Irondequoit Martial Arts

About Our Sensei

IMA was founded by Sensei Mark Shavron in 2007. Over the years, IMA has grown and impacted the lives of many individuals and strives to positively impact many more through the teaching of Isshin-Ryū karate and self-defence training.

Kelly Cere began studying karate in the summer of 1978 when her best friend’s stepfather took both of them under his wing and began teaching them the fundamental core skills. When that ended, Kelly continued to practice until she was able to join a karate school in 1985. When that day finally came, her persistent curiosity and tenacious efforts paid off with the awarding of her Sho-dan (1st black belt rank) in December 1988.  The years since have been a passionate pace of training and teaching others for the betterment of the karate world.  In 2017 Kelly earned the rank of hachi-dan. (8th rank)

Throughout her tenure as an engineer working at the Kodak Eastman company, Kelly volunteered her time running and teaching at several area karate schools and competing multiple times a year.  Never taking a single payment so that karate never “became work,” her teaching has reached thousands of students across many schools. Nearly 45 years later, she constantly reaches out to and trains with masters in the martial arts to bring back that enrichment to others.

In 2022 Kelly designed the patch that many of us wear depicting Grand Master Tatsuo Shimabuku.  The sale of these patches directly funds her efforts to equip and sponsor students in need and focus on “paying forward” the positive influence that others have invested in her.

Matt Koetz started training in 2013 after watching his son in class for several months. He earned his black belt in 2016, and was promoted to second degree (nidan) in 2018, and third degree (sandan) in 2023. His two children have also achieved the rank of black belt. He enjoys teaching math at his day job at Nazareth University and karate at IMA.

Mike Leonard started training in late 2019 after becoming tired of watching his kids have all the fun at the dojo. In 2023, he was awarded his blackbelt. In his time outside the dojo, Mike makes and sells traditional martial arts weapons and is a visual artist who oversees operations for the Studio Art program at the University of Rochester.