the Global Majority (P.G.M) via Wellness and Community. Osiris is an international communications liaison with Santa Monica College and has contributed published works to Organic India, Banyan Botanicals, Alonzo Martial Arts and others. He offers Corporate & Private Yoga Therapy consultation. www.flowforlove.
Website: https://antibullyingcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anti.bullying.camp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/upstanderkids
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anti.bullying.camp/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/alonzo-martial-arts-los-angeles-2?osq=alonzo+martial+arts
Youtube: https://youtu.be/cM22oifOUBc
Image Credits
Richard Alonzo & Alonzo Martial Arts
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
