Sensei Joe Chianakas
Sensei Joe Chianakas
Sensei Joe Chianakas, a fourth-degree black belt, has been involved in the martial arts since the early 1990s. In 2002, he developed a free after-school martial arts program at Metamora Township High School revolving around Okinawan Shuri-ryu karate, but involving other arts such as tae kwon do, XMA and judo.
The program branched out and opened three satellite programs at each of the grade schools that feed into MTHS – Metamora Grade School, Riverview Grade School and Germantown Hills Middle School. This district-wide martial arts program is rare in the United States, which is likely one of the reasons it was awarded Black Belt Magazine’s 2008 Best Children’s Program.
Currently, RGS and Germantown still remain active.
In his years in the martial arts, Sensei Chianakas has trained in Shuri-ryu karate, Shotokan karate, XMA, tae kwon do, judo, kobudo, aikido, praying mantis kung-fu and mixed martial arts full-contact fighting.
He has placed first multiple times in tournaments as both a forms champion and a sparring champion.
In addition, he has trained many other champions, including two who have won at the US Open World Championships in Orlando, Fla., and was invited to be a coach on the US National Karate Team.
Sensei Chianakas and Metamora Martial Arts have produced 11 black belts to date, with five of them reaching second-degree black belt.
Metamora Martial Arts black belts as of April 2008
He is also a published author, having been a columnist for Black Belt Magazine and even writing two features for the publication. In April 2009, an article appeared in MA Success giving pointers to other instructors looking to place martial arts in the public school system.
Martial arts aside, Mr. Chianakas also holds a B.S. in English with secondary education certification from Eureka College. In 2008, he completed his first master’s degree in Liberal Sciences at Bradley University and completed a second master’s in communications in 2011. He taught English and communications classes to MTHS students for 10 years, and he is now a full-time communications instructor at Illinois Central College.