Naugatuck Group Competes at the Garden
Martial Arts Students Get Their Big Break

Not many people would volunteer to lay on broken glass or a bed of nails, but members of "Team Bergamo" do it with pleasure. The group of 11 area residents between the ages of 11 and 50 yell, leap through the air and often break inanimate objects with various extremities.

Tonight, the self-defense and breaking students will show their stuff at the Oriental World of Self Defense a major televised martial arts event at New York's Madison Square Garden. The event begins at 7 p.m. It will be broadcast later on the MSG Network and may be picked up by ESPN.

Though the team has enjoyed recent success and championships in both self defense and breaking at international competitions, tonight's event may bring its largest audience ever. Added pressure comes with the fact the group just recently found out it would be exhibiting self-defense skills, as well as breaking stacks of bricks, baseball bats and boards. To boot, they've been allotted a prime spot, the last act before intermission. "We've had two weeks to put together this extravaganza," said choreographer Drew Serrano as he slipped into one of the black "Team Bergamo" martial arts jackets. "This is supposed to be one of the biggest self-defense shows out there." So members spent much of this weekend rehearsing at Bergamo's School of Martial Arts and Personal Training on Church Street.

To background instrumental music, team members struck various poses, rolled and slapped wooden sticks. Periodic grunts and yells emitted from the serious faces. With the skill of Hollywood stuntmen, the men, women and boys performed a series of self-defense maneuvers and fight scenes. Some were head-to-head, others used items like brooms, folding chairs and canes as props. A few inches of misjudgment could have cost an eye or some other serious injury.

Then came the finale, with more dramatic, chant-like music. In the finale, Serrano stripped to his bare chest and back and waited for a blanket bearing broken shards of glass to be placed on the ground. Serrano then laid on the glass, eyes shut. Then, a roughly 2-foot by-2-foot board, with dozens of nails protruding from one side, was placed on Serrano's chest, nails facing upward. In turn, Ralph Bergamo removed his black jacket and laid atop the bed of nails and Serrano. A layer of bricks was then placed on Bergamo's chest and a teammate drew near to the men, sledgehammer in hand. In competition, the bricks are shattered atop the two men by the sledgehammer.

For practice, the bricks are left intact. It's real," Bergamo said, passing around the board with nails after the run-through is done. During a break, Sean Anderson, 11, of Naugatuck, speculated what it will be like to perform at Madison Square Garden. "We don't really get that worried; not until we're right there, then we might get nervous," he said. To the untrained eye, limberness and speed might seem the most important skills when Naugatuck resident Jonathan Hardwicke, 11, springs off the ground, breaking two boards held stomach-high by two other team members with his bare feet. But Hardwicke cited a different attribute: "The most important thing is mental focus." James Palmer, 12, of Naugatuck agreed. "Self control is important," said the 7-year student of the Filipino form, called Kun Tao. "It takes a long time to learn this."

By Brynn Mandel; © Republican-American - NAUGATUCK