Guest Instructor Pete Maida is a retired software engineer. He spent his forty-year career working as a contractor for the Navy. Pete started his career in martial arts studying the Vietnamese art Coung Nhu under sensei Ye Tak Fong at the Naval Research Laboratory. His work schedule took him away from training after reaching the green belt level. Pete returned to martial arts in 1996 and join Upper Marlboro Martial Arts. There he studied Tang Soo Do under Grand Master John Baylor, and rose to the level of fourth degree black belt. He remained with Upper Marlboro Martial Arts as a student and an instructor until its closing in July 2015. Pete is also a writer who has several novels available on Amazon and other venues online. Presently Pete is collaborating with artist Maggie Colvin and, his wife Cathy as editor, to create a series of children’s books under the title of “Our Learning Land.” Pete has written several articles that are designed to give a new student starting in martial arts a leg up in their training.