our Instructors

I started my Martial Arts journey in the summer of 1979 and received my black belt in Lotus Self-Defense (A Thai martial art from Ubon Thailand) in 1991.  The instructor took a leave of absence from his program so he turned it over to me late fall, early winter (after my collegiate football season had ended). I took the opportunity and enhanced the Muay Thai training Lotus had provided its students over the years. I really developed my coaching and teaching skills by concentrating on a tough physical regiment while also focusing on proper form and technique.  I ran the program for two years while I finished my BA degree from Whitworth University and completed my collegiate football career.  I continued teaching and competing at the same time. A few of the fighters I coached had success in the local venues. As MMA started taking precedence in the eyes of most people, I continued focusing on Muay Thai and promoting the stand up arts in my region. I feel that the most important aspect of Muay Thai is the enhancement and fulfillment of Body, Mind and Spirit. Years of fighting and competing in different arenas always brought me back to those concepts. Muay Thai strengthens the body through conditioning: physical training, exercise and performance. Muay Thai enhances the mind by: cultivating the mind through practice, execution and technique. Muay Thai develops the spirit by: developing the will, sense of significance and personal character.

I was brought into the USEACA (United South Eastern Asian Cultural Association) and I was taken on as a student by Ajahn Suchart from Siam No

1 and promoted to the level of Kru (certified instructor of Muay Thai) and then later promoted to the level of Kru Yai (advanced instructor of Muay Thai).

Besides my long Martial Arts career, I'm a former football coach, and strength and conditioning coach at both Gonzaga Preparatory High School and Ferris High School here in Spokane. I also taught Physical Education at North Idaho College specializing in women's self-defense, weights and conditioning and I created a very successful kickboxing class.

I started out with an underground boxing club when i was a young kid. I started MMA training in 2016 with kickboxing and Jiu jitsu. boxing came shortly after. After competing for a while 6 mma fights 4 kickboxing fights 1 boxing match, i was brought to a muay thai gym under kru yai John Johnston. since then i traveled for many seminars and learned from many other kru yai and ajahn. Still under kru yai JJ i became a teacher and opened my gym.

I started out doing Muay Thai around 5-6 years ago with Kru Yai "JJ". At the time, I was a bodybuilder, rock climber and personal trainer. I fell in love with Muay Thai and have trained 6-7 days a week ever since. I began fighting roughly a year into training and fell in love with that too! Now I have over 10 fights and still train when I can and when I'm not teaching or having fun with my four babies. Training turned into a love for the art, becoming a teacher, and opening a gym.