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Instructors

Back Row (from left to right) Ernie Leano – 5th Degree Black Belt Bill Haithcock – 5th Degree Black Belt Andrew Thompson – 6th Degree Black Belt Kim Molina – 5th Degree Black Belt Laura Wittak – 3rd Degree Black Belt

Front Row (from left to right) Lisa Yoshitake – 1st Degree Black Belt Chris Myers – 3rd Degree Black Belt Terry Duncan – 3rd Degree Black Belt Marty Katz – 1st Degree Black Belt

Not pictured Nay Flinn – 3rd Degree Black Belt Kevin Elliott – 2nd Degree Black Belt Lori Calabrese – 1st Degree Black Belt Gene Thronburg - 1st Degree Black Belt

 

Andrew Thompson (Head Instructor)

Andrew Thompson tells everyone that martial arts has shaped and formed his life in many fundamental and positive ways for almost three decades ever since he started at the age of nine in 1983. After beginning his teaching career in 1990, he’s been enjoying the feeling of helping others discover similar realizations for themselves. He became part of Family Karate in 1988.

Among his martial arts and teaching credentials, Mr. Thompson is a 6^th Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, a Senior Instructor for FAST Defense, Level 2 Instructor both in The Pit Hawaiin Kempo and Krav Maga, and also a Level 1 Instructor in both CrossFit and CrossPit.

When discussing why he chose the path he did in life, Mr. Thompson goes back in time to the day when he first taught a class at the age of 13. His instructor was very sick and asked him to teach. The 13-year-old Andrew Thompson LOVED the feeling and decided right then that was what he wanted to do for a living. He enjoys the same feeling every day, each time a student gets that “I can do this” look in his or her eyes. In Mr. Thompson’s own words, “Nothing beats that!”

Among the significant people who guided and significantly affected his martial arts career, Andrew Thompson lists Mark Truscott, Bill Kipp and John Hackleman. Mark Truscott is Mr. Thompson’s Tae Kwon Do instructor and also the owner of Family Karate PQ. Mr. Thompson feels extremely fortunate that Mr. Truscott has always been there for supported him and his dreams with a level of encouragement not common in today’s world. Bill Kipp of FAST Defense – with his highly infectious positive attitude on life – is the instructor who taught Mr. Thompson the way of true reality based self-defense training. John Hackleman of The Pit is another individual who walks the talk of being a martial artist every day with a down-to-earth, no-ego attitude even though he trains world class fighters day in and day out.

In his spare time, Mr. Thompson practices CrossFit, enjoys evolutionary nutrition, cooking and barbecuing. In his own words, “mostly anything related to working out and eating for optimal performance and enjoyment.” He’s married and has a son. “I have an amazing wife that loves me, supports me, and is always there for me. We were married in 2002, and I can’t imagine my life without her. We have a wonderful 3 year old little boy. I absolutely love being a Dad!”

 

Kim Molina

Kim Molina has been practicing and teaching martial arts for nearly two decades, almost all of this time at Family Karate. She has a 5^th Degree Black Belt and is a certified instructor of Tae Kwon Do, self-defense for women and teen girls and karate for kids from age 3 and above. Over the years, she developed the first teenage girls’ self-defense program for Family Karate and re-developed the Tiny Tigers program. She also focuses on the area of forms.

Martial arts has given Mrs. Molina a great deal over the years: a sense of physical power and wellness, strength of spirit, many wonderful friends, peace and focus, and much more. She wants others to experience these same great benefits of the martial arts, and hopes that by teaching she can help make this happen. Since she never saw herself as a natural, she trained exceptionally hard and approached teaching from that standpoint to help others for whom this just wasn’t easy. After attending UC Santa Barbara for three years and earning her degree in business management from University of San Diego, she worked many years in that field and developed and perfected her skills in positive coaching and mentoring, both of which she utilizes effectively daily at Family Karate.

Among the people who affected her development in martial arts, Mrs. Molina lists Mr. Mark Truscott, along with Master Chuck Hawkins, Master Steve Truscott, and Mr. Andrew Thompson. She also adds her dear friends and training partners, Ms. Stephanie Zeno (head instructor of American Family Martial Arts, the Solana Beach school in the Family Karate group of schools), Molly Hooks and Mrs. Fran Hawkins. She lets everyone know that all of these great martial artists helped her in different ways, and all are truly fine examples of how to live the tenets. In addition, her students have always affected and continue to affect her training. Whenever she feels that she needs to be better in some way in order to be a better instructor, she works harder.

