Grad student to be inducted into World Martial Arts Hall of Fame

April 3, 2002 - When one thinks of hall of famers in any capacity, the image that comes to mind is one of retirees long absent from the field in which they were honored. Not often is an individual honored early in their life, but one University of Rhode Island student can lay claim to that rare achievement.URI graduate student Silas Pinto, who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and is currently studying to receive his Ph.D. in school psychology, will be inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame (WMAHOF) as Instructor of the Year in a ceremony this weekend.

Pinto has been practicing martial arts for 19 years, both formally and informally, is the founder of the Brazilian Cape Verdean Capoeira style and instructor of the URI Capoeira Team, as well as co-owner of New Wave Self Defense and co-founder of Future Impact Martial Arts. He holds black belts in Tae Kwon Doe, Open Space Fighting Kung Fu and Shaolin Kempo.

"I started in Cape Verde Islands, very informal," Pinot said. "You know, you watch a Bruce Lee movie and you go insane, and everybody wants to go outside and be Bruce. But then when I got to this country, 1990 was when I started my formal training.

"I used to watch and try to imitate people. In my country it was too expensive."

Pinot learned of his induction in January of this year, and is joining fellow nominee and New Wave Self Defense Instructor Carlos De La Cruz in receiving the honor. Martial artist and WMAHOF Executive Board member Prof. Richard Petronelli nominated both Pinot and De La Cruz, with Pinot receiving an additional nomination from De La Cruz.

"First, you're nominated by either a hall of famer or a high ranking person, like a master, and they review your application," Pinot said. "You have to send in a resume with your martial arts background, things of that sort, and then they decide whether or not you get inducted."

During the ceremony, a martial arts presentation will be made by a group of URI students including senior Lao Vang, and juniors Chiv Heng and Nandy Debarros.

In addition to his work at New Wave Self Defense, Pinot also teaches classes for students for free at URI. They meet in the Multicultural Center Forum from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Mondays and in the gym at the same time on Wednesdays.

"It's an extremely hard working group. We've been here since 1996, and we were recognized in 1997. It's kind of a shame that people don't take advantage of it. I run a martial arts school and people pay literally $1,000 a year to learn and I offer it here for free and nobody knows about it."

Pinot's New Wave Self Defense is also sponsoring the Martial Arts Fest, which will come to URI in September. Included in the tentative plan for guests and speakers is Master Sayed Najem, an Olympic Silver Medallist who owns a school in Cranston, and Steven Lopez, a Gold Medalist in Tae Kwon Doe from the USA. There will also be various demonstrations and competitions from national sports karate teams.

"It's our way of educating people about martial arts and getting away some of the negative connotations, you know, 'martial arts is about fighting, martial arts is about this, martial arts is about that,'" Pinot said. "We'll show them what martial arts is really all about."