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TeamUMAA

Dwight Woods

Chief Instructor

Full Instructor Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do

Full Instructor Filipino Kali

Full Instructor Muay Thai

Director State of Florida  for Thai Boxing Association of the uSA

 

 

Dwight Woods is a martial artist with 30 years of experience. He is a native of Trinidad, West Indies who grew up on the neighbouring island of Barbados. In 1983, he was the first Caribbean resident to attend a California Martial Arts Academy seminar where he met and trained under Dan Inosanto, Cass Magda, Francis Fong, Paul Vunak, Larry Hartsell and Tim Tackett.

In 1985, he received his Apprentice Instructor certificate from Inosanto and UMAA was started. At first, UMAA operated out of the garage of Dwight's home in Barbados. That "backyard JKD mentality" continued in 1986 when he relocated to Miami, Florida as UMAA moved through a succession of parks, basketball courts, living rooms and garages.

In April 1988, the first step was taken to provide instruction to a wider clientele with the opening of the first "solid" Academy in the warehouse district of Tamiami Airport. This semi-private/semi-public tradition continued for 4 years as the word about JKD was spread through the South Florida area. In 1992, UMAA moved to its first "commercial" location on busy Kendall Drive in southwest Miami-Dade county.

Today, in its second Kendall Drive incarnation, UMAA provides students from ages 7 and up with 2400 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities, including heavy bag and wooden dummy stations, a pro shop (under construction) and separate men's and women's shower and bathroom facilities. There is also UMAA affiliate branches in Barbados, where Sifu Dwight conducts annual seminars.

In 1997, Dwight Woods was awarded the rank of Full Instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu/Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial arts by Dan Inosanto. His other instructorship rankings are in Muay Thai under Surachai Sirisute. Dwight has also trained with and been trained by Salem Assli (Boxe Française-Savate), Sifu Francis Fong (Wing Chun Gung Fu), Rick Faye, Chris Kent, (the late) Ted Lucaylucay, Jean-Jacques Machado, Cass Magda, Yorinaga Nakamura, Erik Paulson, Burton Richardson, (the late) Edgar Sulite, Paul Vunak and other luminaries in the martial art world.


Marivel Andrickson

Office Manager

Fitness Kickboxing/Lean & Fit Instructor

Lil' Dragons Instructor

Jr. 2nd Rank student in Jun Fan/JKD & Filipino Kali

Apprentice Instructor candidate in Muay Thai

Marivel has been studying at UMAA since 2000 and has been an instructor for the past 3 years. Her Fitness Kickboxing, Power Cables and Boot Camp classes are legendary at UMAA. No matter how exhausted students THINK they are, Marivel is always able to get one more rep of an exercise out of them!


John Rondono

Senior Assistant Instructor

5th Rank student in Jun Fan/JKD and Filipino Kali

Apprentice Instructor Muay Thai

Sihing John has been studying at UMAA for over 5 years and is the new instructor for Jr. JKD and Muay Thai classes as well as Marivel's assistant in Lil' Dragon classes.


Yahve Montalvo

Instructor Assistant

3rd Rank student in Jun Fan/JKD and Filipino Kali

Muay Thai student

Sihing Yahve has been studying at UMAA for over 2 years and leads the Monday morning Jun Fan kickboxing class and the Friday morning Kali class. He assists in both Lil' Dragon and Jr. JKD classes.


Jorge Cruz

Instructor Assistant

Junior 4th Rank student in Jun Fan/JKD and Filipino Kali

Muay Thai student

Sihing Jorge has been studying at UMAA for over 4 years and is a new assistant in Jr. JKD and Lil' Dragons classes.


Jeozette LaTorre

Assistant Instructor

Senior student in Fitness Kickboxing

Muay Thai student

Jeozette has been training in FKB at UMAA for over 6 years and is Marivel's replacement for those classes whenever "La Cruelle" is unavailable. She recently started training with Marivel in Muay Thai.


Vithala Singh

Senior Assistant Instructor - in absentia

Junior 4th Rank student in Jun Fan/JKD & Filipino Kali

Combat Submission Wrestling Coach Level One

Apprentice Instructor candidate in Muay Thai

"Vit" Singh now lives in California where he trains with top grappling coach Rico Chiparrelli. In addition, Vit is the uSA liaison for an international security company. He is also a graduate of Tony Blauer's S.P.E.A.R. training program.
 

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