Instructors & Senior Students

Master Charles Farmer, 6th Dan.
As a young man Master Charlie Farmer loved soccer, especially the kicking, and was very good at it. He heard that martial arts did a lot of kicking and he liked the Billy Jack movie, which had just came out. In order to improve his soccer skills he began studying Moo Gong Do in 1975 when he was eighteen. This was the first step on a path that led to his becoming a 6th degree black belt many years later.

Master Farmer earned his gold belt with Master Dae Yong Kim, then studied further in Hartford, CT. Back in Vermont he attended Master Steve Barrett’s school, Kojo, where he stayed long enough to earn his 2nd Dan in 1981. He joined Donnelly’s Martial Arts Center in 1982 and found a Taekwon-Do home for the rest of his life. May he live long and prosper.

Master Farmer received his 5th Dan in 2002, followed by his 6th Dan in 2006. He is still involved in training and teaching. He now has a passion for golf, which is synergistic with Taekwon-Do, and he sees them contributing to each other in the perfection of both.

He appreciates the quiet self confidence and the physical health benefits arising from his lifelong pursuit of Taekwon-Do and plans to continue for as long as he lives. His favorite parts of Taekwon-Do are self-defense and breaking. He also likes sparring (particularly with some students) and has formed many deep, long-lasting friendships with other students and fellow martial artists.

Master Rick Bell, 5th Dan.
Master Rick Bell began his martial arts training in Goju Rue Karate with Master Chuck Merriman in New London, CT in 1974. He studied there for two and half years, reaching the rank of brown belt. In 1990 he began studying TaeKwon-do with Grandmaster Joseph Donnelly at his school in Winooski, Vermont, then known as Kwansai Martial Arts. He has been a loyal student of Grandmaster Donnelly’s, achieving his 1st degree in 1992 and continuing on until reaching his 4th degree in June of 2002. Master Bell has taught classes for Grandmaster Donnelly over the years and has been especially rewarded watching his sixteen year old son grow within the school for the past eleven years, achieving the rank of 3rd dan.

Master Bell has had a full career at IBM for the past thirty one years. He is currently employed as a senior VLSI mask designer.

Other interest outside TaeKwon-do include spending time with his family, water skiing, boating, alpine skiing, cross country skiing, shooting, jogging and fall rides with his wife on his Harley Davidson.

Master Brian Gottschalk, 5th Dan.
Master Gottschalk began studying with Grandmaster Joseph Donnelly in October of 1987. After attaining Blackbelt in 1990, Master Gottschalk enjoyed teaching in a variety of settings, including DMAC, and the YMCA. In 1992, Master Gottschalk started his own school, Northwood’s TaeKwon-do in Westford, Vermont with assistance from Master Valliere. Numerous students enjoyed this program, with some going on to receive black belts at various other schools.

Eventually work and travel commitments brought this program to its conclusion. In both 1992 and 1996, Master Gottschalk participated in an Instructor’s Seminar taught by General Choi, the founder of TaeKwon-do. Master Gottschalk was promoted to 4th Dan by Grandmaster Donnelly in June, 2002. One of Master Gottschalk’s greatest joys has been in seeing his children, Elizabeth, Sarah and Jacob receive the 2nd Dan blackbelts from Grandmaster Donnelly. His stepdaughter, Kiera, is currently studying with Grand Master Marallo at Vermont Martial Arts Academy, having attained the rank of purple belt.

When not engaged in TaeKwon-do, Master Gottschalk is employed by Systems & Software, a utility billing software company as a Business Analyst and Implementation Specialist. Other passions include singing, playing trombone, and guitar. Master Gottschalk has performed with the Burlington Ecumenical Gospel Choir, Tinmouth Community Church Choir, Spoon Mountain Singers, Milton Community Band, Westford/Fairfax/Fletcher Community Band, and Burlington Community Band. Master Gottschalk currently conducts the Tinmouth Community Handbell Choir.

Master Shawn Sicely, 5th Dan.
Master Shawn Sicely started Taekwon-Do in 1989 at Kwansai Martial Arts Center in Winooski, VT as a slim 12 year-old. He practiced for 6 months, earning his green belt, when some family issues intervened and he had to stop training. Six years later he reappeared and asked to resume training. He quickly earned his black belt and has not stopped since.

Master Sicely has a special passion for patterns and is considered by Grandmaster Donnelly to be among the finest pattern practioners in the Northeast.

Master Bill Valliere, 5th Dan.
Master Bill Valliere's martial arts journey began in 1995 in the basement of Master Brian Gottschalk's house where they met weekly for several months as Bill learned the rudiments of Taekwon-Do. When Bill discovered that he really enjoyed the study of martial arts and wanted to meet more often than once per week, Master Gottschalk recommended that he consider enrolling in classes at Donnelly's Martial Arts Center. He has continued to participate in and teach classes ever since. His greatest thrill in martial arts is seeing the students he teaches succeed in martial arts and life.

When Bill is not breaking boards and teaching children the correct way to kick and punch, he is a member of the research staff in Park Studies Laboratory in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. Bill has worked in the Park Studies Laboratory since 1994, when he completed his masters degree in Natural Resources Planning at the University of Vermont . He oversees and coordinates day to day operations in the lab and data collection during field seasons. Bill is an author on many of the publications the Park Studies Laboratory has produced and frequently participates in national and regional and National Park Service sponsored meetings, presenting research findings.

Master David Hatch, 4th Dan.
Master Hatch began studying Moo Gong Do in 1993 and received his 1st Dan black belt there in 1995. In 1994 he began the (ICP) Instructor Program and tested for 2nd Dan and Assistant Instructor in 1997.

He left Moo Gong Do in 1999, and three years later started Taekwon-Do with Grandmaster Donnelly at Donnelly’s Martial Arts Center.

He earned his Taekwon-Do 3rd Dan in 2005 and received his 4th Dan on November 7, 2009. Master Hatch is interested in combining elements of the different martial arts to create something new, while continuing to train in Taekwon-Do..

Master Neil Rossi, 4th Dan.
Master Rossi began studying Taekwon-Do in 1968 in Cambridge, MA, in a summer class offered at MIT by students of Dong Pil Kim. He earned a yellow belt, but as a poor college student was unable to pay for lessons to continue.

He began a second time in 1982 while living in Brooklyn, NY, studying under Kwang Sung Kim and earning a blue belt. In 1984 heavy work pressures and graduate school conspired to stop his studies again.

After moving to Vermont, he started yet a third time in 1996, accompanying his then 5 year-old son to classes offered in Westford, VT by Master Brian Gottschalk, where they earned their red belts. When Master Gottschalk had to close his school, father and son joined DMAC. They earned their 2nd Dan belts in 2004, and the senior Rossi received his 3rd Dan in 2007, and his 4th in 2011.

Master Rossi is a computer programmer and web developer, who owns his own business, KdV Systems, in Westford, VT. He is also a musician, and currently plays mandolin and fiddle with the popular bluegrass band, Big Spike.