Team Bios

CONSTELLATION IS A UNITY OF THREE ORGANIZATIONS
FWAPE. BARTENDAZ. ADON

Fwape
Principal Daniel Marks
Lecturer, Boxing Specialist, 52 Blocks Instructor, MMA Specialist

Bartendaz
Principal Hassan Yasin
Lecturer, Fitness Guru, Calisthenics Exercise Innovator

Adon
Principal Kawan Adon
52 Blocks Specialiat, Boxing Specialist

Daniel Marks Extended Bio
FWAPE is spearheaded by Mr. Daniel Marks, who has studying martial arts, including boxing, karate, jiujitsu and kali, for over 30 years. Mr. Marks, who possesses a Black Belt in karate, first heard of 52 Backs from fellow officers at the beginning of his decade-long military career in the 1980s and was intrigued by the genre but found that information and tutelage was scarce. After giving his all in the Army, in 1993 Mr. Marks moved to New York, pursuing a social work track and working a group home as well as completing a degree in Computer Science. A that point, he has been researching the culture and its connectors more intently, meeting with practitioners and recording their narratives piecing together the puzzle that is Black Martial Culture. Mr. Marks supports his passion and his research with earnings from his own LLC as well as his position within the field of high end IT technology and computer applications.

Hassan Yasin Extended Bio
In 1997, the Bartenders founder, Hassan Yasin, was practicing his own unique fitness drills at a park in Harlem. Intrigued, a group of young men nearby began watching and asked for him to explain his technique. Within a few weeks, the number of followers was in the dozens. And within 10 years, the Bartendaz method was being instructed in over 40 New York City Public Schools. The most remarkable result of the program was not the increase in muscular strength and capacity but the dramatic turnaround in the lives of the students. In finding gratification and peer validation in fitness, many of the students chose to veer away from vice and delinquency and reshape their lives. Because of its foundation in hip-hop culture, Bartendaz has been extraordinarily popular with urban youth, and has been a huge success in the most high-risk schools.