Born and raised in the hills of Tennessee, Master Bryan discovered his interest in the martial arts in junior high school. He trained throughout his two military tours in Southeast Asia. Injured in the line of duty, Bryan used his martial art skills and discipline to rehabilitate a leg doctors told him he would never use again without a cane or crutch. In fact, he went on to a competitive career, winning over 300 first place awards in the black belt division around the country. Retired from active competition, he recently resigned as the General Secretary for the USA National Karate-Do Federation, the official governing body for the sport of karate in the United States, as recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Having taught the martial arts since 1970, Master Bryan accepted the position as head karate coach at the Air Force Academy in 1983. Under his direction, the Air Force team was undefeated against Army and Navy and many of the cadets earned national ranking during his tenure. A strong desire to work with young people led Master Bryan to establish a national headquarters for his organization in Colorado Springs. Master Bryan opened his American Black Belt Academy in 1990. He currently oversees several schools in Colorado Springs and other schools around the country. He is also asked to give seminars to elite black belts and their students around the world.

Master Bryan's Knowledge of how people learn and how to teach in a non-threatening manner is a key element to his great success's as an instructor. Learning how to avoid physical conflict and trouble, in general, is what studying the martial arts under a master instructor is all about.

Master Bryan gained international recognition when in 2002 he accepted Ripley's Believe It Or Not's challenge to catch an arrow with his bare hand on national TV. Not only did he do that for him, he went on to do it blindfolded!

A few months later, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and used his Tai Chi and Qigong training, along with western medicine to put it in remission. Only 6 weeks after finishing his 8 months of chemotherapy treatment, he competed at the Martial Arts World Championships and won two gold medals in the masters division.

Mr. Bryan is recognized as a master instructor in over 144 countries around the world and carries the title of Kyoshi - Teacher of Teachers. Over 30 years experience in the martial arts and a strong academic background make Master Bryan a great teacher for those fortunate enough to obtain his services. All instructors are personally certified by Master Bryan. He now runs a national coaching program for those black belts that want to run their own successful martial arts school through his Warriorwiz Success Systems Coaching program.

Special Thanks To His Teachers

Born and raised in the hills of eastern Tennessee, from a very young age I was taught how to hunt and fish, live off the land and respect nature. The beginning of my martial arts training began in the mid 60’s while I was still a teenager.   I have been very blessed to have had many gracious instructors that have shared their knowledge with me freely over the years. I know that there is nothing I can ever do to repay these kind individuals for their gift, but would like to take a moment to try and just say thanks.

In the beginning, it was a Walley Scott and Morris Cassell that took me and several other kids in the neighborhood, and used their knowledge to keep the local kids out of trouble. The combined experience of these two individuals was mostly what they had learned overseas during their time in the service. We didn’t earn belts or learn a style, but simply learned self defense tactics against a variety of attacks - I guess an American Jujitsu Style.

In 1970 I graduated from high school and joined the Air Force as a security police dog handler. My studies became more formal as I joined the American Karate Black Belt Association while stationed in Texas.   My direct teacher was Ken McDowell and Chuck Loven; but the influence of many of the early karate pioneers would go on to impact my karate training for years ahead. In the early 70’s we would all go to Fort Worth to belt test and there we would train, fight, and party with instructors like Pat Burleson, Allen Steen, Dennis Goecher, Skipper Mullins, Roy Kurban, Billy Watson, Ed Daniels and many more. The style of fighting then was called American Karate and was basically a modified heavy contact Tae Kwon Do that used a lot of hand techniques. Any fighter that traveled to Texas in those days would readily admit that Tex Kwon Do fighters were real tough. The attitude of taking a technique that worked for you, no matter what system or country it originated in would continue on in my training for years to come.
 

When I left Texas, I found myself being stationed in Thailand. There I found a new love with Muay Thai. Although I continued my Tae Kwon Do training on base, it was downtown that I found the hardest workouts that I have yet to experience anywhere else in the world. Numerous coaches and teachers worked with me during my 18 months at Utapio, Thailand. Myself and a couple of other Americans even found ourselves in the ring during our off duty times to test our abilities with the locals. I retired with 4 wins and one loss, but with injuries that would haunt me for the rest of my life - bad back, bad knee, scar over eyebrow from a great elbow shot, ect. It was during one of these rehab times that I was introduced to a soft style of Chinese Kempo by one of the villagers where I lived downtown. I found the contrast of the very hard Thai Boxing and the Chinese a great blend. Understand that at this time the Thai’s were inviting all countries to compete against them - and I watched kick boxers from Japan, Kung Fu experts from China; literally every style that would take up the challenge were getting knocked out in the first round. I even saw a couple of people get killed in the ring in Bangkok. I did recognize that the average Thai boxer lasted about 5 years and after that had to retire and so if I were going to practice in the future, I would continue in another art.
 

When I returned to Abilene, Texas I continued my involvement with the AKBBA. I opened my first karate school in Coleman Texas in 1973 under the watchful eye of the AKBBA. It was during this time that I met a man named Duk Rogers. Sifu Rogers was a Chinese Stylist, former combat controller, a Secret Service Agent and was very good. Teaching a traditional Shaolin style his attitude was one of “ you have already been corrupted by the hard style arts and will never be able to do Kung Fu correctly, but I will try.” Another instructor that came to our school and had a great impact on my training was Rex Kimball. A student of Kim Soo of Houston and Fred Abshire of New Mexico, he seemed to me of having the perfect blend of Chinese softness and the Korean hardness. Since he worked a weird shift, he would teach class after he got off at 11 pm.   For over a year, I would come back to the dojo at 11:30 for an 1 ½ hour class with this man. I will never forget a sparring session with Rex and Randy “Tex” Cobb. Randy was a brown belt at the time and very good, and I watched as Rex played with him with his Chinese movements and scored at will. Randy had already taught me the reality of fighting someone that is really big, mean and strong by using pretty sport techniques, but that night I knew that technique will overcome power with enough training. It was at this time that I got orders to go back to Thailand.
 

