I'm a local — kind of.

Grew up as an Air Force kid, which meant living all around the world. But when my dad was stationed at Hurlburt Field, we landed on the Emerald Coast — Navarre, Fort Walton Beach — and it stuck. This place became home.

It was the 80s and 90s. We didn't have a ton of structure. We just ran the neighborhood the way kids did back then — no schedules, no screens, just go outside and figure it out.

But if you grew up in that era you know martial arts was everywhere. The Karate Kid. Ninja Turtles. Every kid on the block wanted to be a ninja. I wanted it bad enough that in 1997 I started paying for my own lessons at a Taekwondo school in Fort Walton Beach. Nobody told me to. I just knew I wanted it.

That decision changed the direction of my life.

After college I moved to Kansas, picked my training back up, and eventually in 2015 I bought my own martial arts school outside of Kansas City. I poured everything into it for years.

Then in 2020 we made the decision to come home. Back to the Emerald Coast. Back to where it all started.

It felt good to slow down. To just be present with my family for a while.

But as we settled into Santa Rosa Beach, I started looking around. I have three boys and I wanted them to have what martial arts had given me — confidence, grit, respect, the ability to stand up for themselves and for others. As I looked around our community I couldn't find a program that truly answered that need.

I kept hearing the same stories. Kids being bullied. Parents worried about their children's focus, their confidence, their sense of direction. Families all around us who wanted more for their kids — and nothing truly built to deliver it.

I knew what was missing because I had spent my career building it somewhere else.

So in 2022 my wife and I made the commitment. We signed the lease, took the risk, and opened Forge Martial Arts in Santa Rosa Beach. There were plenty of reasons not to. But we teach our students that if it's going to be, it's up to me. We had to live that ourselves.

We're still here. Still growing. Still showing up for this community every single day.

That's our story. We'd love to be part of yours.