Ryan began training and or competing in Judo when he was 8 years old. After a couple years he switched to training Tae-Kwon-Do and then to Kenpo Karate. At age 14 Ryan was introduced to Jeet Kune Do concepts be Senior Full Instructor Thomas Cruse who had just moved to Eugene. I had finally found what I was searching for says Ryan. He began serious apprenticeship under Tom, who then introduced him to martial arts legend Paul Vunak, Dan Inosanto, Rickson Gracie, and Wellington Dias. Within days of graduating high school he packed his bags and started traveling all around to train with the best fighters in the world. Eventually he stayed in Phoenix, Arizona for a couple of years to do serious competition training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo under Wellington Megaton Dias. During this time Ryan competed and fought as often as he could to test himself and his training.
Ryan moved back to Eugene sometime around 1996 and together with his training partners Harold Utterback and Ryan Clark they started Northwest Martial Arts. At first we mainly just taught people so that we would have more people to train with. Since that time Northwest Martial Arts has continued to improve every year and so has its instructors as we continue our own training with many top instructors from around the world.
Among Ryans ranks and accomplishments are:
– Full Instructor Jeet Kune Do concepts and FilipinoMartial Arts
– Gracie Jiu Jitsu Black Belt
– Russian Sambo Instructor
– Judo Black Belt
PacMAC Instructor – 2013 – 2016