This time I was stationed in Udorn, Thailand which is in the north. I continued my Thai Boxing and even played with some Kajukembo on base. I found myself living far away from base with a couple of other K-9 troops in a bungalow compound. It was in this village that I met a man - Sifu Pivasuite - that I ended up training with for over a year. His style was Chinese but heavily influenced by Indonesian and Burma arts. His 5 animal system was excellent for self defense, and his style of teaching was noble and sincere.
 

My return to the states found me back in Texas, this time in San Antonio. I initially trained at the War Hawk gym on base and had the pleasure of working out with people like Zip White, Roger Reese and many more of the top fighters in the state. I later helped open a dojo downtown with Jon Lawenski.   In 1977 I found myself getting out of the service and getting married. From there we moved to Wichita , Kansas.
 

We ended up living in a small town called Newton and found myself gravitating to the local recreation center. Not being impressed with the local karate program, I began training and helping to coach the boxing program. It didn’t take long before people found out I was a black belt and they knew that there was another black belt in town and they started trying to set us up. Well, this man had trained under Sam Price in Goju and everybody knew that I was a black belt in TaeKwonDo. Well, the sparring session was nothing like you would expect. He was throwing great kicks and I was trying to sweep and punch. Eric Alexander and I went on to become great friends and I probably learned as much from him as he did me. Eric and I put on the first full contact karate match at the state golden gloves competition in 1978 and he and I would help get karate accredited as a PE credit at Wichita State University along with Fred Harvey. Years later I would ask him to come to Colorado to help me run my schools.
 

Although I had gotten out of the Air Force, my wife was still active duty and we found ourselves going to Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. While I was finishing my BA at Wright State University, I started a club at the local YMCA. I traveled downtown to study Arnis with Manuel Taningco and studied Shaolin from Sifu Jackson and Sifu Kenyata, who were students of Dr. Woo from Ohio State University. I also began training with Master Joe Mayle in his style of Chinese Kempo - Shaolin Mu Ying Dow. Master Mayle has always been a great friend and teacher, and continues on today.  After my YMCA class grew to over 100 students, we moved to a commercial location in Fairborn. It was during this time that I met a man name James Fields. Sensei Fields had studied with Shihan Toma of the Seidokan fame and held a 6th degree black belt. I fell in love with this Okinawan style, the perfect blend of Chinese circular techniques and hard style. I incorporate the Okinawan katas into my curriculum in 1981 and have taught those katas in my classes ever since. Sensei Fields promoted me to 5th Dan in Seidokan Okinawan karate before I left to go to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. I also held a 5 th Degree Black belt under Joe Mayle in Chinese Kempo.
 

Colorado was to become a place for my training to take a quantum leap. As I checked out the local schools I found the Air Force Academy karate club to have the best quality martial arts around. I ended up taking a leadership role in the club and became their head instructor but in reality I learned as much from them as they did me. I had the privilege of inviting many guest instructors in to train the cadets including Bill Wallace, Ray Mc Callum, Dan Swenson, Joe Mayle, and more. My wife got selected top go to Texas A&M to get her Ph.D. and so we left for a couple of years before returning to Colorado Springs. While in College station, I met Raymond Montoya, who became a student and friend and was a local police officer. He was, and is, a great student and teacher.
 

My return to Colorado Springs was met with the challenge of opening my own dojo once again. Wanting to do things right, I began looking for someone that was successful in business but was also a great martial artist. I found those qualities in Kyoshi Jim Mather. As a mentor and teacher he guided me to running an operation of 4 schools and 1200 students. In a never ending desire to make sure I was teaching the best quality martial arts available I continued my studies with Brendan Lai of the Preying Mantis system and Master Mayle. It was during this time that I backed away from open tournaments because of the lack of respect I saw in these events. I found that the USA Karate Federation was more of my liking because of the respect and dicipline they emphasized. Lead by George Anderson, the USA Karate Federation had individuals that became my mentors like Ridgley Abele, Johnny Linebarger. Tokey Hill, and others. One of these mentors, Frank Hargrove, introduced me to a Dan Smith who was an expert on the Okinawan kata that I trained with. I found out that Shihan Toma had learned his kata from a student of Zenryo Shimabukuryo and decided that I wanted to learn the original versions of the kata taught at the Seibukan. He introduced me to Zenpo Shimabukuro and have trained in Seibukan karate under them since 1990. Two other instructors that have made an impact on my life in the last few years is Dan Kennedy from Kansas and Roger Greene from Oklahoma. I have also renewed my training in Kojosho Kempo under Fred Absher, which has created a new level of energy in my training. I have also begun my journey in the internal arts under Ken Cohen, a brillant teacher of Chi Kung (QiGong) and the internal arts of Hsing-I, Pa Qua and Tai Chi Chuan. I also had the privelage of training with Master Gu Ping, who came and lived with me for a year and taught me the authentic version of Wu Tai Chi Chuan which he learned from Li Jing Wu, one of the top Wu Stylist in all of China. I am perplexed on how much there is to learn and only one lifetime to learn it, but these individuals have done everything in the world to help me on this path of learning.
 

I know I have left out other instructors that have impacted my life in the martial arts, but please note that I will try and return the favor by the only way I know - teaching the best I can to the most students I can. Thanks for everything you have given me.   

Respectfully,

Terry Bryan, Kyoshi