Biography
J.J. has been a competitive karate-ka since age 5. He is a 3rd degree black belt who enjoys training, teaching, and coaching kata, kumite, and conditioning. J.J. also played high school football, began Olympic weightlifting in college, and enjoys pick-up basketball.
Kata: J.J. has won the Amateur Athletic Union national championship in shotokan kata for five years straight (2018-2023) and the Grand Championship (all styles) three of those years. In 2019, J.J. won seven gold medals/national titles out of seven divisions entered at the AAU Karate national championship.
Kumite: After winning his first world championship at age 13, J.J. competed internationally for several years and won an average of six gold and silver medals in six U.S. national championships between 2015 and 2021 but (to his dismay) only two international bronze medals. J.J. reinvented his eating and training regimen to gain size and speed and in 2022, won one Gold (Juniors Kumite) and 3 Silver medals at the World Union Karate Federation world championships after years of self-training and innovating new kumite drills. J.J. studies business at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and trains at his home dojo (TBK), in South Carolina, Florida, and Illinois.
