I began my martial arts training seriously in high school and began competing in tournaments. In college, I was a member of the ECU Tae Kwon Do team and nationally ranked. Martial arts has always been a part of my life and I connected with Mr. Dinglasan several years ago and we have been going strong since then. I have been with AU Fitness Martial Arts Academy for over four years now and recently opened the Mt. Olivet Tae Kwon Do program in August of 2015. My passion is teaching practical self defense, grappling, women's self-defense, and sharing the gospel to those I teach. I am currently working my way through the Gracie Combatives program and I also have over 14 years in Law Enforcement experience. My goal is to be able to teach and prepare people for the possible situation where they are attacked. There is plenty of evil in the world. One of my favorite sayings is "A student says to his teacher, You teach me to fight but talk about peace. How do you reconcile the two? The teacher replies, It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war." Those in our program, I consider my second family. We train together. We pray together. We grow together.
I have always been interested in martial arts. I would watch Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee and think they were the coolest! I began Tae Kwon Do at the age of 6 and began eventually competing in tournaments. I practiced at several different schools and achieving my black belt was my number one goal. I soon realized that martial arts is not about status, rank, or belts. I fell in love with teaching young children and sharing my knowledge. My goal now is to instruct everyone how to defend and protect themselves and help those in need.