Kim Molina is married and has a son and a daughter, both of whom recently graduated from college. Her husband is a First Degree Black Belt – and enjoys most of the things that she does, including travel and adventure. Karate was also a huge part of her children’s growing up, and helped them both immensely. Her son continued to train in Muay Thai Kickboxing and Krav Maga while in college. Both of her children played high school sports – her son ran cross-country and track, while her daughter played field-hockey and ran track.  Mrs. Molina has many interests and few true hobbies.  She loves the ocean and used to scuba dive, although now she snorkels or body surfs when she has the time.  She also plays tennis once in a while.  She loves traveling, adventure, and meeting new people.  Photography has been an interest of hers since she was a teenager.  She enjoys farmer’s markets, cooking fresh foods and finding new flavors and ways of blending foods and seasonings.  From her father, she gained an interest in all wildlife – he was a wildlife conservationist.  She had the opportunity of going on a white rhino capture in South Africa as a teen, and got to sit on the tranquilized rhino!

 

Terry Duncan

Terry Duncan has been involved in martial arts since the mid-90s and has been teaching at Family Karate since 1999. Mrs. Duncan began practicing when she took advantage of a summer special at Family Karate in order to attend with her then 6 year-old daughter. Her daughter is now a beautiful young lady and Mrs. Duncan never looked back since the first time she stepped on the mat and later when teaching became her passion. In her own words, “Teaching the many ages and abilities we have at Family Karate keeps me on my toes.  Each student is different and finding the right way to help him or her learn is challenging.  But once the light bulb goes on, you know it’s been a job well done.”

One of Mrs. Duncan’s proudest moments was seeing her daughter and her husband earn their First Degree Black Belts together. She never misses an opportunity to remind them that she’s still their senior, though. She gets a kick out of hearing the kids tell her that she’s “the meanest instructor,” all the while having huge smiles on their faces.

Mrs. Duncan feels that ever since those students who remember her as their first instructor began earning their black belts, she knew she was a real instructor. Among the many people who positively influenced her career in martial arts, Mrs. Duncan picks Mrs. Kim Molina as the primary individual and credits her classes as a major contribution in her development towards the black belt.

Mrs. Duncan has a college degree in chemical engineering and lists among her hobbies books, bike riding and spending time with her family. She categorizes photography on a different level as an “addiction.” She sees her family as the best part of her. She’s appreciated her husband’s support ever since the beginning and her children think that “it’s neat their mom is a Fourth Degree Black Belt.” (Not many of their friends can match that.) She also loves big dogs and she has a Chocolate Lab named Hershey and a Bull Mastiff named Neo.

 

Marty Katz

Marty Katz vividly remembers his very first class at Family Karate on September 25, 1993. After watching her daughters for a few weeks attend a Friday evening Family Karate program, he had recalled his childhood dream and had decided to fulfill it. He earned his Black Belt in 2002 and became a Certified Instructor in 2006. Mr. Katz teaches the Family Karate class for challenged children and adults and he walks with a full leg brace made of titanium (after heavy-duty stainless steel proved inadequate).

His mother might not have looked it at 4 feet 10 inches, but in his words, she was “a pretty tough cookie” and the major influence in his life. It was she who proved the doctors wrong when they said her son would never walk again after contracting polio and it was she who fought the school board when the school officials wanted young Katz to go to a “special” school because of his leg brace. With the “can-do” attitude she instilled in him, Mr. Katz earned his college degree in accounting and made his way to a very normal life.

Marty Katz works hard to demonstrate for the world that “disabled does not mean unabled.” Among his hobbies, he plays rhythm guitar and sings in a local band, “The Jack Fate Band.” Nowadays he is a Second Degree Black Belt and he teaches the class in which he started his Tae Kwon Do career so many years ago; something he calls “an opportunity to try to make a difference for someone else.” There, he is gentle with the ones who need it and playfully tough with the others. To a person, it is clear that they all love him.